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From: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi)
Newsgroups: comp.archives.msdos.announce,comp.archives.msdos.d
Subject: CAM.announce and CAM.d Frequently Asked Questions
Message-ID: <ts9301160536.20614@chyde.uwasa.fi>
Date: 16 Jan 93 05:36:46 GMT
Expires: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 05:36:46 GMT
Sender: ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi)
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Organization: University of Vaasa
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garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/camfaq.zip by Prof. Timo Salmi
Updated Sat 16-Jan-1993 07:35
Frequently Asked Questions of
comp.archives.msdos.announce and comp.archives.msdos.d
======================================================
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE POSTING TO comp.archives.msdos.d
========================================================
1) What is the purpose of comp.archives.msdos.announce newsgroup?
2) What is the purpose of comp.archives.msdos.d newsgroup?
3) How do I obtain the announced files from the MsDos FTP sites?
4) Something is wrong with the .zip (.zoo) etc package I downloaded
5) What if the FTP site is busy most of the time?
6) How do I submit programs to the archives?
7) I don't have FTP. Where are the mail servers?
8) What if I do not get any response from a mail server?
11) Where can I find program package xxxxx.zip?
12) Where can I find tar (.Z) for MsDos? What about uudecode,
compress?
13) How do I get it from a mirror site? And which directory?
14) Would someone uuencode and email me the program I want?
15) Please email the information directly to me!
16) Me too!
17) Where do I get the Zoo, the Zip or the other unarchivers?
18) Where do I find games? Where do I find GIFs?
21) Where should I post if my topic does not belong here?
22) What if my question is not covered in this FAQ?
23) What has changed in this FAQ since the last time
31) Acknowledgments for contributions for my FAQ maintenance
....................................................................
1. *****
Q: What is the purpose of comp.archives.msdos.announce newsgroup?
A: The CAM.announce newsgroup was created the 15th of December
1992. It has the following clarified charter which gives it
purpose.
This moderated newsgroup is for the upload announcements and
related information from MSDOS FTP sites with PD and shareware
material. The subjects include the upload announcements via the
MSDOS FTP site moderators, the MSDOS sites' periodical summaries,
potential policy statements and downtime warnings, and the MSDOS FTP
site moderators' reports about the connectivity problems with their
archive sites. Unix announcements conform only if they directly
relate to transferring or handling the MSDOS material from the MSDOS
FTP sites.
Moderators:
Principal moderator Keith Petersen (w8sdz@TACOM-EMH1.Army.Mil)
Co-moderators Timo Salmi (ts@uwasa.fi) + FAQ maintenance
Brian O'Neill (oneill@cs.ulowell.edu)
Harri Valkama Not general, Garbo related only
Other FTP site moderators are welcome to help in
the joint moderation of this newsgroup.
Further clarification:
The purpose of comp.archives.msdos.announce is to be a ONE-WAY
channel for MSDOS upload announcements which the moderators handle,
and other one-way, occasional information relating to MSDOS FTP
sites. The moderators will therefore not be handling users'
discussion material, questions, and replies. The unmoderated
comp.archives.msdos.d newsgroup (see below) will cover that aspect.
Official one line description:
Announcements about MSDOS archives. (Moderated)
2. *****
Q: What is the purpose of comp.archives.msdos.d newsgroup?
A: The CAM.d newsgroup was created the 15th of December 1992. The
clarified charter is given below. (CAM.d officially replaces the
old comp.binaries.ibm.pc.archives newsgroup, which should thus no
longer be used.)
"This unmoderated newsgroup is the discussion subgroup of the
moderated comp.archives.msdos.announce newsgroup. The newsgroup
covers users' reports, questions and discussions about the PD and
shareware programs at the MSDOS FTP sites, and the users' questions
about the MSDOS FTP sites such as the users' connectivity problem
reports. The group is also for posting requests/replies concerning
where to find such programs as are stored at the MSDOS FTP sites.
However, users are expected to refer to the FTP site file indexes
before posting such requests. The newsgroup does not cover any
discussions of fully commercial programs or programs for other
operating systems like OS/2. (These programs have Usenet newsgroups
of their own)."
Official one line description:
Discussion of materials available in MSDOS archives.
3. *****
Q: How do I obtain the announced files from the MsDos FTP sites?
A: If you are not familiar with using anonymous FTP or mail servers
for downloading material from the MsDos FTP sites, you should
contact the maintainer of the relevant site for the instructions.
Take a look at the instructions (given below in the second section
A2 of this answer) on how to order for example the garbo.uwasa.fi
instructions from Timo Salmi (ts@uwasa.fi). The SIMTEL20
information is available from Keith Petersen
(w8sdz@TACOM-EMH1.Army.Mil).
Please note that you should not email the moderator(s) of an FTP
site for advice on another FTP site. Although the moderators often
cooperate, the individualized queries should always go directly to
the right place. If you need the moderators' email addresses, see
the MsDos FTP site list garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder*.zip. It also
contains information about the major mirroring sites.
Likewise you should pose the questions concerning the mirror
sites to the mirroring site's moderator, not to the moderator of the
site being mirrored. Although mirroring is very welcome and the
sites cooperate, the mirroring is an independent operation by the
sites that do the mirroring.
A2: Even if this relates to a specific site (Garbo), much of the
information in the referred instructions is generic:
"If you do not know how to go about getting material from the
Garbo archives, users are welcome to email me for the prerecorded
garbo.uwasa.fi instructions (long, circa 29Kb). North American
users are referred to the Garbo mirror on wuarchive.wustl.edu.
Australian users are referred to the archie.au mirror. For the
Asian users there is the NCTUCCCA.edu.tw mirror. The mirrors may
lag occasionally, or might not have all the files. If you do not
receive my reply within five days, please ask your own site's system
manager to construct a returnable mail path for you".
4. *****
Q: Something is wrong with the .zip (.zoo) etc package I downloaded
I get a CRC error when I try to process a .zip package.
A1: 1) Use a binary transfers at all phases.
2) Use at least version 1.10 of PKUNZIP
140116 Mar 28 1990 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/pkz110eu.exe
3) If #2 still won't solve it, use version 1.93A and 2.04C
compatible extractor on your MsDos PC
188818 Dec 28 02:04 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/pkz204c.exe
37211 Aug 31 00:17 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/unz50u1.exe
4) PKZIP 2.04C compatible Unix (actually multi-platform) version
by the Info-ZIP programming group is available as
299288 Jan 15 08:42 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/arcers/unz50p1.tar.Z
Using the old Unix version for testing 2.04C .zip files on
Unix can cause false CRC error messages.
(The most common error with .zoo is using the old 2.01 version
instead of the current version 2.10).
A2: In over 99.9% of cases this is caused either by the user's
failure to transfer the .zip packages in a binary mode or using
outdated version of PKUNZIP. It is not impossible, but it is
extremely rare that a package is actually corrupt on the archive
site.
Some users want to know in this connection where to get PKZIPFIX.
It is within the PKZIP distribution package (pkz110eu.exe,
pkz204c.exe), but using it will not rectify the errors described in
the above.
At least Garbo and SIMTEL20 do not support the beta test 1.93A
version of PKZIP, and the files should not be in PKZIP 1.93A format.
Nor do we yet support PKZIP version 2.04C. But some other FTP sites
and BBSes might.
If you are using a 386 or 486 computer, PKUNZIP may be having
some problems with your machine's BIOS. You can force PKUNZIP to
NOT use 386 instructions by doing SET PKNO386=ON at the DOS command
prompt to put the variable PKNO386 into your DOS environment.
There is also a Unix version of unzip in case you wish to look at
the package already at your Unix host. At Garbo it is
299288 Jan 15 08:42 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/arcers/unz50p1.tar.Z
If you do not know how to handle tar.Z files, see /unix/ts/0news-u
for some instructions.
