Here's a theoretical home directory listing for user cooldude:
667 Mar 7 15:32 .addressbook 3083 Mar 7 15:32 .addressbook.lu 0 Oct 4 02:03 .biffn 42 Apr 13 22:36 .forward 0 Oct 4 01:49 .mesgn 0 Mar 16 14:47 .motd-on 5006 Feb 5 21:54 .newsrc 17975 May 1 01:00 .pinerc 1024 May 22 12:00 Mail 512 Jan 8 12:32 News 512 Mar 5 01:11 public_htmlThe first column indicates the size of each file in bytes (characters). The next three columns are the date and time that the file was created/modified. The last column is the name fo the file.
How can I see what is in my directories?
To see ANY directory, there are two alternate menu paths: Top/Personal Communications/Transfer Files or Top/Internet/File Transfer (ftp). The 'Transfer Files' menu and the 'File Transfer' menu are similar, but numbered differently. At either of these menus you must 'CD' (Change Directory) to the desired directory. Then select 'List Current Directory'.Does uploading or downloading modify a file?
No, uploading or downloading only sends a copy to SVPAL, or to your personal computer, respectively. The original file is unchanged. There are processing routines that are possible during file transfers, but they are not available to SVPAL users. Again, if the correct procedures are used, the original file is unchanged, and the transferred file is an exact copy. If incorrect procedures are used, the 'received' file may be corrupted, or unusable.Note: There may be some 'padding' added at the end of the received file which will increase the file length/size, but the padding should not affect usage or readability of the file.
Where are files up or downloaded from?
There are TWO menu paths for up or downloading, starting from the top menu, as follows:"Top/Personal Communications/Transfer Files to-from SVPAL or Top/Internet/File Transfer/Transfer Files from-to SVPAL
Both paths take you to the File Transfer (XFER) menu. The XFER menu has choices for sending files to you, or sending files from you.
How does up or downloading work?
First of all, there are four possible directories that you may want to send the file from or to. They are home, Mail, News, or scratch. You must tell SVPAL which directory you want to send the file from or to. The default (normal working directory) is your home directory. You must CD (change directory) to one of the other three, if necessary or desirable.If you are downloading, CD to the appropriate directory if necessary, then list (display) the directory. You should see the file you want to download.
Next, you must select a 'transfer protocol' which will be used to transfer the file. (more in a later question)
What is a transfer protocol in communications?
Well, if two people, or two computers wish to communicate, they must both be doing the same thing, or there will be problems.Protocols can be thought of as languages, although it has more to do with signaling back and forth on the amount of data that gets sent and received in each bunch, error detection/correction, and other good technical things.
First, one computer sends part of the file, and the other computer receives. Then they switch, the second computer sends "I got it okay, send some more." Then the first computer sends more data. Back and forth, back and forth, until the transfer is complete.
There are about four basic transfer protocols: Kermit, Xmodem, Ymodem, and Zmodem. Unfortunately, there are many variations, or 'flavors' of these protocols, which cause the possible combinations to go into the dozens. Not all comm programs support all transfer protocols. Experiment with your comm program to see what it can do.
The transfer protocol you select on SVPAL must be supported or 'doable' by your own PC's communication program. And, you must select the same transfer protocol within your own comm program. So you select it in two different places. From the SVPAL menu so that SVPAL knows how to send/receive it, and in your own comm program so that your own machine knows how to receive/send it.
How does file transfer affect file names?
Kermit and Zmodem will send the file with the same name that it has on SVPAL, or on your machine. Therefore, you only specify the name when you start the 'send' procedure under Kermit or Zmodem.With Xmodem or Ymodem, you can use the same name, or specify a new name that the file will have when it is received. Therefore, you must specify the name twice when you start the 'send' procedure. Once to the sending machine, and again to the receiving machine, under Xmodem or Ymodem.
What is a 'file pattern'?
