@DATABASE "CHAP7"
@index BigDummy.index/MAIN
@NODE MAIN "Chapter 7: FTP  (Mining the Net: Part 2)"
@TOC BIGDUMMY.GUIDE/MAIN
@NEXT CHAP8/MAIN
@PREV CHAP6/MAIN
     Hundreds of systems connected to Internet have file libraries, or
archives, accessible to the public. Much of this consists of free or
lowcost @{" shareware " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 291} programs for virtually every make of computer.  If
you want a different communications program for your IBM, or feel like
playing a new game on your Amiga, you'll be able to get it from the Net.
     But there are also libraries of documents as well.  If you want a
copy of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, you can find it on the Net.
Copies of historical documents, from the Magna Carta to the Declaration
of Independence are also yours for the asking, along with a translation
of a telegram from Lenin ordering the execution of rebellious peasants.
You can also find song lyrics, poems, even summaries of every "Lost in
Space" episode ever made.  You can also find extensive files detailing
everything you could ever possibly want to know about the Net itself.
First you'll see how to get these files; then we'll show you where
they're kept.

   @{" What is FTP?                    " link FTP                   }
   @{" ARCHIE                          " link ARCHIE                } finding the file you want.
   @{" Using FTP                       " link USEFTP                } getting and sending files
   @{" Unix file extensions            " link UNIXCOMP              } file extentions and compression
   @{" The keyboard cabal.             " link KEYCABAL              } odd names and wierd directories
   @{" When things go wrong            " link WRONG7                }
      >> @{" FTP sites.                " alink FTPSITES              }

------------------------
FYI:

     Liberal use of archie will help you find specific files or
documents.  For information on new or interesting ftp sites, try the
comp.archives newsgroup on @{" Usenet " link CHAP3/WHATUSENET}.  You can also look in the comp.misc,
comp.sources.wanted or news.answers newsgroups on Usenet for lists of ftp
sites posted every month by Tom Czarnik and Jon Granrose.
     The comp.archives newsgroup carries news of new ftp sites and
interesting new files on existing sites.
     In the comp.virus newsgroup on Usenet, look for postings that list
ftp sites carrying anti-viral software for Amiga, MS-DOS, Macintosh,
Atari and other computers.
     The comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest and comp.sys.mac.digest newsgroups
provide information about new MS-DOS and Macintosh programs as well as
answers to questions from users of those computers. Information about Amiga
files can be found in comp.sys.amiga.announce.

@EndNode
@Node FTP "Chapter 7: FTP (1 of 6) -- What is FTP?"
     The commonest way to get files on the Internet is through the file
transfer protocol, or ftp.  As with @{" Telnet " link Chap6/TELNET 0}, not all systems that
connect to the Net have access to ftp.  However, if your system is one of
these, you'll be able to get many of these files through @{" e-mail " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 96} (see
the @{" next chapter " link CHAP8/MAIN}).

     Starting ftp is as easy as using telnet. At your host system's
@{" command line " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 50}, type

          ftp site.name

and hit enter, where "site.name" is the address of the ftp site you want
to reach.  One major difference between telnet and ftp is that it is
considered bad form to connect to most ftp sites during their business
hours (generally 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time).  This is because
transferring files across the network takes up considerable computing
power, which during the day is likely to be needed for whatever the
computer's main function is.  There are some ftp sites that are
accessible to the public 24 hours a day, though.  You'll find these noted
in the list of ftp sites.

@EndNode
@Node ARCHIE "Chapter 7: FTP (2 of 6) -- ARCHIE"
@PREV MAIN
ARCHIE

     How do you find a file you want?
     Until a few years ago, this could be quite the pain -- there was no
master directory to tell you where a given file might be stored on the
Net. Who'd want to slog through hundreds of file libraries looking for
something?
     Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan and Peter Deutsch, students at McGill
University in Montreal, asked the same question.  Unlike the weather,
though, they did something about it.
     They created a database system, called archie, that would
periodically call up file libraries and basically find out what they had
available.
     In turn, anybody could dial into archie, type in a file name, and
see where on the Net it was available. Archie currently catalogs close to
1,000 file libraries around the world.
     Today, there are three ways to ask archie to find a file for you:
through @{" Telnet " link Chap6/TELNET 0}, "client" Archie program on your own host system or e-
mail.  All three methods let you type in a full or partial file name and
will tell you where on the Net it's stored.
 If you have access to telnet, you can telnet to one of the following
addresses: archie.mcgill.ca; archie.sura.net; archie.unl.edu;
archie.ans.net; or archie.rutgers.edu.  If asked for a log-in name, type

           archie

and hit enter.
     When you connect, the key command is prog, which you use in this
form:

