wthomps@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (William R Thompson) (01/31/91)
I am a new computer user with an IBM compat at home and wish to transfer a binary file to ASCII. Is there a way to do this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx in advance... --Bill Thompson <wthomps@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> " 'I don't have a real job.' " " 'You get up, you eat Corn Flakes, you go to an office. You have a real job.' " --Hope, Gary: _Thirtysomething_
kabra437@pallas.athenanet.com (Ken Abrams) (02/01/91)
In article <CMM.0.90.2.665255161.wthomps@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> wthomps@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (William R Thompson) writes: > >I am a new computer user with an IBM compat at home and wish to transfer a >binary file to ASCII. Is there a way to do this? Any help would be greatly >appreciated. Thanx in advance... > There is usually no practical application for the conversion you desire. Binary files are usually executable program instructions and ASCII files are usually readable text. Please tell us exactly what the binary file IS and why you think you want to convert it to ASCII, then maybe someone can offer some practical advice. -- ======================================================== Ken Abrams uunet!pallas!kabra437 Illinois Bell kabra437@athenanet.com Springfield (voice) 217-753-7965
lroberts@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Larry S Roberts) (02/01/91)
In article <583@pallas.athenanet.com> kabra437@pallas.UUCP (Ken Abrams) writes: >In article <CMM.0.90.2.665255161.wthomps@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> wthomps@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (William R Thompson) writes: >> >>I am a new computer user with an IBM compat at home and wish to transfer a >>binary file to ASCII. Is there a way to do this? Any help would be greatly >>appreciated. Thanx in advance... >> >There is usually no practical application for the conversion you desire. >Binary files are usually executable program instructions and ASCII files >are usually readable text. >Please tell us exactly what the binary file IS and why you think you >want to convert it to ASCII, then maybe someone can offer some practical >advice. > >-- >Ken Abrams uunet!pallas!kabra437 Yes there is a practical application for this conversion, it is called uuencode and uudecode for the pc (adapted from a unix utility). I think it is available on SIMTEL20 under the file utilities directory. The reason a person might want to do this is so that he can send and receive programs (executable files) through the net mail and USENET. Mail is transfered between system using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), and this protocol only supports 7 bit ASCII. Therefore, in order to send executables (8 bit files) over the net you use uuencode to change binary -> ASCII, and mail the ASCII file. The receiver uses uudecode to change ASCII -> binary. It is all very simple, Really! :-) -- --- Larry S. Roberts 8450robertsl@indinpls.navy.mil lroberts@en.ecn.purdue.edu
kabra437@pallas.athenanet.com (Ken Abrams) (02/05/91)
In article <1991Feb1.124637.10807@en.ecn.purdue.edu> lroberts@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Larry S Roberts) writes: >>> >>>I am a new computer user with an IBM compat at home and wish to transfer a >>>binary file to ASCII. Is there a way to do this? Any help would be greatly >>> >>There is usually no practical application for the conversion you desire. > >Yes there is a practical application for this conversion, it is called >uuencode and uudecode for the pc (adapted from a unix utility). I think it OK, guys. You got me. I give up. The operative phrase in the first post was "new computer user" and the key word in my reply was "usually". I thought this user's question was somewhat more basic than preparing something to transfer via mail. Excuse me for thinking ;-). I DO hope we hear from the original poster again. I would very much like to know what prompted his post in the first place. I have even received flames by mail for my inept answer! -- ======================================================== Ken Abrams uunet!pallas!kabra437 Illinois Bell kabra437@athenanet.com Springfield (voice) 217-753-7965