How do I connect to an SSH server from Ubuntu?

"If the connection just times out, there may be some network problem. For example, some firewall blocks the connection.

Can you ping the server?

ping secret_server.homeserverdotorg

In addition, ssh connection may be blocked, and only file copying with scp is allowed.

Does it work if you use scp to copy files?"

"If you can't get in using ssh, sftp still might be an option. It's not a full shell but at least you can traverse directories, list files and transfer them.

sftp -oPort=4033 user@secret_server.homeserverdotorg:/path_to_destination/"