The first column of stuff in the data below is the site name. Usually you can just run ftp and type open and then the site name. But some computers don't like the names (or don't have all of them) and prefer the next column of stuff, the IP addresses. If you try the open command with the IP number and it doesn't bite, it isn't gonna work. Most mac ftp sites have encoded their files with BinHex 4.0 which end in the suffix ".hqx". To decode these files, you can just download them to your mac, and use Compact Pro or Stuffit to decode them. THEN, you will need to decompress them. Stuffit files end in ".sit" while Compact Pro files end in ".cpt" but you will probably only want to use Stuffit as it can decompress both formats. When ftp prompts you for a username and password, send "anonymous" as the username, and your email address as the password, for Mike Gleason it would be mgleason@cse.unl.edu and for me it would be bgrubb@scf.nmsu.edu. Here's a sample ftp session:
% ftp
ftp> open wuarchive.wustl.edu
Connected to wuarchive.wustl.edu.
220 wuarchive.wustl.edu FTP server (...) ready.
Name (wuarchive.wustl.edu:bgrubb): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.
230- If your FTP client crashes or hangs shortly after login please try
230- using a dash (-) as the first character of your password. This will
230- turn off the informational messages that may be confusing your FTP
230- client.
230-
230- You are user number 221 out of a possible 225.
230-
230- All transfers to and from wuarchive are logged. If you don't like
230- this then disconnect now!
230-
ftp> cd systems/mac/
ftp> get ./info-mac/help/recent-files.txt Info-MacRecentFiles
ftp> get ./umich.edu/mac/00help/newfiles.txt umichRecentFiles
ftp> get ./info-mac/game/cumulonimbus.hqx cn.hqx
ftp> quit
% sz cn.hqx
Please note that there are other ways to connect to ftp sites then through a unix box. There are commercial services such as CompuServe and AOL as well as
a whole host of Telnet and FTP programs for the Macintosh. A list of such programs can be found in davido@Princeton.EDU (David L. Oppenheimer)'s excellent _FAQ list for comp.sys.mac.comm_ {/info-mac/comm/info/}.
Http users use URLs which are in the form
ftp://sitename{or IP address}/filepathway. For the example above the URL would be ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/mac/ or ftp://128.252.135.4/systems/mac/.
Keep in mind that some sites may disenable the anonymous login for a while: during certain hours of the day, for maintainance reasons, or because of too much heavy traffic. Most will tell you the reason for refusing anonymous login, but a few will say nothing more than "User anonymous unknown" or "connection refused". Keep this in mind when a site on this list results in either of these responses.
If you want to read a file on a remote site, but don't want download it, and are not using a WWW browser, quit ftp, page the file, then restart ftp, try "get myfile.txt -" and ftp will dump the file to your terminal. Also exploit ftp's pipe and shell abilities, like "get myfile.txt |more" will do the same as above, except using "more" to page the file.
If you need to know the IP address of an ftp site, a common unix program
called "nslookup" can help. With some versions, "nslookup ftp.apple.com" would spit out "130.43.2.3." The reverse is also true, "nslookup 130.43.2.3" would print out "ftp.apple.com." Normally nslookup on an IP address just verifies the address as valid and to do a reverse lookup you must reverse the address and use the in-addr.arpa domain with the lookup type set to "ANY."
Most files you'll get off ftp are in that pain in the butt format, binhex.
Mike Gleason usually downloaded to his unix box, and then used an immensely useful utility called "mcvert" to de-binhex them there. Not only is this faster, but it doesn't tie up your own CPU. Stop over to one of the Info-Mac mirrors {info-mac/cmp directory} and grab it. After mcvert'ing files, they'll turn into files with ".bin" suffix on them, meaning they are in MacBinary format, and ready to download in BINARY mode {see Warning below}.
Here's a handy chart to keep track which programs unmangle which formats:
.sit refers to both 1.5 and dlx. Otherwise a '/' is used {1.5/dlx}.
Note: Almost every Mac communications program can decode .bin files.
* DropStuff with Expander Enhancer is an $30 shareware addon for Stuffit
Expander. DSEE is also used by other programs {marked with a *^}
to expand files. Current versions are 3.5.2 as of this writing.
** Stuffit Deluxe translators can be used with Stuffit Lite. Current
versions are 3.5.0 as of this writing.
Special formats
.arj - PC format common to European sites. Decoded by unArjMac and DeArj.
.dd - Disk Doubler {Mac} format. Decoded by DDExpand and DiskDoubler.
.html - WWW document. Used by WWW browsers such as Netscape and lynx.
.image - Mac disk image. Decoded and/or mounted by DiskCopy, MountImage,
Drop*Disk, and ShrinkWrap.
.lzh - old PC/Amiga format, replaced by .arc and .zip; decoded by MacLHA
and macunpack.
.pit - old {~1989} Mac compression format created by PackIt programs,
replaced by .sit. In general, a program that handles .sit files can
decode .pit files as well.
.pkg - AppleLink package format, replaced by .sit. Decoded by all present
StuffIt programs.
.sea - Mac format, decompresses itself and needs no external programs.
.shar - Unix shell archive. Decoded by Unshar.
.taz - another name for .tar.Z
.tgz - another name for .tar.z and .tar.gz {do not confuse with .tar.Z}.
.txt - ASCII text file.
.z - Early {~1993} suffix for Gzip files. Due to confusion with the UNIX
'compress' suffix {.Z} it was abandoned in favor of the .gz suffix.
.zoo - old {~1989} PC/Amiga format, replaced by .arc. Decoded by MacZoo
and MacBooz.
CAUTION: While Gzip is aimed at replacing the .Z format, they are _different_ unix compression formats, and the suffixes are NOT inchangable. Many sites now support on-the-fly translation of these formats; just type in the file name minus the .Z or .gz suffix.
WARNING: .hqx, .txt, and .uu files are the ONLY files that can be downloaded in ASCII mode; all others must be downloaded in BINARY {IMAGE} mode for the file to decompress properly. This is especially true of ".bin" and "unpacked" files. Otherwise you will get errors like "unreadable file" or "file is corrupt" when you try to decompress them.
These sites have many mac files, and are still getting new ones:
