6.1.4) Telnet - Shell
Interface
6.1)
INTERFACING WITH thriftweb.com
In all the sections below, a
distinction is made between transferring ASCII files and binary files.
This is important -- you must transfer files in the appropriate
mode.
Perl scripts and HTML files are
ASCII files, along with many others. If you use a plain text editor to
work with a file, it's an ASCII file. It's not terribly important to
transfer HTML files in ASCII mode, but it is important for Perl
scripts.
GIFs and JPEGs, as well as audio
and video files, are binary files. They must be uploaded in
binary mode, or will be corrupted. Files that look like garbage in a
plain text editor and require a more advanced program to edit are not
ASCII files, and must be transferred in binary mode.
6.1.1) FTP -
Graphical Interface (wu_ftp, fetch, etc.)
Users with graphical interfaces can run a
program such as WS_ftp, cuteFTP, or fetch to interface with thriftweb.com.
Just log into your domain name with the username and password we
provide you. If you do not have your own domain name, we will provide
you with the name of our host where your username resides. (Or, follow
the instructions in 6.1.3 and note the machine name in the login
prompt.)
See 1.2.1.3)
MS Windows Access in Chapter One for details.
6.1.2) FTP - Shell
Interface
For Unix users, at the shell prompt, type
ftp your-domain.com. Then enter your username and password when
prompted.
ASCII files (text)
Type ascii to make sure you are in
ascii mode.
Type put filename to put a file.
Type get filename to get a file.
Binary files (graphics)
Type binary to make sure you are in
binary mode.
Type put filename to put a file.
Type get filename to get a file.
6.1.3) Telnet -
Graphical Interface
Simply run the program on your machine
that contains telnet in its name. Then log onto your-domain.com (or .net
or .org) with your userid and password.
Once logged on, you may use the
following commands (assuming your telnet program knows or can be
taught about ZMODEM, which often isn't the case):
ASCII files (text)
Type rz to put a file.
Type sz -a filename to get a file.
Binary files (graphics)
Type rz filename to put a file.
Type sz -b filename to get a file.
6.1.4) Telnet - Shell
Interface
At the shell prompt, type telnet -8
your-domain.com. Then enter your userid and password when prompted.
Once logged on, you may use the
following commands:
ASCII files (text)
Type rz filename to put a file.
Type sz -a filename to get a file.
Binary files (graphics)
Type rz filename to put a file.
Type sz -b filename to get a file.
6.2)
ASCII AND BINARY MODES
Go up and read 6.1. It's covered there.
So why this section? If this
seems obvious, sorry, but probably the single biggest type of problem
we have to correct or tell users to do over is problems caused by
having the wrong mode active. We needed this in big letters so you'd
find it.
Macintosh users: in Fetch,
the binary mode referred to throughout the manual is 'raw'. The other
option uploads too much data, corrupting the file.
In case you're wondering
what the fuss is about -- aren't text files standardized? -- here's
the explanation. While ASCII is a standard for encoding text, it does
not specify how to end lines. There are two obvious candidates in the
ASCII character set: CR and LF. *nix machines, such as the thriftweb.com
WWW machines, use LF to terminate lines. Macintoshes use CR. DOS,
Windows, and NT machines use CR LF (both, in that order). When
transferring files between machines of different types, you need to
account for this, hence ASCII mode. To avoid damaging binary files (where
the bytes don't have the ASCII semantics) there is binary mode.
