Question: So I SSH into a Ubuntu server and try to open the file in a Mac program (Coda) and get an error:

```
Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console

```

Using the command

```
open myfile.html

```

This works in a Mac terminal. I hope there are common Unix commands that provide a way to bridge this so I can open directly and edit/save in the editor of my choice on the Mac.

Answer: 
The `open` command on Linux is unrelated; it is (on most distributions) another name for [`openvt`](http://linux.die.net/man/1/openvt), which starts a program in a new text console (a feature that isn't used much nowadays).

The command corresponding to OSX's `open`, on a modern Linux system, is [`xdg-open`](http://linux.die.net/man/1/xdg-open). However, that would open the file in a program running on the remote Linux machine, not locally on the Mac.

SSH provides a way to run remote commands from a remote prompt. It doesn't directly provide a way to access remote files. Most unices, including OSX, allow a remote directory to be mounted over [SSHFS](http://fuse.sourceforge.net/sshfs.html). You can create a directory on the Mac, say `~/ubuntuserver`, and make the remote files accessible under this directory:

```
sshfs ubuntuserver.example.com: ~/ubuntuserver

```

There may be a Mac GUI for that (I wouldn't know).

To avoid authentication hassles, it is recommended to use a public key for authentication, and if your SSH is recent enough to support it, to [activate master/slave connections in `~/.ssh/config`](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/33557/using-an-already-established-ssh-channel/33581#33581).
Typically on a Linux shell you would use `cat`, `more`, or `view` to view a text file. But since you are looking at html you could also use `links` to see a nicer view of it. These are are "terminal applications", that work in a text interface.