11.3.3) What other resources are available over the Internet? (ucd.king-hall)
Description
This article is from the King Hall Law School FAQ, by David F. Prenatt, Jr. NetEsq@dcn.davis.ca.us with numerous contributions by others.
11.3.3) What other resources are available over the Internet? (ucd.king-hall)
In addition to the communication and exchange of information that
people accomplish using e-mail, the USENET, and the IRC, people can
download archived information from computers on the Internet using
"file transfer protocol" (ftp).
11.3.3.1) What is ftp and how does it work? (ucd.king-hall)
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.
11.3.3.1.1) How do I use anonymous ftp? (ucd.king-hall)
When you know which anonymous ftp site has the information that you
want, you can then log onto it and get that information 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. If this doesn't work, try "open" in
place of "ftp."
* You will be asked to provide your username, type in:
anonymous
* You will 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 to obtain. For example:
get ftp-document
where ftp-document is the name of a hypothetical document
that you wish to obtain. This procedure will retrieve an
ASCII document.
* If for some reason, there is something wrong with the
document that you obtain, start over and set the code to
binary by typing in "binary" (without the quotes) after you
have opened the anonymous ftp site. Specifically, type in
the following:
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. Check with King Hall Computer Specialist Steve
Langford for more information.
* To quit the ftp application, type in "quit" (without the
quotation marks). For example:
quit
Note: Steve Langford (<mailto:sdlangford@ucdavis.edu >) has set up
several of the computers in the LEXIS/Westlaw with simplified ftp
access with the Fetch program. Contact Steve Langford at (916)752-
SLOW for more information.
11.3.3.1.2) How do I use privileged ftp? (ucd.king-hall)
A privileged ftp site requires an actual username and an actual
password (as opposed to an anonymous one). In addition to the GET
command, you can also use the PUT command with privileged ftp. For
example:
put ftp-document
where ftp-document is the hypothetical name of the document that you
want to load to the privileged ftp site.
11.3.3.1.3) How can I find out what files are available via ftp? (ucd.king-hall)
You can use various "search engines" on the Internet, such as
"gopher," "archie, and "veronica." My favorite search engine on the
World Wide Web is Yahoo (<http://www.yahoo.com/ >).
11.3.3.1.3.1) What is a gopher? (ucd.king-hall)
The term gopher primarily refers to a computer protocol and a type of
menu-driven computer application. 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.
11.3.3.1.3.2) Who (or what) is/are Veronica and Jughead? (ucd.king-hall)
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.
11.3.3.1.3.3) Who (or what) is Archie? (ucd.king-hall)
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 and follow the directions.
11.3.3.1.4) How do I obtain ftp files by e-mail request? (ucd.king-hall)
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:
send usenet/news.answers/ucdavis/king-hall-faq/part*
. . .
quit
Where * is replaced by the numbers 1 through 9 in successive lines of
text. Other FAQs that I have written are archived at rtfm.mit.edu
under 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 that
begins with send so that the archive name ucdavis/king-hall-faq is
replaced with the archive name of the other FAQ.
11.3.3.1.5) How do I transfer files to and from my personal computer and my Internet account? (ucd.king-hall)
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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