msdos.archive.umich.edu:/msdos/00readme.txt last updated by Dave Winkel (dave.winkel@umich.edu) on May 29, 1994 Public domain DOS software at the University of Michigan can be found in one main place: on msdos.archive.umich.edu This file explains: I. Getting Software from Msdos.archive.umich.edu: A. How do I find out what's on Msdos.archive.umich.edu? B. How do I get connected and download software? II. What do I do after I've downloaded the software? III. How can I submit software to Msdos.archive.umich.edu? IV. How do I get more help? V. Issues with MTS and University of Michigan affiliates ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I. GETTING SOFTWARE FROM MSDOS.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU: Msdos.archive.umich.edu is a Unix host with many types of public domain and shareware software. To get software from it, you can use a program called 'ftp'. This program will run on almost all machines connected to the internet. You can also download files using gopher. And, it is mirrored on the following sites: Germany: info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de:/afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive/msdos Missouri: wuarchive.wustl.edu:systems/msdos/umich.edu Oregon: ftp.orst.edu:/pub/mirrors/archive.umich.edu/msdos A. HOW DO I FIND OUT WHAT'S ON MSDOS.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU? Two ways: 1. Get connected to Msdos.archive.umich.edu via the 'ftp' program, and download the file DIR.LST (more on that in the downloading section). Unix is case-sensitive, so make sure that you type the name in the upper-case. 2. Get connected to Msdos.archive.umich.edu and change to the archive/msdos directory. List the directories with the 'dir' command. To change to a sub-directory, type 'cd' and then the name of the directory. Example: cd compression or cd /msdos/compression Note: Unix uses frontslashes, not backslashes like DOS uses. B. HOW DO I GET CONNECTED AND DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE? 1. The ftp method: a) get on an Internet connected machine. b) Try ftping to our archive by typing: ftp MSDOS.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU c) Type "anonymous" when it asks for your login d) Give your electronic mail address as your password. e) Change to the msdos directory: cd msdos f) Decide if the file is binary or text. (1) Ascii files are text files, ones that you can read on the screen, such as this file, and generally end in TXT. (2) Binary files are programs, or text files that have been compressed with a compression program. All files that end in ARC, ZIP, ZOO, LBR, EXE, or COM should be downloaded in binary. g) If the file is text, proceed to the next step. If it is binary, type 'binary'. h) Type DIR to see the directories. Change to the directory where is the file is: cd compression Don't forget to use the forward slash if necessary. i) Download the file: get filename 2. gopher: For the most part, you're going to have to handle this with your local system administrator, but, if you use the command: gopher gopher.archive.merit.edu and it connects, you're in business. If you have gopher configured another way, the MERIT Software Archives are in Michigan, and shouldn't be too hard to find. II. WHAT DO I DO AFTER I'VE DOWNLOADED IT? A. The compression programs for each of the extensions that a compressed file on the archive can have are as follows: Extension: File: .ARC msdos/compression/arc/arce.com .ARJ msdos/compression/arj/arj241.exe .LHA or .LZH msdos/compression/lzh/lha255b.exe .PAK msdos/compression/pak/pak251.exe .Z or .GZ msdos/compression/gnuzip/gzip124.exe .ZIP msdos/compression/zip/pkz204g.exe .ZOO msdos/compression/zoo/zoo210.exe B. If it's been compressed, decompress it. For example, 1. If it's been ARC'ed, and you have ARCE.COM, type: ARCE LIST64A.arc c: 2. If it's been ZIPped, and you have PKUNZIP, type: PKUNZIP C. Read the documentation. The documentation is likely to be in a file called README or README.DOC. Anything ending in .DOC or TXT is likely to be a good bet for documentation. Anything ending in .EXE or .COM or .BAT is likely to be something that you can run. III. WHAT IF I'D LIKE TO UPLOAD SOME FILES TO MAUE? Great idea! A. Check it out first to make sure that it is not commercial--that it is in the public domain or user- supported. Make sure it is free of viruses or trojan horses. Archive it using ZIP. Also, uploads can only be submitted by FTP at this point. B. If you upload it to Msdos.archive.umich.edu: 1. Place the software into the directory called msdos/UPLOADS. 2. Send a message to msdos-archivist@archive.umich.edu. This message needs to contain three pieces of information: a) The name of the software. b) What it does. Two or three lines of description is sufficent. c) Where you got it from, if known. 3. If step two isn't performed the package will be deleted, without inspection. We will allow one day for mail to arrive after the arrival of the package on our system, for on campus contributers. Four days for off campus contributers. 4. Please keep in mind that the archive is entirely staffed on a volunteer basis, so if you have a problem, try to be patient. We will get back to you. IV. HOW DO I GET MORE HELP? A. Documentation: All programs should come with good documentation, including NCSA Telnet for the PC. B. If you have a problem specifically with our archive, feel free to send a message to: msdos-archivist@archive.umich.edu Once again, though, be aware that our archive is staffed on a volunteer basis. Thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- University of Michigan Affiliates ONLY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- V. PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE ON MTS/ACCESS FROM MTS A. HOW DO I FIND OUT WHAT SOFTWARE IS AVAILABLE ON MTS? Currently very little software is kept on the PC1 ID on MTS. You should follow the instructions for getting files to MTS from msdos.archive.umich.edu below, and then download files to your PC. You can find out what software is available by: Joining the computer conference, PC1:!CONF, which discusses this software. To join the conference, at the pound sign, type: $source pc1:!conf For help with Confer, read/print CNFR:BEGIN.GUIDE. B. HOW DO I DOWNLOAD THE SOFTWARE ONCE IT'S ON MTS? 1. Read your user's manual on your communications package to determine how to download. Your only choices for file transfer on MTS are Kermit, or the built-in protocol in PCTIE. 