Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/faqs/faq/msdos/archives.faq

Text File | 1995-07-25 | 37.0 KB | 781 lines

Subject: comp.archives.msdos.{announce,d} FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Newsgroups: comp.archives.msdos.announce,comp.archives.msdos.d,comp.answers,news.answers
From: [e-mail] (Timo Salmi)
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 1994 04:43:26 GMT

Archive-name: msdos-archives/faq
Garbo-archive-name: garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/camfaq.zip
Last-modified:  Sat 29-Oct-94  06:25

                                    Copyright (c) 1993, 1994 by Timo Salmi
                                                       All rights reserved

===========================================================
P L E A S E   R E A D   T H I S   B E F O R E   A S K I N G
===========================================================

Frequently Asked Questions of the InterNet newsgroups
comp.archives.msdos.announce and comp.archives.msdos.d
======================================================

1) What is the purpose of comp.archives.msdos.announce newsgroup?
2) What is the purpose of comp.archives.msdos.d newsgroup?
3) What are SimTel and Garbo?
4) How do I obtain the announced files from the MS-DOS archive sites?
5) "Hands on!"  A newbie's quick start to get you going. An example
6) Something is wrong with the .zip (.zoo) etc package I downloaded
7) What if the FTP site is busy most of the time?
8) How do I submit programs to the MS-DOS archives?
9) What is the SIMTEL20 / SimTel situation?
10) I don't have FTP capability. Where are the mail servers?

11) What if I do not get any response from a mail server?
12) Where can I find program package xxxxx.zip?
13) What is tar.Z? Where can I find tar for MS-DOS? What about
    uudecode, compress?
14) How do I get it from a mirror site? And which directory?
15) Would someone uuencode and email me the program I want?
16) Please email the information directly to me!
17) Me too!
18) Where do I get the Zoo, the Zip or the other unarchivers?
19) Where do I find games?  Where do I find GIFs?
20) What if the announced file is not at the archive site?

21) Are the back issues of comp.archives.msdos.announce available?
22) Where should I post or look if my topic does not belong here?
23) What if my question is not covered in this FAQ?
24) What has changed in this FAQ since the last time?
25) Acknowledgments for contributions for my FAQ maintenance
....................................................................


1. *****
 Q: What is the purpose of comp.archives.msdos.announce newsgroup?

 A: The CAM.announce newsgroup was created the 15th of December
1992.  It has the following clarified charter which gives it
purpose.

   This moderated newsgroup is for the upload announcements and
related information from MS-DOS archive sites (also called FTP
sites) with Public Domain and shareware material.  The subjects
include the upload announcements via the MS-DOS FTP site moderators,
the MS-DOS sites' periodical summaries, potential policy statements
and downtime warnings, and the MS-DOS FTP site moderators' reports
about the connectivity problems with their archive sites.  Unix
announcements conform only if they directly relate to transferring
or handling the MS-DOS material from the MS-DOS FTP sites.

Moderators:
Principal moderator Keith Petersen ([e-mail])
Co-moderators       Timo Salmi     ([e-mail]) + FAQ maintenance
                    Brian O'Neill  ([e-mail])
                    Harri Valkama  Nominally only
                    Other FTP site moderators are welcome to help in
                    the joint moderation of this newsgroup.
Joined moderators   Ari Hovila     ([e-mail])
                    Jouni Ikonen   ([e-mail])

Further clarification:

The purpose of comp.archives.msdos.announce is to be a ONE-WAY
channel for MS-DOS upload announcements which the moderators handle,
and other one-way, occasional information relating to MS-DOS archive
sites.  The moderators will therefore not be handling users'
discussion material, questions, and replies.  The unmoderated
comp.archives.msdos.d newsgroup (see below) will cover that aspect.

Official one line description:
Announcements about MS-DOS archives.  (Moderated)


2. *****
 Q: What is the purpose of comp.archives.msdos.d newsgroup?

 A: The CAM.d newsgroup was created the 15th of December 1992.  The
clarified charter is given below.  (CAM.d officially replaced the
expired comp.binaries.ibm.pc.archives newsgroup, which should thus
no longer be used, if your site is for some reason still receiving
it.)