            prog filename

followed by enter, where "filename" is the program or file you're looking
for. If you're unsure of a file's complete name, try typing in part of
the name. For example, "PKZIP" will work as well as "PKZIP201.EXE."  The
system does not support DOS or Unix wildcards. If you ask archie to look
for "PKZIP*," it will tell you it couldn't find anything by that name.
One thing to keep in mind is that a file is not necessarily the same as a
program -- it could also be a document. This means you can use archie to
search for, say, everything online related to the Beetles, as well as
computer programs and graphics files.
     A number of Net sites now have their own archie programs that take
your request for information and pass it onto the nearest archie database
-- ask your system adminstrator if she has it online. These "client"
programs seem to provide information a lot more quickly than the actual
archie itself!  If it is available, at your host system's @{" command line " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 50},
type

     archie -s filename

where filename is the program or document you're looking for, and hit
enter.  The -s tells the program to ignore case in a file name and lets
you search for partial matches. You might actually want to type it this
way:

          archie -s filename|more

which will stop the output every screen (handy if there are many sites
that carry the file you want).  Or you could open a file on your computer
with your text-logging function.
      The third way, for people without access to either of the above, is
@{" e-mail " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 96}.
     Send a message to archie@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca. You can leave the
subject line blank.  Inside the message, type

          prog filename

where filename is the file you're looking for.  You can ask archie to
look up sveral programs by putting their names on the same "prog" line,
like this:

          prog file1 file2 file3

     Within a few hours, archie will write back with a list of the
appropriate sites.
       In all three cases, if there is a system that has your file,
you'll get a response that looks something like this:

 Host sumex-aim.stanford.edu

     Location: /info-mac/comm
            FILE -rw-r--r--     258256  Feb 15 17:07  zterm-09.hqx
     Location: /info-mac/misc
            FILE -rw-r--r--       7490  Sep 12 1991 zterm-sys7-color-icons.hqx


     Chances are, you will get a number of similar looking responses for
each program.  The "host" is the system that has the file.  The
"Location" tells you which directory to look in when you connect to that
system.  Ignore the funny-looking collections of r's and hyphens for now.
After them, come the size of the file or directory listing in bytes, the
date it was @{" uploaded " link BigDummy.guide/LINGO 332}, and the name of the file.


@EndNode
@Node USEFTP "Chapter 7: FTP (3 of 6) -- Using FTP"
Using FTP
     Now you want to get that file.
     Assuming your host site does have ftp, you connect in a similar
fashion to @{" Telnet " link Chap6/TELNET 0}, by typing:

          ftp sumex-aim.stanford.edu

(or the name of whichever site you want to reach). Hit enter.  If the
connection works, you'll see this:

  Connected to sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
  220 SUMEX-AIM FTP server (Version 4.196 Mon Jan 13 13:52:23 PST 1992) ready.
  Name (sumex-aim.stanford.edu:adamg):

     If nothing happens after a minute or so, hit control-C to return
to your host system's @{" command line " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 50}.  But if it has worked, type

          anonymous

and hit enter.  You'll see a lot of references on the Net to "anonymous
ftp." This is how it gets its name -- you don't really have to tell the
library site what your name is. The reason is that these sites are set up
so that anybody can gain access to certain public files, while letting
people with accounts on the sites to log on and access their own personal
files.  Next you'll be asked for your password.  As a password, use your
@{" e-mail " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 96} address.  This will then come up:

          230 Guest connection accepted. Restrictions apply.
          Remote system type is UNIX.
          Using binary mode to transfer files.
          ftp>


Now type

          ls

and hit enter.  You'll see something awful like this:

          200 PORT command successful.
          150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
          total 2636
          -rw-rw-r--  1 0        31           4444 Mar  3 11:34 README.POSTING
          dr-xr-xr-x  2 0        1             512 Nov  8 11:06 bin
          -rw-r--r--  1 0        0        11030960 Apr  2 14:06 core
          dr--r--r--  2 0        1             512 Nov  8 11:06 etc
          drwxrwsr-x  5 13       22            512 Mar 19 12:27 imap
          drwxr-xr-x 25 1016     31            512 Apr  4 02:15 info-mac
          drwxr-x---  2 0        31           1024 Apr  5 15:38 pid
          drwxrwsr-x 13 0        20           1024 Mar 27 14:03 pub
          drwxr-xr-x  2 1077     20            512 Feb  6  1989 tmycin
          226 Transfer complete.
          ftp>