A 'pattern' is a single character, or multiple characters, or no characters, ending with an '*'. For instance suppose you had the following files in your directory: file2 and file16 and filefoo. When prompted for the files to be removed, if you answered with: fi* , then the system would recognize the above 3 files as belonging to that pattern. Caution: If you use the file pattern '*', Unix considers that ALL files in a directory match the pattern.DOS users beware: Unix treats the * differently than DOS does; check a Unix book on this subject. For instance, Unix allows more than one * in a construct. While DOS ignores the second * in the construct fi*ena*e , Unix does not.
MAC NOTES: DOS limits file names, of course, to eight characters, a dot, and then three letters. Unix file names can be pretty long and can even contain some bizarre characters. Chances are, your PC will not like these bizarre characters. Watch out for Unix filenames that contain slashes, question marks, quotes, double-quotes, tildes (which are ~), or anything else like that. When uploading from a Mac, remember, Unix does not like spaces in a filename, although it can handle the 28 allowable characters in a Mac filename. Also, long Unix filenames, when downloaded to a DOS system, will truncate the name.
How do I actually download?
After you know you are working with your appropriate SVPAL directory, select a transfer protocol to initiate the transfer on the SVPAL side.Use 'Send files FROM SVPAL to you' selections 1, 2, 3 or 4. You may have to type the file name, depending on the protocol. SVPAL will respond that it is ready to send.
Then you must initiate the transfer process on your own machine by executing a 'receive' or 'download' function. Since most comm programs are set up differently, this procedure will vary. After the transfer is complete, you may have to hit 'enter' or 'return' to get back to a menu.
How do I actually upload?
After you know you are working with your appropriate SVPAL directory, and after you have selected a transfer protocol on your own machine, select the same protocol from the SVPAL XFER menu to initiate the transfer process on the SVPAL side. Use 'Send files TO SVPAL from you' selections 5, 6, 7 or 8. You may have to type the file name, depending on the protocol. SVPAL will respond that it is ready to receive. Then you must initiate the transfer process on your own machine by executing a 'send' or 'upload' function. Since most comm programs are set up differently, this procedure will vary. After the transfer is complete, you may have to hit 'enter' or 'return' to get back to a menu.NOTE: As of this writing, the Xmodem and Ymodem UPLOAD functions on SVPAL do not function properly, if at all. Tech will get these fixed as soon as they can get to it.
Why am I being disconnected while downloading files?
While downloading, the system does not detect any keyboard activity and thinks you are idle, then disconnects you. This is a problem that tech is trying to resolve. In the meantime, use Zmodem, which, after you log back on, will resume where it was interrupted.How can I avoid CRC errors?
CRC errors may be related to a bad phone connection. Or there may be a problem with your modem or comm program setup. Try a different comm program and/or transfer protocol if you can.Where do files go when I transfer files to SVPAL using FTP?
They go to your scratch directory.Can I download an entire mail folder?
With the exception of the InBox, folders can be downloaded. Just CD to Mail directory, and type the folder name when you are asked for the name of the file to transfer.To download mail from your InBox, s)ave it to a folder and download the folder from the Mail directory. Or e)xport mail and download that filename from your home directory.
Why can't I download the file named "README_WELCOME"?
Well, everything looks great when you start the transfer under Kermit or Zmodem, but when DOS sees the file named README_WELCOME coming, it sends back a message to SVPAL's Unix system that says "Huh? You've got to be kidding", and refuses the transfer. The file doesn't conform to the DOS 'eight dot three' file naming convention, for example, readwelc.txt.You'll have to rename the file before you transfer it, or use a transfer protocol that allows you to receive the file under a DOS-legal name on your system. Use either Xmodem or Ymodem. With both of those protocols, unlike Kermit and Zmodem, you have to give an explicit name to the file on your end before it transfers, so just give it a name DOS will accept.
