Downloading Files using TeleFinder/UserŞ Ą Finding files (Command-"F") Ą How to get information about files Ą Setting a default download folder Ą Which transfer protocol to use Ą Extracting ".cpt" and ".sit" files (Stuffit Expander, Compactor Pro) Ą What are "Disk Images" and how do you use them? (ShrinkWrap, DiskCopy) Ą File attachments, or email messages with BinHexed files (Stuffit Expander) Downloading files from our BBS is simplicity itself: for any file which you wish to download, first highlight its icon by clicking on it just once, and then drag the file over to the icon of your hard disk or the "File Basket" window. The transfer process should begin automatically if you are using the Background protocol. If you are using Zmodem or XModem (perhaps you selected Zmodem or XModem from the "Special" menu), you must manually initiate the transfer on your end. By using the "Shift-Click" feature common to the Macintosh Finder, you may "batch-download" an entire group of files to your hard drive. Remember, however, that you cannot download an entire folder -- you must select individual files inside of the folder. The majority of files on this BBS may be found in separate sections. We have made available a CD-ROM containing hundreds of megabytes of files from AMUG. The CD-ROM is easily recognized by its "AMUG" title. More recent files are stored in the "Files" section. The "Files" area is further divided into a "New" folder, a "Macintosh" folder, and a "PC" folder. Recently acquired files are first placed in the "New" folder. After a few days these new files are sorted and placed into either the "Macintosh" folder, or the "PC" folder. Ą Finding files using the BBS Find File command If you wish to quickly determine whether or not a particular file may be found on the BBS, you may use the "Find" command, which is located under the "Special" menu at the top of your screen. By pressing the Command key and "F" you can quickly jump to the Find File feature. "BBS Find File" allows you to quickly search selected parts of the BBS for a file. Select the part of the BBS you want to search from the "Search" pop-up menu. Every BBS icon to which you have access appears in this menu. Next, enter a part of a file name in the "names containing" edit field. Then click in the "Find" button to begin the search. Open text files, folders, and message threads from the list of matching files using the "Open" button. The "Open" button for other types of files opens those files' "Information" windows along with any associated file comments that have been entered about those files. Keep in mind that if you select all areas, you will be searching many gigabytes of materials and the CD Roms are slower than searching the main hard drive. Ą How to get information about files Before downloading files, especially large ones, it pays to determine whether or not the files will be of any use to you. Most of the files inside of the Applications folder will only UPDATE an older version of the application. If you don't own the application, the update will do you no good. Similarly, many of the utilties require a color Macintosh, or System 7 to function. Checking a file's information field will save you frustration later on. Here's how to quickly get information about most of the files which you will find on the CCS bulletin board: - If you are browsing through the CD-ROM, read the "abstracts" for a file before downloading the file(s). The abstract should give you a brief summary of what the file does and what it requires. - If you are looking at files in the "Files Area" section, first select the file icon by clicking on the icon just once. Then select the "Get Info" command from the File menu at the top of your screen. TeleFinder will now display the file's name, size, and date it was created. Usually, you will also see a short description of the file in this window. If you decide that you want the file, click on the "Receive" button to begin the transfer process to your hard disk. Ą Setting a default download folder To automatically determine the folder on your hard drive where downloaded files should be stored, you use the Default Receive Folder feature of TeleFinder/User. Along the bottom of your screen you will see several new icons which TeleFinder uses to simplify common BBS operations. The Receive icon (the icon of a diskette with an arrow pointing towards the bottom of your screen) represents the default location for storing files which you transfer from the BBS to your hard disk. Double-click on this icon to open the standard Macintosh directory window. Navigate through this window until you find a folder on your hard drive that you wish to use to receive all the files you download. Select this folder, or make a new folder and select the new folder as your download receive folder. Notice that the name underneath the Receive icon changes to reflect the new location which you just selected. From now on you can drag files from the BBS to this icon, or