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From: boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (SoftXc Coordinator)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Getting Binaries with FTP
Message-ID: <7042@swan.ulowell.edu>
Date: 13 May 88 14:21:05 GMT
Sender: news@swan.ulowell.edu
Reply-To: boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (SoftXc Coordinator)
Organization: University of Lowell, CS Dept.
Lines: 63


			GETTING BINARIES VIA FTP

    FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It allows a person to log into
another system, and send or receive files on that system. It is mostly used
with InterNet hosts.

    If your hosts system has FTP, you can access very large amounts of
archives available on a number of systems, such as Simtel20 or uunet.uu.net.
We'll talk mostly about Simtel20, and retrieving MS-DOS programs.

    The simplest way to initiate FTP would be to give the command 'ftp
<system-name>', where <system-name> is the remote system you are connecting
to, either a name (simtel20.arpa, if you have some sort of nameserver) or
the InterNet address (26.0.0.74, for Simtel20). After a short wait, you will
be prompted for your username. If you do not have an account on the remote
system, some systems allow you to use 'anonymous'. This gives you a
restricted access path.

    You would then be prompted for a password. Some systems will tell you to
send your real identity as the password. What you type doesn't matter, but
it is suggested to give your mail address. Other systems need a password of
'guest', or something similar. Simtel20 is of the former type.

    After that, you should receive the FTP prompt (usually FTP>), and now
have access. You can get a directory of files be giving a 'dir' command, or
if the remote system is Unix-based, 'ls -l' will give the familiar output.
On Simtel20, there is a file usually available that explains what Simtel20
is, and where files are located. I don't remember the name, but it is
something like 'SIMTEL-ARCHIVES.INFO.19', the last version I saw. the '.19'
is a version number. You don't need to specify the '.19' when requesting the
file.

    Now, say you want to see what is stored for MS-DOS programs. Simtel20
is a DEC System-20 running the TOPS-20 operating system. The directory
structure is something like 'DISK:<DIRECTORY.SUBDIRECTORY>'. For MS-DOS
programs, the main directory is 'PD1:<MSDOS>'. In here there is a file
called 'MSDOS.CRCLST', which is updated almost daily. It contains a list of
all files within the MS-DOS subdirectories, along with file size and CRC
value.

    Say you wanted to get ProComm Plus. According to the list, it is in
PD1:<MSDOS.PROCOMM>. So, you can enter 'cd pd1:<msdos.procomm>' (case does
not matter, everthing in TOPS-20 is upper case). a 'dir' will show all the
files in that directory. (You may wish not to use too many 'dir' commands,
as they are fairly slow)

    Now, you want the file 'pcplustd.arc'. First, you must tell your host
what kind of file it is. On most Unix systems, 'binary' or 'set type binary'
or 'set type I' will work. However, as Simtel20 runs a different OS that has
different word sizes (36 bits, I think) you must specify 'tenex' or
'type L 8' to transfer properly. You can then issue a 'get pcplustd.arc'
command, and after a short while, you have ProComm Plus. To end your
session, enter the 'bye' command.

    Other features of FTP can be found in the manual - please check there.
If I'm a little bit off or I forgot to mention something, please forgive me.
I just woke up :^)

============================================================================
Brian O'Neill, MS-DOS Software Exchange Coordinator
ArpaNet: boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu 
UUCP   : {(backbones),harvard,rutgers,et. al.}!ulowell!hawk!boneill