Big Dummy's Guide To The Internet Part 33

9.3 SENDING FILES TO NON-INTERNET SITES

What if your friend only connects with a non-Unix system, such as CompuServe or MCIMail? There are programs available for MS-DOS, Apple and Amiga computers that will encode and decode files. Of course, since you can't send one of these programs to your friend via e-mail (how would she un-encode it?), you'll have to mail (the old-fas.h.i.+oned way) or give her a diskette with the program on it first. Then, she can get the file by e-mail and go through the above process (only on her own computer) to get a usable file. Remember to give her an encoder program as well, if she wants to send you files in return.

For MS-DOS machines, you'll want to get uunecode.com and uudecode.com. Both can be found through anonymous ftp at wuarchive.wustl.edu in the /mirrors/msdos/starter directory. The MS- DOS version is as easy to use as the Unix one: Just type

uudecode filename.ext

and hit enter.

Mac users should get a program called uutool, which can be found in the info-mac/util directory on sumex-aim.stanford.edu.

Think twice before sending somebody a giant file. Although large sites connected directly to the Internet can probably handle mega-files, many smaller systems cannot. Some commercial systems, such as CompuServe and MCIMail, limit the size of mail messages their users can receive.

Fidonet doesn't even allow encoded messages. In general, a file size of 30,000 or so bytes is a safe upper limit for non-Internet systems.

9.4 GETTING FTP FILES VIA E-MAIL

To help people without ftp access, a number of ftp sites have set up mail servers (also known as archive servers) that allow you to get files via e-mail. You send a request to one of these machines and they send back the file you want. As with ftp, you'll be able to find everything from historical doc.u.ments to software (but please note that if you do have access to ftp, that method is always quicker and ties up fewer resources than using e-mail).

Some interesting or useful mail servers include: [email protected] Files of "frequently asked questions"

related to Usenet; state-by-state lists of U.S. representatives and Senators and their addresses and office phone numbers.

[email protected] Information about the Electronic Frontier Foundation; doc.u.ments about legal issues on the Net.

[email protected] Back copies of the Computer Underground Digest and every possible fact you could want to know about "The Simpsons."

[email protected] Programs for many types of personal computers; archives of past postings from many Usenet newsgroups.

[email protected] s.p.a.ce-related text and graphics (GIF-format) files.

[email protected] Detailed information about Internet.

Most mail servers work pretty much the same -- you send an e-mail message that tells them what file you want and how you want it sent to you. The most important command is "send," which tells the computer you want it to send you a particular file.

First, though, you'll need to know where the mail server stores that file, because you have to tell it which directory or sub- directory it's in. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can send an e-mail message to the archive-server that consists of one line:

index

The server will then send you a directory listing of its main, or root directory. You'll then have to send a second message to the archive server with one line:

index directory/subdirectory

where directory/subdirectory is the directory path for which you want a listing. An alternative is to send an e-mail message to our old friend archie, which should send you back the file's exact location on the archive-server (along with similar listings for all the other sites that may have the file, however) Once you have the file name and its directory path, compose a message to the archive server like this:

send directory/subdirectory/file

Send off the message and, anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days later, you'll find a new message in your mailbox: a copy of the file you requested. The exact time it will take a file to get to you depends on a variety of factors, including how many requests are in line before yours (mail servers can only process so many requests at a time) and the state of the connections between the server and you.

Seems simple enough. It gets a little more complicated when you request a program rather than a doc.u.ment. Programs or other files that contain unusual characters or lines longer than 130 characters (graphics files, for example) require special processing by the mail server to ensure they are transmitted via e-mail. Then you'll have to run them through at least one converter program to put them in a form you can actually use. To ensure that a program or other "non-mailable" file actually gets to you, include another line in your e-mail message to the server:

encoder

This converts the file into an encoded form. To decode it, you'll first have to transfer the file message into a file in your home directory.

One further complication comes when you request a particularly long file. Many Net sites can only handle so much mail at a time. To make sure you get the entire file, tell the mail server to break it up into smaller pieces, with another line in your e-mail request like this:

size 100000

This gives the mail server the maximum size, in bytes, of each file segment. This particular size is good for UUCP sites. Internet and Bitnet sites can generally go up to 300000. When you get all of these files in mail, transfer them to your home directory. Exit mail and call up each file in your host system's text processor and delete each one's entire header and footer (or "signature" at the end). When done with this, at your host system's command line, type

cat file1 file2 > bigfile

where file1 is the first file, file2 the second file, and so on. The > tells your host system to combine them into a new megafile called bigfile (or whatever you want to call it). After you save the file to your home directory (see section 9.2 above), you can then run uudecode, tar, etc. One word of caution, though: if the file you want is long enough that it has to be broken into pieces, think of how much time it's going to take you to download the whole thing -- especially if you're using a 2400-baud modem!

There are a number of other mail servers. To get a list, send an e-mail message to [email protected]:

send usenet/comp.sources.wanted/How_to_find_sources_(READ_THIS_BEFORE_POSTING)

You'll have to spell it exactly as listed above. Some mail servers use different software, which will require slightly different commands than the ones listed here. In general, if you send a message to a mail server that says only

help

you should get back a file detailing all of its commands.

But what if the file you want is not on one of these mail servers? That's where ftpmail comes in. Run by Digital Equipment Corp. in California, this service can connect to almost any ftp site in the world, get the file you want and then mail it to you. Using it is fairly simple -- you send an e-mail message to ftpmail that includes a series of commands telling the system where to find the file you want and how to format it to mail to you.

Compose an e-mail message to

[email protected]

Leave the "subject:" line blank. Inside the message, there are several commands you can give. The first line should be

reply address

where "address" is your e-mail address. The next line should be

connect host

where "host" is the system that has the file you want (for example: wuarchive.wustl.edu). Other commands you should consider using are "binary" (required for program files); "compress" (reduces the file size for quicker transmission) and "uuencode" (which encodes the file so you can do something with it when it arrives). The last line of your message should be the word "quit".

Let's say you want a copy of the U.S. const.i.tution. Using archie, you've found a file called, surprise, const.i.tution, at the ftp site archive.cis.ohio-state.edu, in the /pub/firearms/politics/rkba directory. You'd send a message to [email protected] that looks like this:

reply [email protected] connect archive.cis.ohio-state.edu binary compress uuencode get pub/firearms/politics/rkba/const.i.tution quit

When you get the file in your mailbox, use the above procedure for copying it to a file. Run it through uudecode. Then type

uncompress file.name

to make it usable.

Since this was a text file, you could have changed the "binary" to "ascii" and then eliminated the "uuencode" file. For programs, though, you'll want to keep these lines. One caveat with ftpmail: it has become such a popular service that it could take a week or more for your requested files to arrive.

9.5 THE ALL KNOWING ORACLE

One other thing you can do through e-mail is consult with the Usenet Oracle. You can ask the Oracle anything at all and get back an answer (whether you'll like the answer is another question).

First, you'll want to get instructions on how to address the Oracle (he, or she, or it, is very particular about such things and likes being addressed in august, solemn and particularly sycophantic tones). Start an e-mail message to

[email protected]

In the "subject:" line, type

help