len@csd1.milw.wisc.edu (Leonard P Levine,1045E,5170,9624719) (03/05/88)
Hints on using UUDECODE and PKXARC in a UNIX-PC Environment. I am running a Zenith PC Clone as a stand alone processor and as a RS232 wired terminal into my University's Unix system. I suspect that what I have is a fairly common setup and I went through some interesting times getting binary and text data from the net sources such as SIMTEL20 to my local PC. I am using Kermit as a terminal emulator and file transfer program. Perhaps a summary of what I had to do to get executables transferred to my local hardware will help others with similar equipment get connected. There are five crucial programs (UUDECODE, PKXARC, MSKERMIT, KERMIT and FTP) that I use to transfer material to me. I discovered that unless all of them are used correctly, things do not work well. For many of these file transfers three dissimilar computers are involved (PC, UNIX and SERVER). My desktop PC uses MSKERMIT for file transfer, and UUDECODE and PKXARC for file decoding. My local UNIX machine has its own version of KERMIT which I use for UNIX to PC transfer and FTP which I use for SERVER to UNIX transfers. The SERVER, such as SIMTEL20 is accessed through the UNIX program FTP. The first problem involves getting files transferred from the local UNIX to the PC. KERMIT works well as a terminal emulator but cannot be used as a file transfer system unless the PC program MSKERMIT is used under the 'set parity none' option. Once that is done, running KERMIT on the UNIX machine will permit files to be moved from the UNIX by using the send command on the UNIX and the receive command on the PC. If the file is binary, (and only then!) the command 'set file type binary' must be executed when in the UNIX KERMIT environment. The second problem involves getting files properly sent from the SERVER to the UNIX computer. The program FTP may be run on the UNIX system with the PC program MSKERMIT run in Terminal Emulation Mode (command 'connect'). (Documentation on FTP probably can be found by using the UNIX command 'man ftp'.) I connect with the SERVER by using a command such as 'open simtel20.arpa' within the FTP program and log in using the user name 'anonymous' and the password 'len levine' when prompted. (Please use your own name as a password, not mine. ;-) ) To get to the files on the SERVER, the unix-like command 'cd PD1:<MSDOS.DESKPUB>' may be issued to FTP as well as commands like 'dir' once an appropriate location in the file tree is established. If a transfer will involve a binary file the FTP command 'tenex' is essential to accommodate the different file nature of the UNIX and SERVER computers. Finally the FTP command 'get filename' will cause the file 'filename' to be copied from the SERVER to the UNIX system. HINT: The two commands 'tenex' in the FTP environment and 'set file type binary' in the UNIX KERMIT environment are both required to move binary files. Of course neither should be used when transferring text files. No error messages occur if either mode is set wrongly; the files just fail when PKXARC is run. If the file is in UUCP format (identified as a pure text file consisting of 'n' lines of 60 characters per line) it must be transferred as text and decoded with UUDECODE in the PC. This will result in an .exe or .arc file (a binary file) on the PC which can be executed directly or can be de-archived by PKXARC. (When you execute foreign programs on your PC, you are putting a great deal of faith in the writer and distributor. In this day of Trojan Horse and Virus programs, a word to the wise should be issued.) Copies of the programs MSKERMIT, UUDECODE and PKXARC should be available in your computing center or from sources such as Public Brand Software and the like. I will send copies of these programs to anyone who sends me 2 360K PC disks or 1 1.2meg AT disk (preformatted, no system) along with return postage. Professor L. P. Levine Department of EE & CS University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee PO Box 785 Milwaukee, WI 53201