A3: PKWare blissfully started advertising PKZIP 2.0 in Magazines
already in spring 1992. PKWare's PKZIP 2.04C (garbo.uwasa.fi:
/pc/arcers/pkz204c.exe) was finally released the 28th of December
1992. For the time being at least Garbo does not accept uploads in
the new format. We are waiting for the matters to settle,
especially since there has been quite a number of bug reports.
Also be warned that there are countless bogus PKZIP 1.20, 2.0,
2.02, 3.05 and whatever scams floating around. They usually are
hacks of PKZIP 1.93A beta test version. Some of them are trojans
and / or carry computer virii.
5. *****
Q: What if the FTP site is busy most of the time?
A: If you have a BSD Unix host consider automated FTP:
1670 May 24 11:51 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/ftp/batchftp.inf
29520 Oct 31 1990 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/ftp/batchftp102.tar.Z
This is advisable even if you don't have access problems, since
using batchftp decreases the overhead of being connected.
One thing not to do if an FTP site is busy. If you have the FTP
capability don't substitute FTP by mail servers. The mail servers
cause more load both on the net traffic and the mail server site's
capacity.
6. *****
Q: How do I submit programs to the archives?
A: The answer naturally depends on your target site. You should
contact the maintainer of the relevant site for more information.
For Garbo you can also get the instructions by downloading
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/UPLOAD.INF and /pc/UPTEXT.INF. Please read these
files carefully before you upload to Garbo.
For SIMTEL20 see the periodic posting by Keith Petersen, or
contact him directly. The addresses of the MsDos FTP site
moderators are in garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder*.zip.
7. *****
Q: I don't have FTP. Where are the mail servers?
A: I only have information on the Garbo mail server and a couple of
mail servers serving SIMTEL20. Information on the former is
included in the prerecorded long (29Kb) Garbo instructions I have
promised to send to users upon their email requests. Some
information on the latter is given in garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/
moder*.zip list of MsDos sites. I have no further information on
the mail servers serving SIMTEL20, and none on the mail servers of
the other sites.
Also watch for the periodic information on the CAM.announce
newsgroup the mail servers serving SIMTEL20.
In general, this is practically all the information I have on the
sites' mail servers. I don't run even Garbo's. (My fellow
moderator Harri Valkama does that). I just have the prerecorded
instructions. That's all, so I am afraid it is of little use of
asking me about any mail server details or problems.
8. *****
Q: What if I do not get any response from a mail server?
A: Contact your own site's system manager, and ask him/her to look
at it. You must has a returnable mail path in order to use the mail
servers.
One thing _*NOT*_ to do if you haven't ever gotten a response
from the particular mail server, is sending the the same request
repeatedly. It may reach the server even if the server cannot send
the request back to you, because of your bouncing address. You'll
just be overloading the mail server. Please do not do that!
If you have been able to get files from a mail server, but don't
get the file you are currently requesting, the same applies. Do
_*NOT*_ send the request over and over again. First assure from the
CURRENT file lists that the file really is there. Some programs get
updated fairly frequently, and their may be other similar reasons
for a temporary unavailability.
11. *****
Q: Where can I find program package xxxxx.zip?
A: If you already know fairly accurately what you are looking for,
then before posting you could first look at the file lists of the
major MsDos FTP sites, or try the Archie server. For example the
main file list for SIMTEL20 and Garbo are
wsmr-simtel20.army.mil: PD1:<MSDOS.FILEDOCS>SIMLIST.ZIP
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/INDEX.ZIP
garbo.uwasa.fi:/win31/INDEX
The tips in Samuel Ko's "The Most Useful MSDOS Programs at Simtel
and Garbo" garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/filelist/useful*.zip can be of help in
some cases.
Also see garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq*.zip Frequently Asked
Questions if you are looking for utilities like tar for MsDos (a
very common question), uudecode for MsDos, utilities to capture the
screen to a file or to the printer, utilities for directing all
printer output to a file, and so on and on.