With FTP you can avoid the problem by receiving the file at SVPAL with a suitable name. 'Get' the file by typing 'get foo_file_name newname' (without the quotes) and using a DOS-legal file name for newname.
How do download a file beginning with a period?
You can download it to your computer by using XMODEM or Ymodem in which you can rename the file to something your computer accepts.
I downloaded a text file but I can't read it. Why?
First of all, be sure that the file is in fact a text file, meaning a file with only text, numeric, and normal characters such as the ones on your keyboard keycaps, and no "special" characters. "Special" characters are NOT on your keyboard. Most word-processing programs save files with "special" characters which make the file impossible to read, except from within the same word-processing program.A more likely probability is the problem resulting from the fact that DOS and Unix end a screen line of text differently. Unix uses a single 'non-displayable' character to end a screen line, while DOS uses two 'non-displayable' characters. You can't see them, but they are there.
When you download an ascii file written on a Unix machine, you may or may not see 'garbage' characters. Different editors (text readers) are affected differently. DOS Edit, for instance, handles the difference well, and will actually convert the file to the DOS format when you open, and then save the file - even if you don't edit it. The Notepad editor in Windows will show the garbage characters and not 'break' the screen line where it ended in Unix, but will display incredibly long lines.
If you have an editor such as Edit which will convert the file to the DOS format, and you will only print the file or view it on your screen, that should solve the problem.
The file DOS2UNIX.ZIP for DOS unzips into dos2unix.com and unix2dos.com which will convert the formats back and forth. RUM10.ZIP (Rapid Unix to MSDOS text translator) converts Unix to the DOS format only. Both are freeware. To get these files, from the SVPAL top menu choose Internet, then Gopher, then San Jose State, then Software Archives, then Msdos sites, then oak.oakland.edu, then SimTel, then msdos/, then textutil/ .
Mac text processors will convert Unix text files fine. If you are creating text files on the Mac to upload to the Unix system, remember to "Save as..." text with line breaks. Also, the Unix text processor may complain that there is no
If you are using significantly more than the normal amount of of disk space, you should download and/or delete some files. If you don't know how, see the following FAQ.before the . This is OK. If you save the file in pico or whatever you are using, it will do the right thing with that last . Why can't I see the GIF file I downloaded?
Files ending in '.gif' are image files. You will need a GIF viewer on your machine to see the image.Why doesn't SVPAL recognize my filename?
I can see FooBar.zit in my home directory, but when I try to download, it doesn't work. Why? You must type the file name EXACTLY as it is shown on SVPAL. Unix is case-sensitive. It thinks FooBar.zit and foobar.zit are two completely different files.What is a file with a '.zoo' or '.z' extension?
These extensions, or suffixes (the characters after the dot in DOS) indicate they are compressed files, and also indicate the program needed to decompress them. (See the FAQ How can I recognize a compressed file?)What is file compression?
Files are compressed by a 'compression program' to significantly reduce their size for more efficient storage/backup, or faster electronic transmission. After files are compressed, they must be uncompressed by the same program, or a 'companion' program, before they can be used or viewed. So, if you download a compressed file, you must have a program available on your machine to decompress and use/view the file.What are files with a '.zip' extension?
Files with a '.zip' extension have been compressed, or 'zipped' with a very popular shareware compression /decompression program for DOS called 'pkzip'. The actual name for this file, and the latest version of the program is pkz204g.exe. It can be downloaded from SVPAL via the menus: About SVPAL/Files to download/Binary. This is a self-extracting program which 'explodes', or decompresses itself (wow!) into a number of files, including pkzip.exe, pkunzip.exe, and documentation files; therefore, if you download this file to your machine, placing it into a separate, empty subdirectory, perhaps 'pkware', BEFORE YOU EXPLODE IT, is strongly suggested.After you have pkzip correctly installed on your machine, you can see what's in any '.zip' file before you unzip it with the pkzip '-v' option. Check the manual.
Note: This a shareware program, and a fee and registration are requested.
