zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) (10/21/88)
Hello everyone! First, let me again thank all of you who have been so
helpful in explaining how to download. SECONDLY, let me correct a
serious error in Netiquette by SUMMARIZING those responses for general
consumption!
OK. I will first summarize in my own words the advice given me, and
then include one of the more involved responses that I got, for all of
you more involved people...:-)
DOWNLOADING AND DECODING BINHEX FILES FROM COMP.BINARIES:
1) First step: save ALL the messages posted that are parts of the file
you wish to decode. Save them on your HOST account
(mainframe,mini,whatever.)
2) Using your favorite flavor editor, CONCATENATE all of the messages
that you have saved. Some things to remember: concatenate them in the
order that the poster specified, NOT NECESSISARILY (sp?) the order in
which you received them. Also, delete all the headers from the parts
after the first, so you should end up with something like:
<header>
Blah- a file designed to blah blah blah...(part one of 4)
(BinHex begins here!)
:*&#FH@(*HDF(*H#&*(@#R*&F@(#H#F(*HF(*H#F(*H#(*HF(*E)EMCM@#)R()**&!@*ETGD!(@*($(!@(*$(!*&@$(*E(*!&@E(*&!@E*!@E(*&!@(*S(*&!S(*@S(*&!@S(*&!@H$#!(@*$&!@($*&!@(!!__D.
.
.
()*&!(*&(@#(*&$(*@#$(*@&#$*&^!@&^%!*&(:
Note that there is a colon at the beginning and end of the BinHex
file. There should be no headers or other information after the BinHex
info (the gibberish above) begins.
3) After you have concatenated the files, DOWNLOAD the resulting ASCII
file to your micro using Kermit or some such download utility. I have
been told (and found for myself) that merely capturing the data from
your terminal screen will result in too many errors. Remember: ONE
ERROR can trash your file- something we wouldn't want, right? :-)
4) Now comes the fun part! Once you have the text file on your mac, you
then run BinHex 4.0 over it to decode it. If you don't have Binhex
but have Stuffit 1.5x, you can select 'other' on the menu bar of
Stuffit, and there is an option 'decode binHex file.' If you don't
have EITHER program, contact your local mac users' group or find a
nearby Mac BBS. They should have it.
5) Once you have BinHex'd the file, you might then have a file with a
name like xxx.pit or xxx.sit. The first type must be uncompressed
with an application named Packit; the second type with an application
named (yup) Stuffit! After this, you should have Mac-Usable files...
Whew! So, that I think covers it. In case it doesn't, I respectfully
submit for your approval the following file, graciously sent me by the
curator(?) of the UPenn Mac Archives. Good luck and have fun..I am!
-JBZimmerman!
From bell@eniac.seas.upenn.edu Tue Oct 18 17:14:15 1988
Received: from central.cis.upenn.edu (CENTRAL.CIS.UPENN.EDU.ARPA) by phoenix.Princeton.EDU (1.2/1.62)
id AA12747; Tue, 18 Oct 88 17:14:11 edt
Received: from ENIAC.SEAS.UPENN.EDU by central.cis.upenn.edu
id AA11640; Tue, 18 Oct 88 17:14:37 EST
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 88 17:12:51 edt
From: bell@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Mike Bell)
Posted-Date: Tue, 18 Oct 88 17:12:51 edt
Message-Id: <8810182112.AA16852@eniac.seas.upenn.edu>
To: zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU
Subject: Downloading
Cc: bell@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
Status: R
Here is a copy of what we give to people...
DRAFT DOCUMENT DRAFT DOCUMENT DRAFT DOCUMENT DRAFT DOCUMENT DRAFT DOCUMENT
SOME NOTES ON THE ANCIENT BLACK ART OF DOWNLOADING
SUMMARY:
Required software:
Mac: Any communication package that
supports Kermit
BinHex 4.0 (or 5.0)
PackItIII
Vax: Kermit
Communication 7 bits, 1 stop bit, Even parity, Full Duplex
protocol: (7-1-E-Full)
o Getting from the Vax to Mac
This is a bit tricky. You will need 3 appliactions. The first is
communication software that supports Kermit protocol. There are several
products available: Apple's MacTerminal, VersaTerm, MicroPhone, etc.
There are also several shareware products which I feel are just as
good as the commercial stuff (or better) for half the price. The premiere
software is RedRyder. I have this, and think it's the best thing since sliced
bread. It does everything you would ever need: VT100 emulation, macros,
XModem, Kermit, and ASCII protocols (plus CompuServe B), a full feature command
language. In sum, GET THIS PROGRAM! The Computing Resource Center and the
Computer Connection (a.k.a. the Computer Shack) have copies available, free
of charge. There is a small hitch. This program is not free, it is shareware.
