It is posssible for Binghamton University students to use a facility called a "Secure Socket Shell" or SSH for short in order to log on to a Binghamton University Linux server machine using a terminal window on your laptop. These instructions describe how to do so from a laptop running Windows 10. It is possible to connect using similar procedures from Apple hardware and software as well.
In order to use SSH, you will need to tunnel through the Binghamton University firewall. This is perfectly legal for anyone with Binghamton University credentials. In order to do this, you will need to install the "Pulse Secure" software on your laptop. There are instructions for doing this at the BU IT SSL web page
Once you have installed Pulse Secure, open the user interface and add (+) a connection using whatever name you choose, and the server ssl.binghamton.edu. The first time you connect, you will be prompted for your PODS userid and password, but if you let Pulse Secure save your asnwers, it will automatically log you when you start your laptop.
Next, you will need software to enable opening an SSH window from your laptop. I currently use a freeware product called MobaXterm. (I used to use PuTTy and XLaunch to do the same thing, but they are slower and more complicated.) Other SSH client software is available, but MobaXterm is easy and everything we need is available in the free edition. Download and install the free addition from https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/.
Once you have installed MobaXterm, start it, and create a new session by clicking on the "Session" icon, then starting an "SSH" session, specifying a Binghamton University Server as the remote host, and your PODS userid as the username. Leave the "Port" at the default of 22. The best generally available Linux Binghamton University is harveyv.binghamton.edu. None of the advanced settings need to be modified.
When you run an SSH client, you get a terminal window logged in to whatever server you connected to. Keep in mind that others in the University may need to use these same resources, so please use these resources wisely. You should also follow rules and restrictions associated with the server.
In general, an SSH terminal in which you use simple line oriented commands requires minimal resources from a server. More complicated or buggy commands, such as programs caught in endless loops, may consume significantly more resources, so try to be careful and try to interrupt and cancel (e.g. Ctrl-C) programs which behave badly.
Full screen programs, such as a full screen editor (like gedit) or an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as Eclipse, or any program with a Graphical User Interace require significantly more resources than simple line oriented commands. MobaXterm allows you to use such programs, but use these with care to avoid sending full screens back and forth over the network as much as possible. For instance, use a local editor on a local copy of a file instead of using a remote editor.
Notice that MobaXterm offers an "Scp" tab to list the files on the remote server. You should be able to upload and download files using this capability, but I've never been able to get the upload and download to work.
If you have a Network U-Drive, your U-Drive will be mounted as your home directory when you log on to HarveyV. However, initialization scripts, such as .bashrc, will not be executed from your network drive.
I find it terribly useful to mount my network U-Drive on my laptop. Then I can edit files locally, using a Windows editor such as Notepad++, but still open an SSH window and compile and run on a Linux machine.