NS-DDN@DDN2.UUCP (01/20/87)
I would like to see FTP enhanced in the following areas:
1. Provide support for the "ARC" standard which seems to be well-established
on PC bulletin boards. The benefits of very dense data should be obvious
to all. However, all hosts need to be able to ARC/DEARC files. I do not
know if the algorithms these programs use are proprietary, but there do
seem to be multiple vendors providing interoperable (more or less)
products. I think an Internet ARC standard would lead to significant
gains in data throughput, especially if it were incorporated into SMTP as
well.
2. Provide support for TAC terminals. I suspect that most of the terminals
on TACs are in fact emulated on PCs. To download data in any form through
a TAC is not impossible assuming the user has access to an internet host
which extends to him interactive privileges (and since that what TACs are
used for...), but it certainly is cumbersome! I remember reading some
talk of Kermit support though TACs some time back, but nothing seems to
have come of it.
Does anybody know if either of these is in the works? Are they good ideas?
Who's in charge here?
Dave Craig
Network Solutions, Inc.DCP@QUABBIN.SCRC.SYMBOLICS.COM (David C. Plummer) (01/21/87)
Date: 20 Jan 87 09:10 EST
From: NS-DDN @ DDN2
I would like to see FTP enhanced in the following areas:
@begin(open mouth, position foot near said, don asbestos suit)
Wouldn't it be better to replace FTP with something real?Postel@isi.edu.UUCP (01/25/87)
For those wishing for a better FTP (i.e., "something real") or just some more features, please participate in the ISO development of FTAM. Like it or not, as a practical matter, FTAM is the next version of FTP --jon.
mrose@nrtc-gremlin.arpa.UUCP (01/25/87)
I don't know how long it will take FTAM to replace FTP, (or even if
it ever will), but it has all of the enhancements being discussed,
such as recovery-restart at checkpoints, and the optional use of
compression mechanisms when moving files. Currently, the mechanisms
for negotiating the compression method are defined; one could define
a compression mode, e.g., ARC, or the 4.3BSD compress, or ..., and
then those could be negotiated.
/mtr