Likewise should you need programs for your Unix host to transfer
and handle the files, programs like Zmodem and the various
(un)archiving utilities like unzip, scan the said material, and the
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/unix/INDEX.ZIP file list. Also take a look at
/unix/ts/0news-u for advice on making the Unix files operational on
your host.
As for the Archie servers, see garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq*.zip
again for the pointer. (But note that the coverage and an
up-to-date status of the servers is not always guaranteed).
This item is definitely not to discourage anyone from asking
relevant questions, quite the contrary. Contributions in the form
of news postings from all users are welcome and enjoyed. Asking
appropriate questions in order to find useful PD & shareware MsDos
programs _and_ giving informative answers to the relevant questions
is partly what the CAM.d newsgroup is about. However it is good to
know these basics before asking away. It is polite towards the
other users to have already taken some trivial preliminary steps.
A2: If you are quite a newcomer to all this then you'll need the
utilities to unpack the archived files like the .zip files referred
to in the above. You can get the archive extractors from many
sites. For Garbo the references to .zip extractors are the
following. The self-extracting MsDos unzip can be obtained as
PKWare's shareware
140116 Mar 28 1990 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/pkz110eu.exe
and Info-ZIP programming group's PD
37211 Aug 31 00:17 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/unzip50.exe
The Unix unzip can be obtained as
301326 Aug 22 12:49 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/arcers/unzip50.tar.Z
For the instructions to make a tar.Z operational see the ascii file
garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/ts/0news-u
12. *****
Q: Where can I find tar (.Z) for MsDos? What about uudecode,
compress?
A: For this and many similar questions recurring over and over
again please see Samuel Ko's "The Most Useful MSDOS Programs at
Simtel and Garbo" garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/filelist/useful*.zip.
A2: If you are not familiar with these formats, the (usually) Unix
files with the .Z extension are compressed files which you'll need
to uncompress. Uncompress is available as a standard feature on Unix
systems (see man uncompress), and you can get it for MsDos as
referred to in the former part of this answer.
Tarred files with the extension of .tar ("tape archives") can be
handled with a tar program on a Unix system, or on MsDos with the
utilities pointed to in useful*.zip.
Uuencoding is a 7-bit format for sending files in ordinary ascii
format. On a Unix system see "man uudecode" and for MsDos again see
useful*.zip.
If you need to know more, you might also take a look at the the
Frequently Asked Questions garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq*.zip. It also
contains some tips on these.
13. *****
Q: How do I get it from a mirror site? And which directory?
A: If you have managed to get a pointer to, and the location of a
utility you wish to have, and you would prefer to download it from a
mirror site near you, please consider the following. All the
potential questions concerning the mirroring site are best directed
to the moderator of the site that does the mirroring. Not to the
moderator of the site being mirrored. This is because mirroring is
an independent operation. You can find the email addresses of the
major MsDos mirror sites in the MsDos FTP site list. It is
available as garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder*.zip, where the "*" stands
for a growing version number.
Naturally, don't go asking the moderator to find the directory of
the utility for you. See the site's file list(s). The moder*.zip
has pointers to the file lists of some sites, and besides they are
usually well in evidence at the sites.
14. *****
Q: Would someone uuencode and email me the program I want?
A: It is not necessary to try to find someone who might be willing
to do it. That is what the mail servers are for. Watch out for the
periodic information in comp.archives.msdos.announce, or if you wish
to use the garbo.uwasa.fi mail server you are welcome to email me
for the prerecorded instructions (long, about 29Kb) as explained in
the item "How do I obtain the announced files from the MsDos FTP
sites?" the A2 part of the answer.
15. *****
Q: Please email the information directly to me!
A: Unless you genuinely intend to post a summary for the benefit of
the other potentially interested readers of CAM.d, that is quite a
selfish attitude, and is not condoned. To prosper the newsgroup
needs everyone to be ready to contribute one way or the other.
