5.2.3) What resources are available over the Internet?
Description
This article is from the Yolo County FAQ, by David F. Prenatt, Jr. with numerous contributions by others.
5.2.3) What resources are available over the Internet?
In addition to the communication and exchange of information that
people can accomplish over the Internet using e-mail, USENET, and IRC,
people can download archived information from computers on the
Internet using "file transfer protocol" (ftp).
5.2.3.1) What is ftp and how does it work?
The ftp function resembles the telnet function (the basic method of
gaining access to the Internet for e-mail and the USENET), but ftp is
only used for downloading or uploading information. There are
generally two ways to access a computer via ftp, anonymous and
privileged.
5.2.3.2) How do I use anonymous ftp?
When you know which anonymous ftp site has the information that you
want, log onto it using the ftp program:
* Type in "ftp" (without the quotes) at the Unix prompt,
followed by the name of the ftp site that you wish to
access. For example:
ftp ftp.site
where ftp.site is the name of a hypothetical ftp site that
you want to access.
* You will be asked to provide your username, type in:
anonymous
* You will then be asked to provide your password.
DO NOT TYPE IN YOUR PASSWORD! *ANONYMOUS* FTP IS SUPPOSED
TO BE *ANONYMOUS*. If you wish, you may type in your
Internet address as a return address, but you do not need to
do so. Virtually any response to the password request will
give you access to an anonymous ftp site.
* Type in the GET command, followed by the exact name of the
file that you want. For example:
get ftp-document
where ftp-document is the name of a hypothetical ftp
document that you want to obtain via ftp. This procedure
will retrieve any ASCII document.
* If for some reason, there is something wrong with the
document you obtain, it is probably not an ASCII document,
so start over at the beginning and set the code to binary by
typing in "binary" (without the quotes) after you have
opened the anonymous ftp site. For example:
binary
This should fix the problem so that you can GET the document
that you want. If it doesn't, then the file you have is
probably compressed or encrypted, so you will need to find
out what program you should use to decompress or decrypt the
file.
[Note: Check with your ISP for more information on the quirks of its
ftp programs.]
5.2.3.3) How do I use privileged ftp?
A privileged ftp site requires an actual username and an actual
password (as opposed to an anonymous ftp site). Privileged ftp sites
have all of the features of an anonyomus ftp site; you can also use
the PUT command with privileged ftp. For example:
put ftp-document
where ftp-document is the name of a hypothetical document that you
want to load to your privileged ftp site.
5.2.3.4) How do I obtain ftp files by e-mail request?
For information on ftp by e-mail service, send an e-mail message to
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com with the text "help" somewhere in the body of
the message. Many ftp sites have mail-server software that will send
ftp files by e-mail request. For example, to obtain this faq by e-
mail send the following message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (pending
approval of the *.answers team):
send usenet/news.answers/yolo/faq/part*
. . .
quit
Where * is replaced by the numbers 1 and 3 in successive lines of
text. Other FAQs that I have written are archived at rtfm.mit.edu in
the usenet/news.answers directory under the appropriate archive name.
See Section 1.5 for more information about these other FAQs. To
obtain one of these other FAQs, change the text of the line in your e-
mail message that begins with send so that the archive name
yolo/faq/part* is replaced with the archive name of the other FAQ.
5.2.3.5) How can I find out what information is available via ftp?
You can use various "search engines" on the Internet. For example, my
favorite search engine for the World Wide Web is Yahoo
(<http://www.yahoo.com/ >).
5.2.3.6) What is a gopher?
The term gopher refers to both a computer protocol and a type of menu-
driven computer application that utilizes that protocol. People use
gophers to burrow through the Internet, figuratively speaking, and
help them find the information that they want. Gophers are named
after the mascot of the University of Minnesota where the gopher
protocol was developed. All the gophers in the world are
interconnected, so if you want to use a gopher, simply type in
"gopher" (without the quotes) at the Unix prompt and follow the
directions.
5.2.3.7) Who (or what) is/are Veronica and Jughead?
Veronica (*Very *Easy *Rodent *Oriented *Netwide *Index to *Computer
*Archives) and Jughead (*Jonzi's *Universal *Gopher *Hierarchy
*Excavation *And *Display) are somewhat dated gopher-based search
engines, but you are not that likely to encounter him.
5.2.3.8) Who (or what) is Archie?
Archie (*Archive *Retrieval *C--- *H--- *I--- *E---) is a search
engine that helps you locate computer programs that are archived on
ftp sites on the Internet. To use Archie, simply type in "archie"
(without the quotes) at the Unix prompt.
5.2.3.9) How do I transfer files to and from my personal computer and my
Internet account?
You can put your files on a diskette and use one of the workstations
on campus to ftp your files to and from your Internet account.
Alternatively, there are several file transfer programs available to
accomplish such tasks. Your best option among those that are
currently available is a kermit file transfer. Kermit is public
domain software that is available from IT-CAP; instructions for kermit
file transfers are available on the World Wide Web at the U.C. Davis
Network Administrators FAQ:
<http://tsp.ucdavis.edu/nar/FAQ-UNIX.html#Tag-MSKermit >
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