   "This unmoderated newsgroup is the discussion subgroup of the
moderated comp.archives.msdos.announce newsgroup.  The newsgroup
covers users' reports, questions and discussions about the Public
Domain and shareware programs at the MS-DOS archive sites (also
called FTP sites), and the users' questions about the MS-DOS FTP
sites such as the users' connectivity problem reports.  The group is
also for posting requests/replies concerning where to find such
programs as are stored at the MS-DOS FTP sites.  However, users are
expected to refer to the FTP site file indexes before posting such
requests.  The newsgroup does not cover any discussions of fully
commercial programs or programs for other operating systems like
OS/2.  (These programs have Usenet newsgroups of their own)."

Official one line description:
Discussion of materials available in MS-DOS archives.


3. *****
 Q: What are SimTel and Garbo?

 A: While the newsgroup comp.archives.msdos.announce is open for all
MS-DOS archive sites with Public Domain and shareware programs and
other material, at present the most publicized sites are:

SimTel: SimTel, the Coast to Coast Software Repository (tm) is
located on a host that is not directly accessible by anonymous ftp
users.  Its primary mirror site is OAK.Oakland.Edu (141.210.10.117).
SimTel is a huge repository carrying a broad spectrum of MS-DOS and
Windows material.  The Coast to Coast material is regularly
published on CDROMs.  The upload announcements have a special
designator "-" in the comp.archives.msdos.announce subject headers.

Garbo: Garbo.uwasa.fi (128.214.87.1) is provided by the Computer
Centre together with the Department of Accounting and Business
Finance of the University of Vaasa, Finland.  Garbo specializes in
areas like quality MS-DOS maintenance utilities, educational
material and Turbo Pascal programming.  Scientific working papers
are a new particular interest.  Contributions are invited.  Garbo's
general mission as a university site is the promotion of rational
knowledge and the enhancement of the users' interest in science.


4. *****
 Q: How do I obtain the announced files from the MS-DOS archive sites?

 A: If you are not familiar with using anonymous FTP or mail servers
for downloading material from the MS-DOS archive sites, you should
contact the maintainer of the relevant site for the instructions.
Take a look at the instructions (given below in the second section
"A2" of this answer) on how to order for example the garbo.uwasa.fi
instructions from Timo Salmi ([e-mail]).  The SimTel information
is available from [e-mail] (Keith Petersen).
   Please note that you should not email the moderator(s) of an FTP
site for advice on another FTP site.  Although the moderators often
cooperate, the individualized queries should always go directly to
the right place.  If you need the moderators' email addresses, see
the MS-DOS FTP site list "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder*.zip".  It
also contains information about the major mirroring sites.
   Likewise you should pose the questions concerning a mirror site
to the mirroring site's moderator, not to the moderator of the site
being mirrored.  Although mirroring is very welcome and the sites
cooperate, the mirroring is an independent operation by the site
that does the mirroring.
   If you are uncertain whom to ask, post your question to
comp.archives.msdos.d.

  A2: Even if this relates to a specific site (Garbo), much of the
information in the referred instructions is generic:
   "If you do not know how to go about getting material from Garbo,
users are welcome to email me for the prerecorded garbo.uwasa.fi
instructions (long, circa 29Kb).  The overseas users are referred to
the various Garbo mirrors at their convenience.  For the mirrors
please get the file /pc/pd2/moder*.zip in due time.  The mirrors
may lag or might not have all the Garbo files.  If you do not
receive my reply within five days, please ask your own site's system
manager to construct a returnable mail path for you".
   Also see the item "What is the SIMTEL20 / SimTel situation?"


