[misc.test] Downloading a Program

bwildasi@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Ben Wildasin) (10/31/89)

There has been a lot of talk here about FTP, so I decided I'd pass along
some of the wisdom I've acquired from my local Unix gurus. This procedure
works on my system... it should be pretty similar on other Unix machines.
I also included a brief description of how to use a program posted to the
Net itself (geoForth, Mac Attack, DesTerm 128, etc...).

TO DOWNLOAD A FILE FROM FTP:

1. Log on to your account as usual.

2. Type 'ftp' at the prompt.

3. At the 'ftp>' prompt, type 'open some.site@some.where.foo.edu', or whatever
   the address of your destination server might be.

4. The computer will hem and haw for a few minutes, then prompt for a username.
   Type 'anonymous'.

5. When it asks for a password, type your login name. For example, I use
   'bwildasi', NOT 'bwildasi@silver.bacs.indiana.edu'.

6. The server will respond 'Guest login OK. Restricitons apply.' or something
   along those lines.

7. You will be returned to the 'ftp>' prompt. You are now in a DOS-like
   directory environment. Typing 'dir' will list the directory, like the Unix
   'ls' command. The 'cd' command has the same syntax as in Unix or DOS.
   'cd foo' puts you in the directory 'foo', and 'cd ..' pops you up to the
   previous directory. That's pretty much all you need to move around the
   server.

8. When you finally find your file, type 'get foofile' to download the file
   to the directory you were in when you typed the 'ftp' command. This doesn't,
   however, get it to your computer.

9. When you're ready to leave, type 'bye'. You will be returned to Unix.

10. Finally, you want to get an actual working copy of your file. At the
    Unix prompt, type 'sz -X myfile'. It will prompt you to activate the
    transfer. Go to your terminal program's download option and download the
    file as you would any other. Presto!

TO DOWNLOAD A FILE FROM USENET:

1. Use your news reader to access the article containing the desired program.

2. Use your newsreader to save the program to a file. In rn, you would type
   's somefile'.

3. Exit your newsreader.

4. Type 'uudecode somefile'. When you are returned to the prompt, type 'ls'.
   You should see a new file (say 'newfile') in the directory.

5. Type 'sz -X newfile'. Follow the steps in step 10 above.

6. If this is a non-GEOS file, you're done. Otherwise, boot GEOS.

7. If you own GEOS 64 1.x, Convert can be found on the last page of the 
   QuantumLink disk. GEOS 128 2.0 has it on one of the master disks.
   I don't know about the other versions of GEOS. Some versions of Convert
   are PD, and one was in the newsgroup a few weeks ago. Load whatever
   version of Convert you have. (Although 3.0 bears the highest version
   number, I think that 2.2, by CWI Systems, is the best.)

8. Select the SEQ or PRG menu (depending on what filetype you downloaded
   your file as). and click CBM to GEOS File. Follow the onscreen instructions.

9. Voila!


I hope this clears up some of the downloading problems people have been having.

:-)





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Ben Wildasin * Mail: bwildasi@silver.bacs.indiana.edu * Phone: (812) 332-0245 
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"Since there was once water on Mars, probably there is enough oxygen there to
support human life." --Dan Quayle
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