     Ack! Let's decipher this Rosetta Stone.
     First, ls is the ftp command for displaying a directory (you can
actually use dir as well, but if you're used to MS-DOS, this could lead
to confusion when you try to use dir on your host system, where it won't
work, so it's probably better to just remember to always use ls for a
directory while online).
     The very first letter on each line tells you whether the listing is
for a directory or a file. If the first letter is a ``d,'' or an "l",
it's a directory. Otherwise, it's a file.
     The rest of that weird set of letters and dashes consist of "flags"
that tell the ftp site who can look at, change or delete the file. You
can safely ignore it. You can also ignore the rest of the line until you
get to the second number, the one just before the date. This tells you
how large the file is, in bytes. If the line is for a directory, the
number gives you a rough indication of how many items are in that
directory  -- a directory listing of 512 bytes is relatively small. Next
comes the date the file or directory was uploaded, followed (finally!) by
its name.
     Notice the README.POSTING file up at the top of the directory. Most
archive sites have a "read me" document, which usually contains some
basic information about the site, its resources and how to use them.
Let's get this file, both for the information in it and to see how to
transfer files from there to here. At the ftp> @{" prompt " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 254}, type

          get README
 and hit enter. Note that ftp sites are no different from Unix sites in
general: they are case-sensitive. You'll see something like this:
  200 PORT command successful.
  150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for README (4444 bytes).
  226 Transfer complete. 4444 bytes received in 1.177seconds (3.8 Kbytes/s)

And that's it! The file is now located in your home directory on your
host system, from which you can now @{" download " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 84} it to your own computer.
The simple "get" command is the key to transferring a file from an
archive site to your host system.
     If the first letter on the line starts with a "d", then that is a
directory you can enter to look for more files.  If it starts with an
"r", then it's a file you can get.  The next item of interest is the
fifth column, which tells you how large the item is in bytes.  That's
followed by the date and time it was loaded to the archive, followed,
finally, by its name.   Many sites provide a "README" file that lists
simple instructions and available files.  Some sites use files named
"Index" or "INDEX" or something similar.
     If you want to download more than one file at a time (say a series
of documents, use mget instead of get; for example:
         mget *.txt
This will transfer copies of every file ending with .txt in the given
directory.  Before each file is copied, you'll be asked if you're sure
you want it.  Despite this, mget could still save you considerable time
-- you won't have to type in every single file name.
        There is one other command to keep in mind.  If you want to get a
copy of a computer program, type

         bin

and hit enter.  This tells the ftp site and your host site that you are
sending a binary file, i.e., a program.  Most ftp sites now use binary
format as a default, but it's a good idea to do this in case you've
connected to one of the few that doesn't.
     To switch to a directory, type

          cd directory-name

(substituting the name of the directory you want to access) and hit
enter. Type

          ls

and hit enter to get the file listing for that particular directory.
To move back up the directory tree, type

          cd ..

(note the space between the d and the first period) and hit enter.  Or
you could type

         cdup

and hit enter.  Keep doing this until you get to the directory of
interest.  Alternately, if you already know the directory path of the
file you want (from our friend archie), after you connect, you could
simply type

        get directory/subdirectory/filename

     On many sites, files meant for public consumption are in the pub or
public directory; sometimes you'll see an info directory.
     Almost every site has a bin directory, which at first glance sounds
like a bin in which interesting stuff might be dumped.  But it actually
stands for "binary" and is simply a place for the system administrator to
store the programs that run the ftp system. Lost+found is another
directory that looks interesting but actually never has anything of
public interest in them.
     Before, you saw how to use archie.  From our example, you can see
that some system administrators go a little berserk when naming files.
Fortunately, there's a way for you to rename the file as it's being
transferred. Using our archie example, you'd type

            get zterm-sys7-color-icons.hqx zterm.hqx

and hit enter.  Instead of having to deal constantly with a file called
zterm-sys7-color-icons.hqx, you'll now have one called, simply,
zterm.hqx.

    Those last three letters bring up something else: Many program files
are compressed to save on space and transmission time.  In order to
actually use them, you'll have to use an un-compress program on them first.


@EndNode
@Node UNIXCOMP "Chapter 7: FTP (4 of 6) -- Unix compression methods (file extensions)"
Unix compression methods (file extensions)

    There are a wide variety of compression methods in use.  You can tell
which method was used by the last one to three letters at the end of a
file. Here are some of the more common ones and what you'll need to un-
compress the files they create (and these decompression programs can all
be located through archie).

.TXT          By itself, this means the file is a document, rather than a
              program. .DOC is another common suffix for documents. No
              de-compression is needed, unless it is followed by

.Z            This is a Unix compression method.  To uncompress the file,
              type

                        uncompress file.name.Z

              and hit enter at your host system's command @{" prompt " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 254}. If
              it's a text file, you can read it online by typing

                       zcat file.txt.Z | more

              at your host system's @{" command line " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 50}. There is a Macintosh
              program called MacCompress that you can use on your machine
              if you want to download the file (use archie to find where
              you can get it!). There's an MS-DOS equivalent, often found
              as u16.ZIP, which means it is itself compressed in the ZIP
              format.

ZIP           An MS-DOS format. Use the PKZIP package (usually found as
              PKZ201.exe or something similar).

.ZOO          A Unix and MS-DOS format. Requires the use of a program
              called zoo.

.Hqx          A Macintosh format that needs BinHex for de-compression.