Does unzipping files cause any problems?
Many zipped files, particularly programs, explode into numerous individual files; sometimes dozens of them. It is good practice to put the file into a separate, EMPTY directory BEFORE you explode/unzip it to see what you get, then move the resulting file(s) if necessary. It's a real shocker to explode a zipped file into 30 or more individual files, and then realize you've done it in your root directory, or in a directory with 200 other files. If you like to keep orderly directories, (and don't we all?) finding the files that resulted from the zipped file unzipping can be a real aggravation.How can I recognize a compressed file?
Files which are compressed are normally given a unique suffix, or extension (the last three characters after the dot in DOS), to identify the program which compressed them. As indicated in a previous question, files with the suffix '.zip' can be unzipped with the pkunzip.exe program.There are many, many compression programs. The following chart gives a few suffixes, and the program needed to decompress them.
extension decompression program
Extension Program/Description .ARC arc602.exe .ARJ arj241.exe .gz gzip-1.2.4 .Hqx xbin23.zip .LZH lha255.exe .tar tar.zip .UUE ncdc151.zip .z tar.zip .ZIP pkunzip (from pkz204g.exe, see above) .ZOO zoo210.exe .sea self-extracting archive (is extractable w/o separate app) .sit StuffIt Expander .cpt Compact Pro .dd DiskDoubler Where can I get more information on compression?
Most Internet texts will have a section on file compression. File compression types can get to be a fairly complicated subject. If you are interested, be prepared to talk to knowledgeable folks, do some heavy digging and studying, etc. Don't be too concerned, however. You can often find what you want, or an alternate file compressed by pkzip. Pkzip is very widely used.Where can I get compression information on the net?
A good site is the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. You can reach this site by FTP at: ftp.cso.uiuc.edu . Look for the directory named doc . Change to the directory named pcnet . Look for the file named compression . This file has an extensive collection of compression types for DOS, Mac, Unix, VAX, Amiga, etc.What are binary and ASCII?
These are types of files - ASCII files are human-readable, generally text. Binary files can only be read by computers; they can be encoded text files or other types of files, and look like 'lots of garbage characters' if you try to read them.The Internet is set up to transfer ASCII files in mail, so if you want to send binary files via mail, they must be encoded on the sender's end and decoded on the receiver's end, WITH THE SAME encoding program. There are many encoding programs for DOS and Mac.
Note: SVPAL's Pine mailing program uses a protocol called MIME which automatically transforms an "attached" binary file. If the file is sent to a system using MIME, the attachment will automatically be returned to its original form. (See the 'mail FAQ' for more on attached files.)
What is file encoding?
Encoding is similar to, but not the same as compression. Encoding primarily changes the file structure, generally for electronic transmission, because of transmission network differences. Encoding normally increases the file size. Encoded files must be decoded by the decoding program after they are transmitted.What are UUENCODE and UUDECODE?
Uuencode is a program which encodes a binary file into ascii so it can be sent over diverse networks, or via mail. Uudecode decodes the file's ascii representation back into binary. Both programs are in the 'uuencode.zip' file, which can be downloaded from SVPAL via the menus: About SVPAL/Files to download/Binary.What is a signature file?
A signature file can be created or edited in your home directory to contain the cute taglines you see on e-mail messages and Usenet posts. From the main menu, do: Personal Information/Edit your signature file. If you have created the file, you can see it, named '.signature' in your home directory. Note: Tin will give you an error message if your sig is more than 4 lines. Use 4 lines or less.What are plan and project files?
Plan and project files are created or edited in your home directory to contain information about yourself which you want others to see when they use the 'finger' utility.From the main menu, check out Personal Information/Edit your plan file (or project file). When you've created/edited these, go to the Internet/Check remote users(finger) menu and 'finger' your own login name. Only one line is displayed from the project file, multiple lines are displayed from the plan file.
