Frequently Asked Questions

Some frequently asked questions with answers. Feel free to add questions or answers here yourself (it's Wiki!)

For newcomers

Q: How do I sign up for an account at Blinkenshell?

See: Info/Signup

Q: Why does my password not work for SSH?

Blinkenshell has several different accounts. Many newcomers confuse the signup account with SSH accounts. You can not log in via SSH if you have not reached step 5 (finished) in the signup process.

This image might help explain the relations between the different accounts: Blinkenshell Accounts

Q: Why can't I connect via SSH?

Blinkenshell uses the non-standard port 2222 for SSH (instead of 22), so you need to specify this when connecting. See Login info for more information.

Q: Why am I required to use IRC?

Because I want to create an active community with users, something more than just a place to run your screens. You can share experiences and get help or just talk about anything you like. I've choosen IRC because it's the superior chat protocol ofcourse

Q: Why are you doing this for free?

See: Info/About

Q: I need help with a question in the signup quiz, can you help me?

No, you have to find the answers on your own. The answers to all questions can be found either on this webpage/wiki or by some simple searches on Google.

Q: Why are IRC bots not allowed?

Because they are boring. I would like my shell to be populated with active users, not bots. However, if you pay for a supporter account you can use bots.

Q: Are titlebots allowed?

No, the current Blinkenshell IRC community is divided on this point. There were cases where the client script would report a title description although the URL was descriptive. Others simply find it annoying. Note that if you post an URL that doesn't tell much about what it is, you're encouraged to add a descriptive message of your link.

Q: The shell/signup feels laggy, what can I do about this?

If you are on a wireless connection, try moving to a place with good signal quality. Try connecting with a cable if it's still bad. If you are downloading/uploading something, try pausing that or limit the bandwidth to something like 80% of your maximum bandwidth. You can also try ping triton.blinkenshell.org in a terminal, if the round trip time is much above 100-200 ms the shell will feel laggy for most users.

Q: Is software x installed on Blinkenshell?

See Info/Software. Note that this list is not complete however. Ask in the chat if you still have questions.

For members

Q: My localized characters (é, å, ä, ö, ï etc) looks like garbage/questionmarks/something else, how can I fix this?

See: FAQ/Unicode and FAQ/IrssiCharset

Q: I forgot my password for SSH

There is now a password reset option in the signup program. Log in with your signup account and reset the password from there.

Q: links or elinks segfaults, why?

This is usually because of color settings, for example if you try to run links in screen it will segfault if you have not done some extra configuration to get 256 colors to work inside screens. Some terminals also can't handle many colors. You can also disable colors within links to get it to work.

Q: How do I enable Email for my Blinkenshell account?

Email accounts are added by default on all blinkenshell accounts. Use your regular username and password for the shell/SSH to log in to your email account via IMAP. See Info/Email

Longer topics