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Section II - Uploading and Downloading Files

1) Interfacing with DGL

• 1.a) FTP - Graphical Interface (CuteFTP, wu_ftp, fetch, etc.)
• 1.b) FTP - Shell Interface
• 1.c) Telnet - Graphical Interface
• 1.d) Telnet - Shell Interface

  2) Ascii and Binary Modes

1) Interfacing with DGL

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 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.

1.a) FTP - Graphical Interface (CuteFTP, wu_ftp, fetch, etc.)

Users with graphical interfaces can run a program such as CuteFTP or fetch to interface with DGL. Just log into your domain name with the userid 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 userid resides.

1.b) FTP - Shell Interface

For Unix users, at the shell prompt, type "ftp your-domain.com" Then enter your userid 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.

1.c) 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:

ASCII files (text)

Type rz -a filename to put a file.

Type sz filename to get a file.

Binary files (graphics)

Type rz filename to put a file.

Type sz filename to get a file.

1.d) 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 -a filename to put a file.

Type sz filename to get a file.

Binary files (graphics)

Type rz filename to put a file.

Type sz filename to get a file.

2) ASCII AND BINARY MODES

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.