Note: Some services, notably the large on-line services such as Prodigy and Compuserve, do not allow you to finger their members. Other services do; svpal.org and netcom.com allow this.
The files are '.plan' and '.project' in your home directory.
What is shareware and freeware?
Freeware programs are distributed for non-commercial use at no cost, as a service by their authors. Shareware programs are distributed to various sites by their authors with a request that if you try the program and use it enough to feel as though you should pay for it, then fill out the registration and send them a check. It's software on the honor system; LET YOUR CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE. Give the authors an incentive to make improvements and keep this stuff coming. Note: PKZIP, mentioned earlier, is shareware.What does the ~ character mean in Unix?
The tilde ( ~ ) character represents the user's home directory in a "path" description. Therefore, from ANY current directory, home, News, Mail or scratch, the following file specification:~/Mail/filename
would be interpreted by Unix to mean that the file is in the user's 'username/Mail' directory. For instance, if the current directory is your home directory, and you want to download a file from the News directory, when prompted for the file name you could type: ~/News/filename where filename is the name of the file you want to send to your own machine.
What is a 'wild card'?
The asterisk character (*) can provide a powerful, but dangerous (when used carelessly) function. In Unix, the '*' substitutes for zero or more occurrences of ANY character. Usage of the '*' in Unix is a little different than it is in DOS. If in doubt, consult a Unix book.Is there a quick way to check my SVPAL disk usage?
From the top menu, select '14. Manage Files', then select '15. Disk Usage Report'. You'll see something similar to the following:Disk Storage Report User janedoer (Uid: 4176) Month 2007-05 Days 22 Quota 80.0M (Max: 100.0M) Average 45.1M Current 43.6M Min 37.8M Max 57.5M Account Storage Report Mail inbox 784.0K - /var/mail/janedoer Home Directory 30.8M - /users/home/home/janedoer Home Directory breakdown Saved mail 24.0M - Mail/ Saved news 168.0K - News/ Personal web page 482.0K - public_html/ Other files (not included in quota) Scratch files 2.0K - /scratch/janedoer -----------------This report indicates your disk storage usage for the current month-to-date. The Quota indicates the amount of storage you may use before incurring additional charges. The Average indicates your average usage for the current month. The Current indicates your current usage at the moment. The Min indicates your lowest daily usage for the current month. The Max indicates your highest daily usage for the current month.
The Account Storage Report reports your usage by mail inbox and home directory (primary folder).
The Home Directory breakdown reports your usage by directory/folder under your home directory. These include: Mail (Saved email messages), News (Saved Usenet news articles), Personal web page, and Web site (a report for each hosted web site).
In this example the average usage is 45.1 MB, which is less that the quota of 80MB, so no additional disk charge is imposed. The mail inbox is currently using 784KB, which about 30MB in the home directory. In the home directory most of the storage is "saved" email in the Mail folder.
You can delete each message while it is displayed by hitting 'd' to mark it for deletion; if you DO hit 'd', Pine displays the next message. Hit 'n' to just move to the next message. You can also hit 'd' to mark highlighted messages for deletion on the list of messages. If you make a mistake and hit 'd' when you don't really want to, you can hit 'u' to remove the deletion marking. The messages are not deleted immediately, but only MARKED for deletion; they will actually be deleted later, or before you exit from Pine.
When you get the message "expunge xx messages from xx folder"?, you are being asked to confirm their deletion. Answer 'y' or hit 'enter'. Go through ALL of your folders getting rid of anything you possibly can. When a folder is empty, with no more messages in it, you may delete it from the 'list folders' screen by hitting 'd'. (Hitting 'd' on a folder with messages in it will wipe out the folder and all the messages it contains.)