.SHAR         A Unix format. Use unshar

.tar          Another Unix format, often used to compress several related
              files into one big file. Use tar.  Often, a "tarred" file
              will also be compressed with the .Z method, so you first have
              to use uncompress and then tar.

.Sit          A Macintosh format, requires StuffIt.

.ARC          A DOS format that requires the use of ARC or ARCE.

      A few last words of caution: Check the size of a file before you
get it.  The Net moves data at phenomenal rates of speed.  But that
500,000-byte file that gets transferred to your host system in a few
seconds could take more than an hour or two to download to your computer
if you're using a @{" 2400-baud " link BigDummy.guide/LINGO 31} @{" modem " link Chap1/MODEM 0}.  Your host system may also have
limits on the amount of bytes you can store online at any one time.
Also, although it is really extremely unlikely you will ever get a file
infected with a virus, if you plan to do much downloading over the Net,
you'd be wise to invest in a good anti-viral program, just in case.


@EndNode
@Node KEYCABAL "Chapter 7: FTP (5 of 6) -- THE KEYBOARD CABAL"
THE KEYBOARD CABAL

    System administrators are like everybody else -- they try to make
things easier for themselves.  And when you sit in front of a keyboard
all day, that can mean trying everything possible to reduce the number of
keys you actually have to hit each day.
     Unfortunately, that can make it difficult for the rest of us.
     Connect to many ftp sites, and one of the entries you'll often see
is a directory named bin.
     You might think this is a bin where interesting things get thrown.
It's not.  "Bin" is short for "binary," i.e., the programs that make the
ftp site work, to which you won't have access anyway.
     Etc is another seemingly interesting directory that turns out to be
another place to store files used by the ftp site itself.  Lost+Found
directories are used by Unix systems for some routine housekeeping --
again, nothing of any real interest.
     Then, once you get into the actual file libraries, you'll find that
in many cases, files will have such non-descriptive names as V1.1-
AK.TXT.  The best known example is probably a set of several hundred
files known as RFCs, which provide the basic technical and organizational
information on which much of the Internet is built. These files can be
found on many ftp sites, but always in a form such as RFC101.TXT,
RFC102.TXT and so on, with no clue whatsoever as to what information they
contain.
     Fortunately, almost all ftp sites have a "Rosetta Stone" to help you
decipher these names.  Most will have a file named README (or some
variant) that gives basic information about the system.  Then, most
directories will either have a similar README file or will have an index
that does give brief descriptions of each file.  These are usually the
first file in a directory and often are in the form 00INDEX.TXT.  Use the
ftp command to get this file.  You can then scan it online or @{" download " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 84}
it to see which files you might be interested in.
     Another file you will frequently see is called ls-lR.Z.  This
contains a listing of every file on the system, but without any
descriptions (the name comes from the Unix command ls -lR, which gives
you a listing of all the files in all your directories).  The Z at the
end means the file has been compressed, which means you will have to use
a Unix un-compress command before you can read the file.
     And finally, we have those system administrators who almost seem to
delight in making things difficult -- the ones who take full advantage of
Unix's ability to create absurdly long file names.  On some FTP sites,
you will see file names as long as 80 characters or so, full of capital
letters, underscores and every other orthographic device that will make
it almost impossible for you to type the file name correctly when you try
to get it. Your secret weapon here is the mget command.  Just type mget,
a space, and the first five or six letters of the file name, followed by
an asterisk, for example:

          mget This_F*

The FTP site will ask you if you want to get the file that begins with
that name. If there are several files that start that way, you might have
to answer 'n' a few times, but it's still easier than trying to recreate
a ludicrously long file name.


@EndNode
@Node WRONG7 "Chapter 7: FTP (6 of 6) -- When things go wrong"
@NEXT MAIN
------------------------
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG"

     * You get a "host unavailable" message.  The ftp site is down for
some reason.  Try again later.
     * You get a "host unknown" message.  Check your spelling of the
site name.
     * You misspell "anonymous" when logging in and get a message
telling you a password is required for whatever you typed in.  Type
something in, hit enter, type bye, hit enter, and try again.

@EndNode
@Node FTPSITES "FTP SITES"
@NEXT MAIN
FTP SITES

     What follows is a list of some interesting ftp sites, arranged by
category. With hundreds of ftp sites now on the Net, however, this list
barely scratches the surface of what is available.  Liberal use of archie
will help you find specific files.
     The times listed for each site are in Eastern time and represent the
periods during which it is considered acceptable to connect.


AMIGA

     @{" Aminet " link AMINET } is a collection of ftp sites that have a huge collection
     of Amiga files.
     Available 24 hours.

     ftp.uu.net  Has Amiga programs in the systems/amiga directory.
     Available 24 hours.

ATARI

     atari.archive.umich.edu  Find almost all the Atari files you'll ever
need, in the atari directory.
     7 p.m. - 7 a.m.


