Using ssh2dos to ssh onto a Linux box from Dos 6.22 - anyone done this successfully? \ VOGONS

Using ssh2dos to ssh onto a Linux box from Dos 6.22 - anyone done this successfully?

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First post, by ubercoder

Posted on 2025-12-04, 16:12

ubercoder Offline

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I thought I'd try to get my Amstrad PPC 512 to earn its keep by using it as a terminal to manage my various headless Rasperberry Pi based projects as well as my Linux Mint gaming rig(just for fun!)...sofar without success.

The PPC has an add-on board to provide 3 8-bit ISA soclets from its built in 'Expansion Ports', into which is fited a PicoMEM card. Among other things, the PicoMEM provides a 'software' WIFI card. This is up & running and the PCC has its IP address.

I'm using the mTCP suite of networking tools, and have been able to Ping my Linux Mint machine. mTCP also includes a (very) basic web server, and using this I've been able to pull a test HTML page from the PPC to Chrome on the LM box. The bottom line being that the PPC and the Linux machine can see each other across the network.

This is where success stops. I've installed ssh2doc on the PPC. I've edited its config file to provide the PPC's IP address (etc..) as well as the PicoMEM Wifi Card's software interupt. However, when I call run ssh2dos, it ends up stopping with the message:

1Remote host closed connection
2Timeout, aborting

This happens whether the remote Linux machine's firewall is on or off. Additionally, I know the ssh server is runningon the remote machione as I can open an ssh session on it from my phone.

My assumption therefore is that the issue lies in how I have ssh2dos configured...

Has anyone managed to get something like this running...?? Maybe a different tool on the PPC end...? I have tried mTCP's Telnet client, but don't seem to be able to get my Linux box to run its telnet server...

cheers

Reply 1 of 8, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2025-12-04, 16:35

keenmaster486 Offline

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It used to work. I don't think SSH2DOS has been updated in a while, though, so there's probably a new encryption method that it doesn't support that is being required by newer versions of openssh.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 2 of 8, by ubercoder

Posted on 2025-12-04, 17:35

ubercoder Offline

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that was my thought when I found this:

1Unable to negotiate with 192.168.*.* port 534: no matching host key type found. Their offer: ssh-rsa [preauth]

So I generated an ras pub/priv key pair; added then to ssh and coppied the pub key to the Doz Box and updated the ssh2doc command line to use it. However...for some reason the current ssh connection attempts don't seem to be reflected in the ssh log on the Linux box...

Reply 3 of 8, by Grzyb

Posted on 2025-12-04, 20:19

Grzyb Offline

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This did work for me - Re: HELP 3COM 3C905B-TX

Though I was using a 486, not 8086/V30...

Nie rzucim ziemi, skąd nasz root!

Reply 4 of 8, by davidrg

Posted on 2025-12-04, 20:56

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If you don't need to encrypt all traffic between your DOS machine and the Linux machine, SSH is probably just making things harder. Telnet will do the same job without asking your vintage PC to try and keep up with modern encryption algorithms.

Reply 5 of 8, by mbbrutman

Posted on 2025-12-05, 15:56

mbbrutman Offline

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Switch to Telnet - within your own home Telnet is safe. You'll need to install the Telnet server though; no modern distribution starts with it installed or enabled.

SSH requires too much computation for a low-end machine, and the requirements keep getting heavier as the newer operating systems change cyphers.

Reply 6 of 8, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2025-12-05, 21:26

keenmaster486 Offline

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This thread is piquing my memory. I seem to recall someone posting a thread here a while back about an updated SSH2DOS that works with modern SSH servers.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 7 of 8, by Grzyb

Posted on 2025-12-06, 00:50

Grzyb Offline

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keenmaster486 wrote on 2025-12-05, 21:26:

This thread is piquing my memory. I seem to recall someone posting a thread here a while back about an updated SSH2DOS that works with modern SSH servers.

You mean this, right? - Re: HELP 3COM 3C905B-TX

Yes, it does work with modern SSH servers - but requires non-standard configuration of the server.
And I have only tried that client on a 486 - no idea if it can work on Amstrad PPC512, ie. V30 @ 8 MHz.

Overall... I'm hereby casting yet another vote for Telnet.

Nie rzucim ziemi, skąd nasz root!

Reply 8 of 8, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2025-12-06, 07:25

keenmaster486 Offline

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Oh, that is it. I was confused by the thread title. Yes, in this particular situation the answer is Telnet, but I have interest in SSH for my own purposes.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

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