Abstract

Recently I heard about Super Dimension Fortress (SDF) on IRC and thought it was a very neat project, so I thought I would write about it. There are a lot of services offered by the group in addition to the public access Unix system such as Git, email, web and gopher hosting, and a radio station. A list of other projects that the group has is available on their website here.

What is SDF

Super Dimension Fortress (SDF) is a community of people in various roles in the Free Software world. From this page on sdf.org:

Our mission is to provide remotely accessible computing facilities for the advancement of public education, cultural enrichment, scientific research and recreation. Members can interact electronically with each other regardless of their location using passive or interactive forums. Further purposes include the recreational exchange of information concerning the Liberal and Fine Arts.

Uses for SDF

When I first heard about SDF, I was curious what the system could be used for barring education purposes. It is easier to teach someone how to use Unix with a Unix or Unix like system, and installing Linux or a BSD is sometimes difficult for people. Setting them up with an SSH connection to a Unix system seems much simpler to me. However, for people that already use a Unix-like OS, what would be the benefit? Well SDF actually already has an answer to that question; typing ‘what’ into the prompt after logging in will output the following:

The SDF is comprised of many computer systems that you may use remotely. These are not computers like your PC, but specialised systems with fast processors, sophisticated memory management and several mass storage disk arrays.

So what can you do here, especially with a prevalidated account?

YOU CAN DO A LOT HERE .. START READING –> create/browse ‘gopherspace’, browse ‘webspace’, store files locally with ZMODEM, send/receive email (pop3/webmail available too), use icq/aol IM, chat locally, read/post to the SDF bboard, run whois, ping, traceroute, nslookup, dig, geoip and other network utilities, multiuser games (LOTS OF GAMES), navigate the UNIX filesystem and much more!

Since SDF is funded by its members, you are rewarded with membership features at various levels for small, one time donations. To get an over view of the membership levels available, type ‘how’. You can interact with thousands of other users on our systems with ‘com’ and ‘bboard’. If you want to read answers to questions that have been asked, type ‘faq’. You’ll notice that when you type ‘help’ some commands bring up another menu of commands. Feel free to try all the commands as you explore SDF and the internet.

Explore & Enjoy!

There are a load of different things that SDF provides without any cost to a user. Additional utilities and software can be accessed and used by paying a one time $36 fee for ARPA membership. This will grant things such as webmail and developer tools on the system. Overall this project is one that I don’t feel I am doing justice to by writing about, however, I thought was a very cool project. Visit the website for more information at sdf.org.