5. *****
 Q: "Hands on!"  A newbie's quick start to get you going. An example

 A: Here is a quick start to show you an example how to get
(download) by ftp (file transfer program) the file index, PKZIP and
a news file from one of the MS-DOS archive sites to your host.
 ftp garbo.uwasa.fi        #Connect to Garbo with ftp
 anonymous                 #Use this name to get temporary privileges
 Type (at least) the first part of your email address as your password
 bin                       #Use the binary mode for most file transfers
 cd /pc                    #Go to the MS-DOS main directory
 get INDEX.ZIP             #Get the annotated list of files
 cd /pc/arcers             #Go to the relevant directory
 ls -CF                    #See the directory contents
 get pkz204g.exe           #Get the file to your default directory
 cd /pc/pd2                #Go to Garbo's general information directory
 ascii                     #Use the ascii mode for text file transfers
 get news-pd2              #Get the selective Garbo news file
 close                     #Close the connection to Garbo
 quit                      #Quit the ftp program

 A2: Once you have gotten this material to your host, usually you
must still transfer the packages from your host to your PC.  How to
do this depends on your configuration and the transfer programs you
have.  Giving advice with this part is beyond the scope of this text
and beyond the tasks of MS-DOS archive site maintainers.  If you
have problems in this respect, you should try to get help from your
local support person.

 A3: Many if not most programs on MS-DOS archive sites are in a
zipped format, that is the file names have the extension .zip.  To
handle these packages on your PC you'll need to download a program
like pkz204g.exe to your PC.  It is very easy to install once you
have it.  Just type PKZ204G since it is a self-extracting package.


6. *****
 Q: Something is wrong with the .zip (.zoo) etc package I downloaded:
    I get a CRC error, a "requires PKUNZIP 3.0 or higher version", a
    "zipfile is part of multi-disk archive" message, or whatever when
    I try to process the .zip package I downloaded from an MS-DOS FTP
    site.

 A1: 1) Use a binary transfers at all phases. (Both from the FTP
        site to your host and from your host to your PC.)
     2) Use a version 2.04G compatible extractor on your MS-DOS PC:
         "OAK.Oakland.Edu:/SimTel/msdos/zip/unz512x.exe"
         "OAK.Oakland.Edu:/SimTel/msdos/zip/pkz204g.exe"
         "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/unz512x.exe"
         "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/pkz204g.exe"
     3) PKZIP 2.04G compatible Unix (actually multi-platform) version
        by the Info-ZIP programming group is available as
         "OAK.Oakland.Edu:/SimTel/msdos/zip/unzip512.zip"
         "garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/arcers/unzip512.tar.Z"
         "garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/arcers/unzmake.inf"
        Using the old Unix version for testing 2.04G .zip files on
        Unix can cause false CRC error messages.

 A2: In over 99.9% of cases the allegedly corrupt packages are
caused either by the user's failure to transfer the .zip packages in
the binary mode or using an outdated version of PKUNZIP.
In file transfers there are (usually) two phases:
 A) From the FTP site to your host.
 B) From your host to your PC.
 Failure the transfer in the binary mode can cause quite unexpected
error messages like for example "requires PKUNZIP 2.8 or higher
version".
   It is fairly common of the users to claim that they have
transferred in the binary mode, but in fact done so for only one of
the stages!  Usually you transfer the zipped file in two stages.
First from the FTP site to your own (most often Unix) host.  That
transfer must be made in the binary mode.  Second from your host to
your PC.  Also this second transfer must be made in the binary mode.
In particular, if you are using the kermit protocol for the
transfer, you must set the transfer to binary mode at _both_ ends of
the transfer.
   Failing to set the transfer to the binary mode, and using the old
versions of PKUNZIP has caused innumerable false alarms from the
downloaders to the FTP archive site maintainers.  It is not
impossible, but it is extremely rare that a package is actually
corrupt on the FTP archive site.
   In some very unusual cases setting the transfer to binary is not
enough because the byte order of your host and the FTP site might
not be the same.  That is why most ftp programs have a mode called
TENEX, which tells each end to use binary mode but to sort out the
byte ordering differences between the two machines.  If your ftp
program does not have the TENEX command you can make it do the same
thing by issuing these two commands:
 ftp> binary
 ftp> quote "TYPE L 8"
The double quotes are required.
   Some users with .zip problems want to know where to get PKZIPFIX.
It is within the PKZIP distribution package (pkz204g.exe), but using
it will not rectify any of the errors described in the above.
   If you are using a 386 or 486 computer, PKUNZIP may be having
some problems with your machine's BIOS.  You can force PKUNZIP to
NOT use 386 instructions by doing SET PKNO386=ON at the DOS command
prompt to put the variable PKNO386 into your DOS environment.
   There is also a Unix version of unzip in case you wish to look at
the package already at your Unix host.  See Item #5 for the pointer.
If you do not know how to handle tar.Z files, see /unix/ts/0news93.u
for the instructions to make operative a utility distributed as a
tar.Z.  (A tar.Z file must be transferred as binary.)

