I've noticed from the system logs, and from some email to customer.services, that some users are having difficulty using ftp.acorn.co.uk. Here's some tips to help you out. Logging In to the Server ------------------------ >From your user account (allocated by your company, educational establishment or link service provider), type the following (if you are a Demon subscriber using KA9Q see below): ftp (this should start your site's ftp client program, and result in a prompt being displayed which looks something like "ftp>"; if it does not, consult your site's System Administrator.) Then type: open ftp.acorn.co.uk If this results in a "host not found" error, the Domain Name Server used by your site is not set up to alias our raw address; try open 136.170.129.1 instead. If you are using KA9Q the two commands above should be entered as one command, ie: ftp ftp.acorn.co.uk When you are presented with the familiar login: prompt, enter anonymous as your User ID. At the password: prompt, enter your full email address in IP format (ie u...@host.site.domain.country, as opposed to the JANET format of u...@country.domain.site.host); the server will validate your password as being an address, present you with an "ftp>" prompt, and leave you in the / directory. File Transfer from a UNIX client -------------------------------- If you are accessing the server from a UNIX-based system, you can navigate around the server using the familiar cd and ls commands. You will need to set your ftp client to binary mode; issuing binary at the prompt should do this. To access a file, even to read a ReadMe file, it is necessary to issue a get command to copy the file to your local host's filespace and read it there using your on-line editor of choice; get is also the command used to download the archives stored on the server. File Transfer from a VMS client ------------------------------- Under VMS, set def[] and dir should enable you to navigate around the server. Alternatively, the VMS ftp client program can be made to use the UNIX ftp command set. Indeed, for some versions of VMS ftp, it has been found necessary to do this as the client interprets the comma separating notional filename from notional filetype on the server as being a separator between filenames in a group. From your VMS prompt, type help ftp to find out how to do this on your site's release. Again, get is the command required to download files for either offline reading or further transfer. Server Contents --------------- There are currently 7 types of file stored on the server: Files which do not have a comma as part of the filename are plaintext. This currently covers ReadMe files, index files and press release documents. Files which end in ,695 are GIF files, and can be displayed using !ChangeFSI Files which end in ,ddc are Spark archives Files which end in ,ff9 are RISC OS Sprite files Files which end in ,ffb are uncompressed BASIC programs Files which end in /tar/Z have been compressed under UNIX; these files are meant to be decompressed using uncompress |tar xvf - or similar on a UNIX system. Files which end in /gz have been compressed with GNU Zip, and must be decompressed using an archiver which can cope with this file format. Of course, the number and location of the files on the system are subject to change; details of changes will be reflected in /pub/ReadMe. Closing the Connection and Further File Transfer ------------------------------------------------ Once your selection of files is in your local filespace, issue close to close the link between the Acorn ftp server and your host, and then issue quit to exit the ftp client program. If your site does not have Acorn computers available on a network connected to your server, the files can be transferred from your host via a suitable smart terminal and communication protocol available on your host (Kermit, etc) to floppy disc; make a note of the filenames before transferring, however, as filename truncation may occur. Although this will not damage the data downloaded, it could present problems when trying to assign filetypes once the files have been copied back onto an Acorn system; filetypes may need to be set manually. Spark archives, used to store multi-file documents and programs, may be decompressed using David Pilling's Spark or SparkFS; if you do not have either of these packages, a BASIC program, dearchive, has been provided in /pub/riscos/releases which, when run, will construct a copy of the public domain !SparkPlug Spark file reader and allow you to unpack the archives. Dave Walker Technical Support Specialist Customer Services _______________________________________________________________________________ aglo...@acorn.co.uk, moderator of comp.sys.acorn.announce. Submissions to announce-requ...@acorn.co.uk, other related mail to announ...@acorn.co.uk.