Cause : your telnet or comms software is not set up for the correct terminal type, and unix doesn't know what terminal type you are using.
Remedy : make sure your comms/telnet software is set up to emulate a vtxxx terminal (eg. vt100, vt102, vt220, etc..). From the unix command prompt, type the command
set term=vt100Add the above line to the .login file in your home directory for a permanent fix.
ftp://s999999@student.uq.edu.aushould bring up a dialog-box prompting you for the password for (the fictitious user) s999999 on student.uq.edu.au. If the login is successful, the browser will display a listing of the user's home directory on the host server. You can then "drag and drop" to upload files from your PC, or click to download a per usual. For more information on other ftp client software, refer to other questions in this section.
This question is, however, frequently asked by clients who dial in with a modem communications program (eg. Telix, Procomm, QuickLynx, QModem, Zterm) and telnet from the annex to a campus host. In this case, you need to use one of the standard modem file transfer protocols (zmodem, xmodem, ymodem, or kermit). Before discussing the different methods, it is important to know a little about file types.
Files are classified as ASCII or BINARY. ASCII files [sometimes called "text" files] consist entirely of "printable" characters, apart from a special "end-of-line" marker. Binary files, on the other hand, can contain any of the 256 available character codes.
The end-of-line marker varies from system to system. On PCs it consists of a pair of characters - a carriage return, followed by a linefeed. In unix the end-of-line marker consists of a single linefeed character. In order to correctly translate end-of-line markers from system to system, the transfer of ASCII files must be handled differently to that of binary files.
When transferring programs, images, zip/arc/zoo archives, or documents created by word-processor, database, spreadsheet or other special applications, it is important to send them as "binary" files, otherwise information may be lost, and you may be unable to "open" the file using the creator application on your computer.
Macintosh users should also note that almost all Mac files have a native format or structure that is different to that used in other operating systems. A Mac file usually consists of two parts, referred to as a "data fork" and a "resource fork". Such files cannot be stored in native format on unix hosts. Instead, they must be encoded in some way prior to transfer. The most common encoding mechanism is "binhex", which effectively amalgamates the two forks into a single ASCII file. Binhex files can be safely sent across the Internet via ftp or as email attachments, and decoded at the other end on a Mac to restore them to their native format.
Transfer mechanisms will be discussed in order of preference.
sz -b filenamewhere "filename" is the name of the file you wish to transfer. The "-b" flag should be omitted if the file is an ASCII or plain text file. Most comms programs these days automatically detect when a remote host has initiated a zmodem transfer, so you may not need to do anything else except find the file when the transfer has been completed (it will be saved in the default download subdirectory/folder). Older comms packages, however, may require you to issue a command to start receiving the file on your PC/Mac. In some DOS packages, for example, this is done by pressing the PageDown key, selecting "zmodem" from a pop-up menu, and entering the path/name of the file to receive. In Mac and Windows based comms programs, this may be done by choosing an option from a "Receive" or "Transfer" menu.
set file type ascii [to send ASCII file, OR] set file type binary [to send BINARY file]To send the file, type
send filenamewhere "filename" is the name of the file you wish to transfer. Immediately after entering the above command, from your comms program, issue the command to "Receive file - kermit". For example, in telix and procomm, this is done by pressing the PageDown key and selecting "kermit" from a pop-up menu.
For zmodem uploads, the unix command to start receiving is simply "rz". Note that no parameters are necessary, because the filename and other details are supplied by the sending program (ie. your comms package).
For xmodem, the unix command is "rx filename", where you supply the filename. Note that this can be different to the name of the file as stored on your PC/Mac.
Kermit uploads are similar to downloads, except on the remote host you type the "receive" command. You can also specify the name of the file to receive, but this is not essential, as this will be supplied by the sending program. As with the other transfer protocols, you must "escape" back to your comms package to issue a "send file via Kermit protocol" command.
The main limitation of all of the above is their poor support for printing. The latter is either nonexistent (as in MS Telnet, Novell LWP), or doesn't handle ANSI graphics properly (eg. QVTNET). Of course one can always cut and paste between any telnet window and a Windows word processor or editor and print from there, but this is cumbersome and slow. If you need to print the contents of terminal screens or redirect listings to a printer then you will probably need a commercial telnet program.
One excellent such package is Talking Windows. This provides support for a huge range of terminal types, includes an ftp client and communications software for dial-in use, and is fully configurable for font size/style, colour, etc... Support for printing is excellent and truly WYSIWYG. TW is developed and distributed locally by MinCom. Retail price is usually around $400, but the Prentice Centre has purchased a site licence, and is selling the package for $150 per machine. This includes unlimited free phone support from the distributor. For more information, contact the Prentice Finance and Administration section.
The Novell Lan Workplace ftp client has some nice features, including commands to transfer whole subdirectory trees. Not as easy to use, however, as ws_ftp. It also requires the Novell Winsock, which is incompatible with a few TCP/IP applications (eg. Free Agent, wftpd). Novell Lan Workplace 4.1 licences are available from the Prentice Centre for $30.
There are many command line driven ftp clients that are suitable for use, though they require familiarity with the standard unix ftp command syntax. These include Microsoft's ftp (comes with MS TCP/IP and Win 95), and WINQVT/QVTNET.
Format of entries in the "hosts" file is as follows :-
130.102.2.14 dingoThere can be one or more names or aliases to the right of the IP address (separated by spaces, and on the same line) for each host specified in the file. Including entries for frequently accessed hosts speeds up connection time, since your Winsock doesn't have to make a call to the DNS to resolve an address (ie. find the IP address of the host whose name you specify).
Note, however, that in general it is not a good idea to rely on the hosts file for address resolution, since addresses can change.
Document last revised : 26 August 1997 [MM]