 A3: PKWare blissfully started advertising PKZIP 2.0 in Magazines
already in spring 1992.  PKWare's PKZIP 2.04C was finally released
the 28th of December 1992 and has been since updated to be the
stable "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/pkz204g.exe".
   Be warned that there are countless bogus PKZIP 1.20, 2.0, 2.02,
3.05 and whatever scams floating around.  They usually are hacks of
PKZIP 1.93A beta test version.  Some of them are trojans and / or
carry computer viruses.  There is one exception, 2.06 for IBM (the
company), but it is equivalent to 2.04g.

 A4: The most common error with .zoo is using the old 2.01 version
instead of the current version 2.10.  Likewise, for the other
archivers, assure that you have the most recent version.


7. *****
 Q: What if the FTP site is busy most of the time?

 A: If you have a BSD Unix host consider automated FTP:
"29520 Nov 23 11:38 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/networking/ftp/batchftp102.tar.Z"
"batchftp102.tar.Z  Get files automatically by FTP (a definite must!)"
   and
" 1670 Nov 23 11:38 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/networking/ftp/batchftp.inf"
"batchftp.inf Timo's instructions for using batchftp"
This is advisable even if you don't have access problems, since
using batchftp decreases the overhead of being connected.  It is
very convenient anyway once you have managed to set it up. Another
alternative is
 "2992 Jun 8 12:38 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/networking/scripts/get12.zip"
 "get12.zip Get files from MS-DOS archive site, J.Rice"
   One thing _*NOT*_ to do if an FTP site is busy.  If you have the
FTP capability don't substitute FTP by mail server requests.  The
mail servers cause more load both on the net traffic and the mail
server site's capacity.


8. *****
 Q: How do I submit programs to the MS-DOS archives?

 A: The answer naturally depends on your target site. You should
contact the maintainer of the relevant site for more information.
   For Garbo you can also get the instructions by downloading
"garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/UPLOAD.INF" and "/pc/UPTEXT.INF".  Please read
these files carefully _*BEFORE*_ you upload to Garbo, so that your
own and our time will not be unnecessarily wasted.
   For SimTel see the periodic posting by Keith Petersen, or
contact him directly.
   The addresses of most of the major MS-DOS FTP site moderators can
be found in "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder*.zip".


9. *****
 Q: What is the SIMTEL20 / SimTel situation?

 A: SIMTEL20 was closed at the end of September 1993.  The archive
was frozen on the 17th of September, 1993 in preparation for moving
it to a new location.  In the new arrangement the SimTel files are
available from SimTel mirror sites:
   For security reasons the SimTel Software Repository is located on
a host that is not accessible by anonymous ftp users, however its
files are available by anonymous ftp in directory /SimTel/msdos from
the primary mirror site OAK.Oakland.Edu (141.210.10.117) located in
Rochester, Michigan, and from the secondary mirror sites:
     St. Louis, MO:  wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4)
     Corvallis, OR:  archive.orst.edu (128.193.2.13)
         Australia:  archie.au (139.130.4.6)
           England:  src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.10)
           Finland:  ftp.funet.fi (128.214.248.6)
           Germany:  ftp.uni-paderborn.de (131.234.2.32)
         Hong Kong:  ftp.cs.cuhk.hk (137.189.4.57)
            Israel:  ftp.technion.ac.il (132.68.1.10)
            Poland:  ftp.cyf-kr.edu.pl (149.156.1.8)
            Sweden:  ftp.sunet.se (130.238.127.3)
       Switzerland:  ftp.switch.ch (130.59.1.40)
            Taiwan:  NCTUCCCA.edu.tw (140.111.1.10)
          Thailand:  ftp.nectec.or.th (192.150.251.33)
SimTel files may obtained by e-mail from various ftp-mail servers or
through the BITNET/EARN file servers.  For details see file
/SimTel/msdos/filedocs/mailserv.inf.  Gopher users can access the
collection through Gopher.Oakland.Edu.  World Wide Web (WWW) and
Mosaic users can connect to the URL http://www.acs.oakland.edu to
access the files on OAK.Oakland.Edu.
   For the full announcement with filepaths to the mirroring
directories, and for the SimTel CD-ROM pointer please see
OAK.Oakland.Edu:/SimTel/msdos/filedocs/download.inf