--------------------------------------------------------- 9. Uncompress files 12. CD to home directory 10. List current directory 13. CD to scratch directory 11. CD to Mail directory 14. CD to News directory 15. Remove Files safely 'CD' means 'Change Directory'. --------------------------------------------------------- Choose CD to Mail directory, then choose List current directory. You should see something more or less like this: --------------------------------------------------------- total 17 drwx------ 2 username 512 Aug 18 08:30 . drwxrwx--- 6 username 1024 Aug 18 08:17 .. -rw------- 1 username 0 Aug 18 07:08 luke -rw------- 1 username 6193 Aug 12 09:53 goodies.txt -rw------- 1 username 0 Aug 18 07:07 mvanerp -rw------- 1 username 0 Aug 16 05:32 saved-messages -rw------- 1 username 9822 Aug 12 09:53 foobar.zit -rw------- 1 username 123456 Aug 12 09:53 bigfile.txt -rw------- 1 username 7310 Aug 16 18:05 sent -rw------- 1 username 9876 Aug 18 08:30 wowser.asc --------------------------------------------------------- THE FILE NAMES ARE IN THE RIGHT-HAND COLUMN! ! ! You should recognize your mail folder names. You don't have to do anything with your folders, since you already took care of that in Pine. Anything that is not the name of a folder is a file. You should be able to get rid of each of them by typing 15 and hitting 'enter' on the File transfer menu. You will be asked the name of the file to be deleted. Type it in EXACTLY as it is shown in the directory listing and hit 'enter' When you are asked to confirm by the prompt message "Delete whatever ?", answer y and hit 'enter'. Repeat the above steps till all the unneeded files are gone.
--------------------------------------------------------- total 2 drwxr-xr-x 2 username 512 Aug 16 08:32 . drwxrwx--- 6 username 1024 Aug 18 08:17 .. --------------------------------------------------------- If there are any files in the right hand column (there are none in this example), they can be deleted. Use the same procedure that you used for your Mail directory.
Use menus: Top/Personal Communications/Transfer Files. If necessary,
CD to the Home directory. Choose List Current Directory. You can delete
any files that do not start with a period or dot (.). Do NOT try to delete
Mail, News and Scratch; these are directories!
--------------------------------------------------------- drwx------ 2 username 512 Aug 18 08:46 Mail drwxr-xr-x 2 username 512 Aug 16 08:32 News drwxr-xr-x 2 username 512 Aug 15 10:51 scratch --------------------------------------------------------- REPEAT! Mail, News and scratch are directories. Don't delete!
Blame Steve Jobs. Unix and PC files are both strings of characters with ascii characters, the numbering of which determines whether the file is considered 'text' (lower only) or 'binary' (both lower and higher [extended ascii] characters. Mac files may have two strings of characters called the 'data fork' and the 'resource fork'. Macs look for both strings; Unix and PCs see the end of the first string and cutoff, leaving the other string behind. Mac simple text ('ascii') files have only one string.
Thus, plain text files can be readily exchanged and read by everyone. Since PCs have only one string, files can be transferred from PC to Mac and back to PC with no damage. The reverse process for files with both forks (which all executing Mac programs have) destroys the resource fork and ruins the usefulness of the program. To overcome this problem, Macs use a process called 'binhex' which translates binary Mac files to simple ascii text files. These can be uploaded and downloaded to PCs and Unix with no problem because there is only one string.
Downloading from SVPAL to your Mac is the same as to PCs as explained in other questions. Since the Mac accepts the Unix naming convention, you don't have to bother with changing names. Do note that Unix is case sensitive, though.
Once on your Mac, the files must be unbinhexed. A number of programs will do this, but the best way is to use a program that does both unbinhex and uncompress at the same time. (Almost all Mac programs are compressed with either a Stuffit product [.sit extension] or Compact Pro [.cpt extension]). One of these is Stuffit Expander 3.5.1 available in the user files area. From the main or top menu, select 'About SVPAL', then 'Files to Download', then 'Binary'. You simply drop the .hqx file on the Expander icon and it will automatically unbinhex and expand the resulting file if the compressed file has the .sit or .cpt extension. No further processing is necessary.
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