2. Determine whether you are going to use Ascii (text) or binary method of downloading. a) Ascii files are text files, ones that you can read on the screen, such as this file. b) Binary files are programs, or text files that have been compressed with a compression program. All files that end in ARC, ZIP, ZOO, LBR, EXE, or COM should be downloaded in binary. 3. The first thing to download is a copy of one of the compression programs. PC1 software is mainly compressed in ZIP format, although we have a lot of older stuff compressed in ARC format. The file PC1:PKZ204G.EXE contains the program to decompress files with the .ZIP extension. The file ARCE.COM would decompress, or extract, a file with an extension of ARC. Examples of how to download it: a) If you were using PCTIE, type: %get pc1:arce.com as a:\arce.com binary (1) Consult Reference 1029 or call 764-HELP for more help with PCTIE. b) If you were using Procomm Plus, type: (1) Type: $run *kermit (2) Type: set filetype binary (3) Type: send pc1:arce.com (4) Make sure Kermit is set to binary under Kermit options. (5) Press (6) Select Kermit as the option (7) Type: receive arce.com (8) Consult the Procomm Plus documentation or Reference Document 1033 for more information, or call 764-HELP for more help with Procomm Plus. The same instructions will work to download PKZ204G.EXE from MTS, just change the file name. C. HOW DO I GET THE SOFTWARE TO MTS IF IT'S NOT THERE? 1. The easiest way for people who are MTS users and are not familiar with the FTP program is to use the FETCH macro. This is a short program which connects you to msdos.archive.umich.edu, changes to the proper directory, and puts the program on your MTS account. It should work for most of the software on the archive. a) Load the PC1 macrolibrary with the following command: MACROLIB PC1:!MACROS (1) This can be put in your sigfile so that you don't have to type it in each time. Type: FETCH (2) If you want the program to go into another filename than the one it is on msdos.archive.umich.edu, you can type that in. This is particularly recommended if you don't have a lot of room on your account, you can put this in a temp file. (a) An MTS temp file is any file with a negative sign (-) in front of it. (3) Once you have done this, you can download the file as any MTS file. See the section on downloading files from MTS if you are not familiar with this process. 2. The MTS FTP method: a) Get a copy of the free documentation: Tutorial 7007: Using FTP on MTS. It's available online and at the bigger public sites. b) Sign on to MTS c) at the Command prompt, type: ftp MSDOS.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU d) Type "anonymous" (make sure to spell it right, and it's in lower case) as the login. e) Type your electronic mail address as the password. f) Change to the directory where the software you want is. For example: cd msdos/graphics would get you into the graphics directory g) Decide if you want to download using binary or ascii. (1) Ascii files are text files, ones that you can read on the screen, such as this file. (2) Binary files are programs, or text files that have been compressed with a compression program. All files that end in ARC, ZIP, ZOO, LBR, EXE, or COM should be downloaded in binary. h) If you want to download a binary file, type 'binary'. If you want to download an Ascii file, you don't have to type in anything, Ascii is the default, but if you want to switch back to ASCII after switching to binary, just type 'ascii'. i) Decide whether you want the file to go into a temporary MTS file or a permanent one. If you don't have a lot of disk space, and plan to download the file from MTS during this session, a temporary file would be a good idea. To let MTS know that you want to download into a Temporary file, put a '-' in front of the file name in the Get command. j) Get the software: get k) MTS FTP is supported by the Computing Resource Center, and you can call 764-HELP if you have questions about it. You WILL be asked for your affiliation when calling this line, it is only for U of M people. D. HOW DO I SUBMIT SOFTWARE FROM MTS? 1. Upload it on to your account. 2. Type MACROLIB PC1:!MACROS to be able to use the PC1 Macros. 3. Type SUBMIT at the # sign, and answer the questions as to where you got the program, what it does, etc. E. WHERE DO I GET HELP AS A UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AFFILIATE? 1. The U-M consultants can help UM people with PCTIE, Procomm Plus, Kermit, and FTP on MTS. They are available: a) at the major public sites (Angell and NUBS) b) for phone consulting (764-HELP) c) by email messsage: online.consulting@umich.edu ** They can't help you with the KA9Q or any of the other public domain or shareware packages. 2. The MSDOS-ARCHIVES unix conference (UM affiliates ONLY) Item 2 -- Help with Confer, unix, etc. Item 3 -- Administrivia Item 4 -- Looking for Software Item 5 -- Help with downloading software The rest of the items talk about specific packages, and offer help with them. Type 'index' to get a better idea of what is covered in the conference. 2. The PC1:!CONF conference (UM affiliates ONLY) (This is the MTS version of the above conference, and is being phased out along with MTS.) a) Item 2 is the place to put questions on Confer and downloading files. b) Item 4 is the place to put questions on FTP, KA9Q, and Msdos.archive.umich.edu. Item 213 is the place to put NCSA questions. c) Other items talk about the packages specifically, and you can ask questions about them in the item about them. Type INDEX to find out what's on PC1:!CONF. d) The Confer manuals are on the CNFR ID, and can be printed: CNFR:BEGIN.GUIDE, CNFR:QUICK.CARD. 4. The Organizers Send a message to msdos-archivist@archive.umich.edu.