BOOKS

     pit-manager.mit.edu   The pub/usenet/rec.arts.books directories has
reading lists for various authors as well as lists of recommended
bookstores in different cities.  Unfortunately, this site uses incredibly
long file names -- so long they may scroll off the end of your screen if
you are using an MS-DOS or certain other computers.  Even if you want
just one of the files, it probably makes more sense to use mget than get.
This way, you will be asked on each file whether you want to get it;
otherwise you may wind up frustrated because the system will keep telling
you the file you want doesn't exist (since you may miss the end of its
name due to the scrolling problem).
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


COMPUTER ETHICS

     ftp.eff.org  The home of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  Use cd
to get to the pub directory and then look in the EFF, SJG and CPSR
directories for documents on the EFF itself and various issues related to
the Net, ethics and the law.
     Available 24 hours.


CONSUMER

     pit-manager.mit.edu  The pub/usenet/misc.consumers directory has
documents related to credit.  The pub/usenet/rec.travel.air directory
will tell you how to deal with airline reservation clerks, find the best
prices on seats, etc.  See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp
site.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


COOKING

     wuarchive.wustl.edu  Look for recipes and recipe directories in the
usenet/rec.food.cooking/recipes directory.

     gatekeeper.dec.com  Recipes are in the pub/recipes directory.



ESPERANTO

     rand.org  You'll find text files about the Esperanto artificial
language in the pub/esperanto directory.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


FTP

     iraun1.ira.uka.de  Run by the computer-science department of the
University of Karlsruhe in Germany, this site offers lists of anonymous-
FTP sites both internationally (in the anon.ftp.sites directory) and in
Germany (in anon.ftp.sites.DE).
     12 p.m. to 2 a.m.

     ftp.netcom.com  The pub/profiles directory has lists of ftp sites.


GOVERNMENT

     ncsuvm.cc.ncsu.edu  The SENATE directory contains bibliographic
records of U.S. Senate hearings and docments for the past several
Congresses.  Get the file README.DOS9111, which will explain the cryptic
file names.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

     nptn.org  The General Accounting Office is the investigative wing of
Congress.  The pub/e.texts/gao.reports directory represents an experiment
by the agency to use ftp to distribute its reports.
     Available 24 hours.


HISTORY

     nptn.org  This site has a large, growing collecting of text files.
In the pub/e.texts/freedom.shrine directory, you'll find copies of
important historical documents, from the Magna Carta to the Declaration
of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation.
     Available 24 hours.

     ra.msstate.edu  Mississipi State maintains an electic database of
historical documents, detailing everything from Attilla's battle strategy
to songs of soldiers in Vietnam, in the docs/history directory.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

     seq1.loc.gov  The Library of Congress has acquired numerous
documents from the former Soviet government and has translated many of
them into English.  In the pub/soviet.archive/text.english directory,
you'll find everything from  telegrams from Lenin ordering the death of
peasants to Khrushhchev's response to Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis.
The @{" README " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 258} file in the pub/soviet.archive directory provides an index
to the documents.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


HONG KONG

      nok.lcs.mit.edu  @{" GIF " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 138} pictures of Hong Kong pop stars, buildings
and vistas are available in the pub/hongkong/HKPA directory.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


INTERNET

     ftp.eff.org The pub/internet-info directory has a number of
documents explaining the Internet and Usenet.
     Available 24 hours.

     nic.ddn.mil The internet-drafts directory contains information about
Internet, while the scc directory holds network security bulletins.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


LAW

     info.umd.edu  U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1989 to the present
are stored in the info/Government/US/SupremeCt directory.  Each term has
a separate directory (for example, term1992).  Get the @{" README " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 258} and Index
files to help decipher the case numbers.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.

     ftp.uu.net  Supreme Court decisions are in the court-opinions
directory.  You'll want to get the index file, which tells you which file
numbers go with which file names.  The decisions come in WordPerfect and
Atex format only.
     Available 24 hours a day.


LIBRARIES

     ftp.unt.edu  The library directory contains numerous lists of
libraries with computerized card catalogs accessible through the Net.


LITERATURE

     nptn.org  In the pub/e.texts/gutenberg/etext91 and etext92
directories, you can get copies of Aesop's Fables, works by Lewis Carroll
and other works of literature, as well as the Book of Mormon.
     Available 24 hours.

     world.std.com  The obi directory has everything from online fables
to accounts of Hiroshima survivors.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


MACINTOSH

     sumex-aim.stanford.edu  This is the premier site for Macintosh
software.  After you @{" log in " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 170}, switch to the info-mac directory, which
will bring up a long series of sub-directories of virtually every free
and @{" shareware " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 291} Mac program you could ever want.
     9 p.m. - 9 a.m.

     ftp.uu.net   Carries copies, or "mirrors" of Macintosh
programs from the Simtel20 collection in the systems/mac/simtel20 directory.
     Available 24 hours a day.