the icon of your hard disk, and a copy of the file will be downloaded to your default receive folder. Ą Which transfer protocol to use TeleFinder supports the following communications protocols: Background, ZMODEM, XMODEM-CRC, and XMODEM-1K. All of these protocols provide error correction using cyclic-redundancy checking (CRC) as the file is being transferred. ZMODEM file transfers have the advantage of speedy 32-bit CRC's and file recovery - if the transfer is interrupted for any reason, you can log back on and begin where you left off. If a ZMODEM file transfer fails to complete, TeleFinder saves the part of the file already received. ZMODEM is particularly well adapted to high-speed modems that perform error correction using MNP level 2-4 or V.42. It is very important to use a "hardware-handshaking" cable if you plan to use a high-speed modem to connect to this, or any other bulletin board. You can order a "hardware-handshaking" cable directly from the Celestin Company by calling 206/385-3767. The CCS and Spider Island also stock true "hardware-handshaking" cables. Use "windowed" ZMODEM if you notice a large number of re-transmits. Use "streaming" ZMODEM for faster transfer times when you are using the "hardware-handshaking" (-HH) modem settings with a "hardware-handshaking" cable. XMODEM file transfer protocol does not require flow control and has less overhead than ZMODEM. Use XMODEM when you have small files to transfer (text files), or when you notice an excessive number of errors and re-transmits during file transfers. XMODEM tends to work better than ZMODEM on 2400bps or slower modems. XMODEM does NOT support file recovery! A Note about Flow Control: Flow control regulates the speed of data transfers between two computers, in this case between the CCS bulletin board and your computer. Flow control is very important with high speed modems. Modems that list V.42 or MNP as supported options require a "hardware-handshaking" cable for optimum performance. This cable is NOT the same as a standard Macintosh modem cable. We have even seen instances where cables labelled "hardware-handshaking" were not correctly wired as such. Unless you are certain that your cable supports "hardware-handshaking," use the TeleFinder modem settings without the -HH notation if you are calling with a V.42 or MNP modem. Use the -HH settings once you obtain a true "hardware-handshaking" cable. Ą Extracting ".cpt" and ".sit" files (use Stuffit Expander) Most of the files on this BBS have been compressed so that they take less time to download. Anytime you see a file name with either the .sit or .cpt extension, use the Stuffit Expander (located in the "Helpers" folder) application to "extract" the compressed archive into a normal file. Stuffit Expander is a self-extracting archive, complete with manual, which you may freely use for this purpose. You may also download "Compact Pro" from the utilities section in the Mac Files area. Compact Pro creates .cpt compressed files. Stuffit Expander will also unbinhex files using System 7's "drag and drop" feature. Ą What are "Disk Images" and how do you use them? Many of the Apple archives are compressed "Disk Image" files. You may need to use Stuffit Expander to decompress the Disk Image archives in some cases. Once you have unstuffed an Image file, you cannot simply copy it directly to a floppy disk. Instead, you will have to use either Apple's "Disk Copy" utility (found inside of the "Tools" folder in File Areas) to open the image file, or you can use the shareware utility "Shrink Wrap". Use ShrinkWrap if you need to install software to an older machine that lacks a high-density drive (MacPlus, or SE). If the original diskette was 800K, Disk Copy will ask you to insert a blank, uninitialized, 800K diskette. You cannot open 800K Disk Image files and then transfer them onto a blank 1.44K HD diskette. Similarly, you cannot use Disk Copy to open a high density Disk Image and then try to copy it onto a blank 800K diskette. Read through the Disk Copy instruction manual. Once you have gone through the process of opening a Disk Image file with Disk Copy and copied it to a blank diskette, the procedure will quickly become second-nature to you. If, after decompressing a Disk Image and using Disk Copy to transfer the image onto a diskette, you discover a problem with an image file, please notify the Sysop at once so that we can remove this corrupted file from our archives. Ą File attachments, or email messages with BinHexed files TeleFinder User v4.0 now supports sending file attachments with email messages. If you receive a large email message that begins something like this: (This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0) :$%&%8e!J+$%Z05ia+3"*6NP868&$8`%!!!!!!!!!2i(XR!!!!!!"!!!!2[d!!$h p!!!!K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!$%&%8e!J+$%Z05i... Try dragging the file over Stuffit Expander's desktop alias. Or launch Stuffit Expander and have it decode the file attachment. Thank You!