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Remote Access & Shared Folders

Updated v2.5.0

At a glance

  • Share any folder to every Windows PC in the shop — the appliance shows up by name in Explorer's Network
  • Guest read-write out of the box; optional per-share username/password and read-only
  • One checkbox also exports a share over NFS for Linux and LinuxCNC clients
  • Nothing listens until you share — file-server services start with the first share, stop with the last
  • Import an SSH public key from a USB stick with the file browser; ssh in with no password
  • Advanced: enable SSH password login (root or a dedicated user), turn it off just as easily
  • Appliance-only by design — desktop installs of JetCad3 can never touch SSH or shares

A JC3 Appliance is usually the newest, most reliable computer in the building — Remote Access (the Remote tile in the ▦ Start panel) lets it act like it. Two tabs: SSH for getting a shell in, Shared Folders for making the machine the shop's file server.

Shared Folders — your machine is the file server

A shop full of Windows machines usually has no good shared drive. Now the machine that cuts the parts can hold the files too:

  1. Shared Folders → Share a Folder… and pick any folder with the file browser.
  2. Name it, and it's live. Every PC in the shop can open \\your-machine in Explorer — on Windows 10 and 11 the appliance also appears by name under Network, no address to remember.

Shares are guest read-write out of the box — the zero-friction shop-LAN model. Save a DXF from the office PC, walk to the table, nest it. Options per share:

  • Username / password — require credentials instead of guest access.
  • Read-only — publish files without letting anyone change them.
  • Also export over NFS — one checkbox serves the same folder to Linux clients, LinuxCNC boxes, or anything else that speaks NFS.

Files created through a share belong to the machine — the folder on the appliance is the truth. And nothing listens on the network until you actually share something: the file-server services start with the first share and stop when the last one is removed.

SSH — keys first, passwords if you insist

The appliance ships key-only: no password gets a shell, ever, until you say so.

  • Import Public Key… opens the file browser — point it at a .pub file on a USB stick or a network drive, and that computer can ssh straight in. Installed keys are listed with their fingerprints; remove any of them with one click. (Private keys are refused with an explanation — they never belong on this machine.)
  • Password login is there for advanced users: enable it for root or for the dedicated jc3 user, setting the password right in the dialog. The warning is stated plainly — anyone on your network who knows the password controls the machine. Disable it and the appliance is key-only again, immediately.

ssh in and the login banner is built for a machine, not a web server: appliance and JetCad3 versions, whether the control is on screen, memory and disk — and a loud DO NOT REBOOT warning when a program is running on the table.

Appliance-only, by design

Remote Access exists only on a JC3 Appliance, where JetCad3 is the operating system. A desktop install of JetCad3 — including fullscreen kiosk mode — never shows the tile and cannot touch the computer's SSH or sharing configuration at all.

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