MOVIE REVIEWS

     lcs.mit.edu  Look in the movie-reviews directory.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


MS-DOS

     wuarchive.wustl.edu  This carries one of the world's largest
collections of MS-DOS software. The files are actually copied, or
"mirrored"  from a computer at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missle Range
(which uses ftp software that is totally incomprehensible).  It also
carries large collections of Macintosh, Windows, Atari, Amiga, Unix, OS9,
CP/M and Apple II software.  Look in the mirrors and systems directories.
The gif directory contains a large number of @{" GIF " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 138} graphics images.
     Accessible 24 hours.

     ftp.uu.net   Carries copies, or "mirrors" of MS-DOS programs from
the Simtel20 collection in the systems/msdos/simtel20 directory.
     Available 24 hours a day.


MUSIC

     cs.uwp.edu  The pub/music directory has everything from lyrics of
 contemporary songs to recommended CDs of baroque music. It's a little
 different - and easier to navigate - than other ftp sites.  File and
 directory names are on the left, while on the right, you'll find a brief
 description of the file or directory, like this:


SITES              1528  Other music-related FTP archive sites
classical/            -  (dir) Classical Buying Guide
database/             -  (dir) Music Database program
discog/               =  (dir) Discographies
faqs/                 =  (dir) Music Frequently Asked questions files
folk/                 -  (dir) Folk Music Files and pointers
guitar/               =  (dir) Guitar TAB files from ftp.nevada.edu
info/                 =  (dir) rec.music.info archives
interviews/           -  (dir) Interviews with musicians/groups
lists/                =  (dir) Mailing lists archives
lyrics/               =  (dir) Lyrics Archives
misc/                 -  (dir) Misc files that don't fit anywhere else
pictures/             =  (dir) GIFS, JPEGs, PBMs and more.
press/                -  (dir) Press Releases and misc articles
programs/             -  (dir) Misc music-related programs for various machines
releases/             =  (dir) Upcoming USA release listings
sounds/               =  (dir) Short sound samples
226 Transfer complete.
ftp>

     When you switch to a directory, don't include the /.
     7 p.m. - 7 a.m.

     potemkin.cs.pdx.edu  The Bob Dylan archive.  Interviews, notes,
year-by-year accounts of his life and more, in the pub/dylan directory.
     9 p.m. - 9 a.m.

     ftp.nevada.edu  Guitar chords for contemporary songs are in the
pub/guitar directory, in subdirectories organized by group or artist.


PETS

     pit-manager.mit.edu The pub/usenet/rec.pets.dogs and
pub/usenet.rec.pets.cats directories have documents on the respective
animals.  See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp site.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


PICTURES

     wuarchiv.wustl.edu  The graphics/gif directory contains hundreds of
@{" GIF " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 138} photographic and drawing images, from cartoons to cars, space
images to pop stars.  These are arranged in a long series of
subdirectories.


PHOTOGRAPHY

     ftp.nevada.edu  Photolog is an online digest of photography news, in
the pub/photo directory.


RELIGION

     nptn.org  In the pub/e.texts/religion directory, you'll find
subdirectories for chapters and books of both the Bible and the Koran.
     Available 24 hours.


SEX

     pit-manager.mit.edu  Look in the pub/usenet/alt.sex and
pub/usenet/alt.sex.wizards directories for documents related to all
facets of sex.  See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp site.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


SCIENCE FICTION

     elbereth.rutgers.edu  In the pub/sfl directory, you'll find plot
summaries for various science-fiction TV shows, including Star Trek (not
only the original and Next Generation shows, but the cartoon version as
well), Lost in Space, Battlestar Galactica, the Twighlight Zone, the
Prisoner and Doctor Who.  There are also lists of various things related
 to science fiction and an online science-fiction fanzine.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.


SHAKESPEARE

     atari.archive.umich.edu  The shakespeare directory contains most of
the Bard's works.  A number of other sites have his works as well, but
generally as one huge meGa-file.  This site breaks them down into various
categories (comedies, poetry, histories, etc.) so that you can download
individual plays or sonnets.

SPACE

     ames.arc.nasa.gov  Stores text files about space and the history of
the NASA space program in the pub/SPACE subdirectory.  In the pub/GIF
and pub/SPACE/GIF directories, you'll find astronomy- and NASA-related
@{" GIF " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 138} files, including pictures of planets, satellites and other
celestial objects.
     9 p.m. - 9 a.m.


SPAIN

     goya.dit.upm.es  This Spanish site carries an updated list of
bulletin-board systems in Spain, as well as information about European
computer networks, in the info/doc/net subdirectory, mostly in Spanish.
The BBS list is bbs.Z, which means you will have to uncompress it to read
it.
     Available 24 hours.