You may copy this program as often as you like, give it to your friends, send
it to your mother, whatever, but if you decide that you like it and want to use
it on a regular basis, you are honor-bound to send the author $45. You are
also bound to instill others with the shareware concept, as I have just done.
In addition, when downloading, you'll have to have the Vax run kermit. In
this way Kermit-Vax talks to Kermit-Mac. Both have a wonderful time trading
gossip on the latest IBM fiasco while they download your program. You would
type 'send <filename>' to C-Kermit, then tell your Mac-communication program to
receive a Kermit file. If all goes well, you will get a new file on your
Mac. If all doesn't go well, open a bottle of wine, have a drink, and you'll
feel better.
The second program you will need is BinHex 4.0 or 5.0. BinHex converts
Macintosh binary format files into regular ASCII text files and back again.
(MacBinary is a special format Apple developed to store docs and applications
with information such as icons, application type, creation date, etc.)
This is used so that files can be upload to mainframes that do not support
Macintosh binary format. Version 5.0 is shareware ($10, a bargain!), but
V4.0 is free of charge, and does the same thing only slower. The trick to all
this is, "How do I get BinHex without having BinHex to unBinHex it with?"
Well this bootstrap problem can be solved by finding a friend who will loan
you her copy of BinHex, or if you have MS-Basic, you can load an old version
of binhex.bas, that you can run using MS-Basic, then download binhex.hex, which
is also an old version of BinHex, in the BinHex.bas format, but will convert
into a standard Mac application, complete with fancy icon. THEN, you can
download binhex4.hqx from this directory, and there you are. Which is version
4.0. Simple right? Moral: Make friends with a Mac-hacker.
The third application needed is PackItIII, a program that takes a lot
of Mac files and gloms them all together into one neat little package,
ready for up- or downloading. It also does the unpacking, sort of
like an electronic butler who packs your "data suitcases" before you
go traveling abroad on the electronic networks. This application is
also shareware ($10) and is usually BinHex'd.
So in graphic summary:
/-----\ ####### /-----\ ( modem ) /*****\
|Host | ==> # ftp # ==> |Dest | --> ( run by ) --> | Mac | --> newfile
|main-| ####### |main-| (communication) \*****/
|frame| |frame| (software that)
\-----/ \-----/ ( supports )
( Kermit )
##########
newfile >>> # BinHex # >>> MacBinary file (application or other user file)
##########
-or-
########## MacBinary ############# Several
newfile >>> # BinHex # >>> PackItIII >>> # PackItIII # >>> MacBinary
########## file ############# Files
If all of this looks confusing, that's because it is! It has taken me quite
awhile to get used to all the ins and outs of data transfer, but now I can
program my Mac to login, grab a set of files from sumex, download them via
kermit, logout, unBinHex them, unPackItIII them, and run them with minimal
intervention by an omnissient human. Try it, and soon you too will become an
addict of the Black Arts.
Kenneth Mayer, 11/7/86
Bug notes and caveats:
Symptom: BinHex reports "No checksum error" on my files.
Problem: BinHex looks for certain characters that begin a file. It ignores
everything up until that point. Sometimes, the author of the
file will accidentaly put one of these characters into the note before
the the actually code. This screws things up in a big way.
Solution: Before downloading to the Mac, use emacs or vi to remove all of the
lines of junk before the actual code. The first line of the file will
look something like this:
:#$#*()#&$()#*$)*)$*)#*)
Notice the ':#' at the very beginning. Those two characters are what
screw up BinHex in the first place. If you see either of those in the
header section, remove them, and you may be able to leave the header
in. It is safer however, to simply remove the unecessary line.
_______________
/ ___________ \
| / \ |
| | UPenn | |
| | Mac | | Administrator: Mike Bell (bell@eniac)
| | Archives | |
| \___________/ | To access the Mac archives, issue the command:
| ______ | cd ~mac/new
| , |______| | For a listing of all available files, read:
| @ | filelist.tx
\_______________/ Send any questions/suggestions about the archives to:
| |
\_______________/ mac@eniac
--
___________ | "A flute with no holes is not a flute. A donut
|| | with no holes is a danish."
|| ||acob Zimmerman!+> <zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> INTERNET
=== | <zimerman@PUCC> BITnet