Ubuntu Linux Toolbox: 1000+ Commands for Power Users, 2nd Edition

12

Accessing Network Resources

IN THIS CHAPTER

Web browsing with elinks

Transferring files with wget, curl, lftp, and scp

Sharing directories with NFS, Samba, and SSHFS

Chatting with irssi IRC client

Managing email with mutt and mail

In the time it takes to fire up a graphical FTP client, you could already have downloaded a few dozen files from a remote server using command line tools. Even when a GUI is available, commands for transferring files, web browsing, sharing directories, and reading mail can be quick and efficient to use. When no GUI is available, they can be lifesavers.

This chapter covers commands for accessing resources (files, e-mail, shared directories, and online chats) over the network.

Running Commands to Browse the Web

Text-mode web browsers provide a quick way to check that a web server is working or to get information from a web server when a usable GUI isn't available. The once-popular lynx text-based browser was supplanted in most Linux systems by the links or elinks browsers.

To use a command line browser, you need to install one of these programs, with package names shown in parens: lynx (lynx-cur package), links (links package), and elinks (elinks package). In most cases, if you want a command line web browser, install the elinks package.

The elinks browser runs in a terminal window. Aside from not displaying images in the terminal, elinks can handle most basic HTML content and features: tables, frames, tabbed browsing, cookies, history, MIME types, ...