TV

     coe.montana.edu  The pub/TV/Guides directory has histories and other
information about dozens of TV shows.  Only two anonymous-ftp log-ins are
allowed at a time, so you might have to try more than once to get in.
     8 p.m. - 8 a.m.

     ftp.cs.widener.edu  The pub/simpsons directory has more files than
 anybody could possibly need about Bart and family.  The pub/strek
 directory has files about the original and Next Generation shows as well
 as the movies.
      See also under Science Fiction.



TRAVEL

     nic.stolaf.edu  Before you take that next overseas trip, you might
want to see whether the State Department has issued any kind of advisory
for the countries on your itinerary.  The advisories, which cover
everything from hurricane damage to civil war, are in the pub/travel-
advisories/advisories directory, arranged by country.
     7 p.m. - 7 a.m.


USENET

     ftp.uu.net  In the usenet directory, you'll find "frequently asked
questions" files, copied from pit-manager.mit.edu. The communications
directory holds programs that let MS-DOS users connect directly with
@{" UUCP " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 327} sites. In the info directory, you'll find information about ftp
and ftp sites.  The inet directory contains information about Internet.
     Available 24 hours.

     pit-manager.mit.edu  This site contains all available "frequently
asked questions" files for Usenet newsgroups in the pub/usenet directory.
See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp site.
     6 p.m. - 6 a.m.






VIRUSES

     ftp.unt.edu  The antivirus directory has anti-virus programs for MS-
DOS and Macintosh computers.
     7 p.m. - 7 a.m.


WEATHER

     vmd.cso.uiuc.edu  No password needed. The wx directory contains
@{" GIF " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 138} weather images of North America.  Files are updated hourly and take
this general form: CV100222.  The first two letters tell the type of
file: CV means it is a visible-light photo taken by a weather satellite.
CI images are similar, but use infrared light.  Both these are in black
and white.  Files that begin with SA are color radar maps of the U.S.
that show severe weather patterns but also fronts and temperatures in
major cities.  The numbers indicate the date and time (in GMT - five
hours ahead of EST) of the image: the first two numbers represent the
month, the next two the date, the last two the hour. The file WXKEY.GIF
explains the various symbols in SA files.

@EndNode
@Node AMINET "AMINET ftp sites for Amiga files"
@TOC FTPSITES
@NEXT FTPSITES
@PREV FTPSITES
Aminet is a set of interconnected FTP sites and other file accessing
services.  It is structured differently from most other FTP sites so
please read these instructions carefully.  Even more important: Read
new/README.BEFORE.UPLOAD before uploading anything, or your upload is in
danger of being deleted.  Wherever not mentioned otherwise, pub/aminet/ is
the path for the files described (some sites have a shortcut).


                           BEGINNERS NOTES
                           ---------------

You'll find most of your questions answered in the text info/start/ftp.faq
which is also posted to comp.sys.amiga.introdiction bi-weekly. The
archivers needed to unpack the files stored here can be found in
util/arc/, the archivers themselves are self-extracting in most cases, ie.
start them and they'll unpack automatically.


                              FILE LISTS
                              ----------

For a list of the last week's uploads, download     RECENT
For a list of all files, download                   SHORT
For a list of all files, wider than 80 chars, get   LONG

Those lists are updated twice day and have a description of every file
contained.  Most files also have longer descriptions in their .readme
file. The above lists also exist in a compressed (means .Z) version.  To
see newest files, use the command 'get RECENT -' or 'get RECENT |more'. To
find a file 'foo' you are looking for, download SHORT.Z and type 'zcat
SHORT | fgrep foo' in the shell.


                          DIRECTORY STRUCTURE
                          -------------------

The directories within /pub/aminet/ are:

new/     New files, upload here. (See new/README.BEFORE.UPLOAD)
priv/    Private uploads.        (See new/README.BEFORE.UPLOAD)

biz/     Business software       misc/    Miscellaneous
comm/    Communications          mods/    Music modules
demo/    Demos                   mus/     Music software
dev/     Developer software      os20/    OS 2.0 and above
disk/    Disk tools              os30/    OS 3.0 and above
game/    Games software          pix/     Pictures
gfx/     Graphics software       text/    Text related
hard/    Hardware related        util/    Utilities
info/    Site information

A complete list of the sub-directories can be found in the file TREE.



                                MIRRORS
                                -------

These are the members of Aminet and have the files from the main site.
Most delete old files. wuarchive.wustl.edu and ftp.luth.se keep all files.
Whenever possible, use the mirror that is the closest to you. Most mirrors
get updated three times a day.

