NEXT is a group of GNU/Linux machines that do a wide variety of computing needs for their users. The primary computer of these is OCE (Ocelot): a time-sharing system primarily used for software development, research, service hosting for files, web pages, e-mails, printers, newsgroups, on-line chats, domain services, along with various general daily computing needs.
The overall project started on November 21, 2014, as a Windows 10 based "server" called "WNT.ATTLOCAL.NET", which ran on a 2013 HP 15-F111DX laptop. After a bunch of distro/os hopping, Anton eventually settled on Debian GNU/Linux instead. That specific laptop was picked to be used as the server to avoid having to buy any new hardware, and because it's mouse, keyboard, and touch screen had issues which made it difficult to use the laptop for its intended purposes. The computer, however, excelled for a decade as a shared machine for shell account, web hosting, file/document storage, printing, e-mailing, among other things. The laptop was decommissioned in 2024 once its hard drive finally became just read-only. By then, it was no longer on an AT&T network, during which it was MCCLURE.LOCAL. Anton was in the process of planning on renaming it to HPLT.MCC.HOME.ARPA due to issues with .local when it crashed for the last time. Its data was able to be copied to a separate backup drive following its accurately-predicted death, putting an end to the disk's last few years of SMART tests showing "pre-fail" rather than just "self-test failed". The computer itself was disposed of since there was no need for most of its parts. Its RAM cards were removed, installed into other computers, and continue being used on small devices running Intranet services to this day.
The domain name akron.oh.us is owned and administered by OARnet, a member of the Ohio Technology Consortium and a division of the Ohio Department of Higher Education. NEXT and its computers are all independently owned and operated by Anton McClure rather than OARnet. Just because NEXT uses an RFC1386/RFC1480 subdomain, that does not make it an official project, initiative, or division of either the City of Akron, OARnet, the OTC, or the DHE.
If you are not familiar with using a command-line interface, it may be confusing, or even look a bit ugly when compared to the graphical user interfaces that we've had since the 1980s/1990s. Anton likes using CLI and GUI tools though, because they are more efficient, and it lets him look like he is doing more work than he ever actually is when someone non-technical looks over his shoulder.
Getting connected to this computer is simple. On either a terminal window on a UNIX/UNIX-like system (MacOS, Solaris, GNU/Linux, AIX), or a Command Prompt window on Windows: you may run the following command to log in via SSH:
ssh [username]@OCE.NEXT.GEN.OH.US
By default, your shell will be GNU Bash. You may change it to whatever you want that is available with the chsh command. As of when this paragraph was written: the following valid login shells are available currently:
For the most up-to-date list, you may check with:
From here, nearly everything installed on the computer is now available to you! Once you get the basics down, everything else becomes a piece of cake.
Please note that user accounts have a disk quota of 96MB soft and 128MB hard. It can increase in the future, but for now there are no issues with the current limits. Group accounts do not have soft/hard quotas. Please be considerate in how much disk space you use with them regardless.
This document goes over some commonly asked questions about how this Web and FTP server is structured, along with who you should contact regarding different potential issues you may face while browsing it.
The World-Wide Web is used by NEXT with the express goal of conveying information in the most effective way using the least amount of system resources to do the job. There are two primary types of web pages: this primary web site, and user pages. User web spaces are explained more in detail below, but as a quick example, see Anton McClure's directory at /users/asm/.
The bottom of each page contains contact information for the person responsible for keeping said page up to date. In user web directories, this should be the user himself/herself rather than someone else. If you cannot get in contact with said maintainer, you may also contact the server's webmaster e-mail address at webmaster@oce.next.gen.oh.us.
As much as Anton would like to give a catch-all e-mail for general comments, questions, and concerns, they should get sent to the general contact e-mail address for the specific server you are using: root@[server].next.gen.oh.us. For example: OCE.NEXT.GEN.OH.US runs these pages, but BLU.NEXT.GEN.OH.US runs a multitude of virtual hosts for other web sites and web apps (including Flan). To find the server name, you may run a command like:
Service abuse requests, such as those for copyright/trademark violations on user pages or user conduct on this machine, should go to abuse@oce.next.gen.oh.us. Please use this address before you start contacting any upstream service providers or domain registrars.
The OCE computer is one of many machines that have offered its users the ability to manage web pages hosted directly on the machine. Out of all of the machines, OCE is the only one that typically sees regular use, and is the only one that has normal shell accounts on it. On OCE, your files are stored in /home/[username]/web/ for normal users and /opt/[username]/web/ for group/shared users. Anyone would then be able to access the files you add to that directory over the global Internet at https://oce.next.gen.oh.us/users/[username]/, regardless of what network the connection is coming from.
A standard user's username is your initials. If there is already a user with those initials, an alternative initials-based name may be picked then. If you are unsure what your username is, contact support@oce.next.gen.oh.us.
People and projects who are eligible for a user account are, in turn, already able to get a web space a web space. For projects with multiple users that need direct write permissions, please notify the administrator so that that project's group permissions may be set as deemed necessary.
To lower the number of e-mail forwards that the webmaster would need to do, please direct any comments, questions, concerns, complaints, or other related e-mail messages to the user in question. We ask that you give the users a considerate amount of time to read and reply to your e-mails, especially if your message requires thought or any amount of research to it. Adding "read receipt" requests to your e-mails is not a good way to measure whether our users actually read and/or understood your messages.
There isn't really anything hosted directly on BLU itself. Instead, contents here will be available via HTTPS on virtual hosted (sub)domains of the user's choice. We do not publish a list of hosted there.
Anton's first meaningful web site was intranet-only at ANTON.ATTLOCAL.NET. Why? He didn't know how to port forward on a 2Wire router at the time.
NEXT.GEN.OH.US is 4 characters shorter than HPLT.MCC.HOME.ARPA, yet it should have been a sign that domains with several dots were in Anton's future.