Since the time I started using Linux, I have faced many problems for the configuration of the system for various programs and applications. Mostly these configuration problems arise from the fact that my college (and campus hostel) allows me to connect to the internet only through an NTLM authenticated proxy. Most applications in windows don’t even support an authenticated proxy. To resolve this, I have been using cntlm which allows me to authenticate and decrypt outgoing and incoming requests on the go as long as I use it’s HTTP proxy. Problem still remains that whatever application you are using, should support a proxy setting.
VPN is an option but applications may not support it and besides, most VPN services are blocked for us.
Then I came across Nitrous which is a cloud service that allows us to:
Nitrous doesn’t just provide you with a system to do whatever you want on it. It provides you with a set of templates for commonly used programming languages where the provided platform will include a fully configured stack along with an IDE to write your program on. It provides a trial period where you can create up to 2 projects and a 50 hour working time for the month. Enough for me to test it out and create a sample ruby application and setup a syncope distribution on it.
The good part about it is that the network is good. I have seen upto 8 MBps of speed using wget (notice the B instead of b). A good option would be to use it as a VPN to bypass blocked websites on the campus, but that would again require some configuration (may be some other day). For now, Nitrous is a great way for me to try out my ideas in a compartmentalized, auto configured (no hassle) way.