Scandinavia  ftp.luth.se             130.240.18.2    pub/aminet/
Switzerland  litamiga.epfl.ch        128.178.151.32  pub/aminet/ (*)
Germany      ftp.uni-kl.de           131.246.9.95    pub/aminet/
Germany      ftp.uni-erlangen.de     131.188.1.43    pub/aminet/
Germany      ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de     130.149.17.7    pub/aminet/
Germany      ftp.uni-paderborn.de    131.234.2.32    pub/aminet/
USA          ftp.etsu.edu            192.43.199.20   pub/aminet/
USA          wuarchive.wustl.edu     128.252.135.4   pub/aminet/
UK           src.doc.ic.ac.uk        146.169.2.1     pub/aminet/
Australia    splat.aarnet.edu.au     192.107.107.6   pub/aminet/ (*)
   (*) closed 6:30am to 4pm weekdays



                         OTHER AMINET ACCESSES
                         ---------------------

There are many other ways than FTP to access Aminet. On the Internet:

- ADT. This is a front end for FTP that allows easy access to Aminet. Get
  it from comm/misc/ and compile it on your UNIX box.

- FSP. Aminet Files can be downloaded from the FSP site ftp.luth.se at
  port 6969. wuarchive.wustl.edu and src.doc.ic.ac.uk have FSP on port
  21, but can't be reached from everywhere due to firewalls. Uploads
  are accepted and forwarded at wuarchive and ftp.luth.se

- Telnet. src.doc.ic.ac.uk strikes again. You can telnet to 146.169.2.1
  and @{" log in " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 170} as 'sources', which gives you a UNIX account where you can
  download the files on src using commands like 'sz' and 'kermit', or
  just browse around.

- NFS. The only Aminet site that allows NFS mounting of the archives is
  wuarchive.wustl.edu. FTP there and read the details in /README.NFS

- IRC. On Internet Relay Chat, you can talk to various server robots like
  Mama, LitBot and MerBot, to do queries and retrievals. Find out more
  about them using '/msg mama help', for example.

- Gopher. There is a gopher server for Aminet at merlin.etsu.edu and at
  src.doc.ic.ac.uk. To connect, use the command 'gopher <sitename>'.



People without Internet access can find Aminet at the following locations:

- CD-ROM. Aminet is available on CD-ROM. Talk to info@cdrom.com, or write
  to Walnut Creek CDROM, 1547 Palos Verdes Mall, Walnut Creek CA 94596, USA
  or phone 1 800 786 9907, +1 510 674 0783 or +1 510 674 0821 (FAX)

- Mailserver. The Aminet site src.doc.ic.ac.uk has an email server that
  sends out uuencoded binaries. Send a message with HELP in the body
  to ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk. You can also use ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com to
  retrieve files from any Aminet site, but please use an American one
  to save bandwidth. Send HELP there for information, too.

- @{" Mailing lists " link BigDummy.Guide/LINGO 177}. If you want to get the list of new uploads mailed every
  week, send a mail with 'SUBSCRIBE aminet-weekly' in the body to
  listserv@wunet.wustl.edu or if you want daily updates, just use
  'SUBSCRIBE aminet-daily' instead. Keep the welcome mail in case you
  forget how to unsubscribe...

- Usenet. A list of recent uploads is posted every week to the newsgroups
  comp.sys.amiga.misc and de.comp.sys.amiga.archive.

- Modem. In Germany, you can download the Aminet files from the Incubus
  BBS, telephone number 0931 781464. The login is 'ftp', password 'ftp'.

- EZINFO. This is an internet BBS in Switzerland. Here you can download by
  Kermit or ZMODEM, but you need to be verified to become user. Modem dial
  01 251 20 02, then type 'call b050' to connect to EZINFO.



                                 HISTORY
                                 -------

Aminet was founded by members of ICU (computer science students' club) in
Zurich, Switzerland, using an A3000UX donated by Commodore Switzerland. In
the beginning it was one FTP site among many, but when what had been the
biggest site (ab20.larc.nasa.gov) shut down, people started adopting
amiga.physik as the replacement.  In order to share the both the
performance burdon and network load, two mirror sites were installed.  A
new 1GB harddisk donated by Walnut Creek and the user community allowed
Aminet to keep all old files. The number of mirror FTP sites increased to
the current 10.  Today, Aminet is the leading Internet source for Amiga
software, giving authors a far-reaching distribution medium and the user
community a place to look for both new and old freely distributable
software.

                              DISCLAIMER
                              ----------

The administrators of Aminet give no warranties concerning the files
stored. Use at your own risk.  Specifically, they cannot guarantee that
the programs are virus-free, uncorrupted, freely distributable or even
useful in any way, although we do our best to ensure the above.

                          CONTACT ADDRESSES
                          -----------------

Please direct reports about corrupt, illegal or infected files to
ftp@amiga.physik.unizh.ch (do not wait for someone else to do it!).
For problems local to one mirror, check the local README's to find out
about the administrator there. Some of the the people involved:

 Urban D. Mueller   umueller@amiga.physik.unizh.ch
 Chris Schneider    cschneid@amiga.physik.unizh.ch
 Peter Sjostrom     pjotr@ludd.luth.se
 Brian Wright       wright@merlin.etsu.edu

@EndNode