Please see garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq*.zip for more thoughts on
asking for emailed replies.
16. *****
Q: Me too!
A: To avoid this is exactly why we need the users to summarize if
they get useful replies by email. Likewise this is one of the
reasons why I almost always post my own pointers, and very seldom
email, even when the user has explicitly expressed such a wish in
his/her posting. Besides, it often pays take a moment to scan the
postings before rushing to anything. There may already be posted
replies to the question. Please do not post "me too's" even if we
understand why some users do this.
Now what to do if someone is clearly planning to hog the answers
to a question that definitely interests you. The answer is not to
send a me too, but to point out by email to the poster of the
request that you would like him/her to share the information s/he
gets from the gentle users of CAM.d.
The real point here is, however, that in order for CAM.d to
prosper we need all the gentle users to be also prepared to
contribute, not just to exploit.
17. *****
Q: Where do I get the Zoo, the Zip or the other unarchivers?
A: You can get Zoo and UnZip e.g. as
73461 Jul 12 1991 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/zoo210.exe
140116 Mar 28 1990 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/pkz110eu.exe
188818 Dec 28 02:04 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/pkz204c.exe
wsmr-simtel20.army.mil: PD1:<MSDOS.ZOO>ZOO210.EXE
wsmr-simtel20.army.mil: PD1:<MSDOS.ZIP>PKZ110EU.EXE
For more information, and the rest of the unarchivers reread item
"Where can I find program package xxxxx.zip?" and item "How do I get
it from a mirror site? And which directory?" and/or see
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq*.zip Frequently Asked Questions.
The unarchives (and many of the archivers) are available also for
Unix, which means that you can (if you wish to) check and handle the
downloaded files already on your Unix host before transferring the
files to your PC. At Garbo the relevant directory is /unix/arcers.
18. *****
Q: Where do I find games? Where do I find GIFs?
A: The most publicized sites SIMTEL20 and Garbo do not carry
recreational games, but for example ftp.ulowell.edu does. For a
list of MsDos FTP sites see garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder*.zip.
As for gifs, that information is not readily available since the
powers that be do not always look benevolently upon using the
resources for the purpose. Perhaps the best avenue for getting them
is calling BBSes (bulletin boards system). One pointer to an
InterNet site, however, is that wuarchive.wustl.edu carries a large
selection of gifs in their /graphics/gif directory. (That will all
from me on this.)
21. *****
Q: Where should I post if my topic does not belong here?
A: It is not possible to give fool-proof all-round advice on the
alternatives, but it would seem that fairly often one of the groups
below might turn out to be suitable:
comp.compression
comp.os.msdos.apps
comp.os.msdos.misc
comp.os.msdos.programmer
comp.os.ms-windows.apps
comp.os.os2.apps
comp.os.os2.misc
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
comp.editors
comp.graphics
comp.sources.wanted
news.newusers.questions
misc.books.technical
misc.forsale.computers
misc.legal.computing
alt.religion.computers
You might also find of interest reading
news.answers
22. *****
Q: What if my question is not covered in this FAQ?
A: There is a wealth of further relevant information in the the
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq*.zip Frequently Asked Questions
collection. Furthermore, there is plenty of additional information
and feedback (much but not all related to Garbo) in the
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/post*.zip collections.
23. *****
Q: What has changed in this FAQ since the last time
A: If you wish to know that, please store the previous version of
the FAQ. Then run it and the new version through any suitable diff
program. (I am too pressed for time to provide also such a service
for you).
31. *****
Q: Acknowledgments for positive contributions for my FAQ maintenance
A: The following persons have contributed in one constructive way
or another for this FAQ. In an alphabetical order Michael Evans,
Keith Petersen, David Sward.
..................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi Co-moderator of comp.archives.msdos.announce
Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous FTP archives 128.214.87.1
Faculty of Accounting & Industrial Management; University of Vaasa
Internet: ts@uwasa.fi Bitnet: salmi@finfun ; SF-65101, Finland