10. *****
 Q: I don't have FTP capability. Where are the mail servers?

 A: For information on how to use the mail servers send e-mail to
[e-mail] with the following commands in the body
of the message.  Do not include a signature since it may confuse
servers.

get garbo-mailserver.info
get simtel-mailserver.info


11. *****
 Q: What if I do not get any response from a mail server?

 A: Contact your own site's system manager, and ask him/her to look
into it.  You must have a returnable mail path in order to use the
mail servers!
   One thing _*NOT*_ to do if you haven't ever gotten a response
from the particular mail server, is sending the same request
repeatedly.  It may reach the server even if the server cannot send
the request back to you, because of your bouncing address.  You'll
just be overloading the mail server.  Please do not do that! To put
it mildly, the maintainers of the target site will not be happy if
you do.
   If you have been able to get files from a mail server, but don't
get the file you are currently requesting, the same applies.  Do
_*NOT*_ send the request over and over again.  First assure from the
CURRENT file lists that the file really is there.  Some programs get
updated fairly frequently, and there may be other similar reasons
for a temporary unavailability, like the site being down at the
moment.
   Summary: Never repeat the same email server request until you
have found out what was wrong.


12. *****
 Q: Where can I find program package xxxxx.zip?

 A: If you already know fairly accurately what you are looking for,
then before posting you should first look at the file lists of the
major MS-DOS FTP sites, or try the Archie server.  For example the
main file list for SimTel and Garbo are
 "OAK.Oakland.Edu:/SimTel/msdos/filedocs/simlist.zip"
 "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/INDEX.ZIP"
 "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/INDEXTS.ZIP"
 "garbo.uwasa.fi:/windows/WINDEX.ZIP"
 "garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/UINDEX.ZIP"
   The tips in Samuel Ko's "The Most Useful MS-DOS Programs at
SimTel and Garbo" "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/filelist/useful*.zip" can be
of much help in a number of the most common program queries.
   Also see "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip" Frequently Asked
Questions if you are looking for utilities like programs to capture
the screen to a file or to the printer, utilities for directing all
printer output to a file, and so on and on.
   Likewise should you need programs for your Unix host to transfer
and handle the files, programs like Zmodem and the various
(un)archiving utilities like unzip, scan the said material, and the
"garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/UINDEX.ZIP" file list.  Also take a look at
"/unix/ts/0news93.u" for advice on making the Unix files operational
on your host.
   As for the Archie servers, see "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/
tsfaqn*.zip" again for the pointer.  (But note that the coverage and
an up-to-date status of the servers is not guaranteed).
   This item is definitely not to discourage anyone from asking
relevant questions, quite the contrary.  Contributions in the form
of news postings from all users are welcome and enjoyed.  Asking
appropriate questions in order to find useful PD & shareware MS-DOS
programs _and_ giving informative answers to the relevant questions
is partly what the CAM.d newsgroup is about.  However, it is
required that you know these basics before asking away.  It is
polite towards the other users to have already taken the trivial
preliminary steps.  Do not use posting to comp.archives.msdos.d as a
substitute for first browsing the file indexes.

 A2: If you are quite a newcomer to all this then you'll need the
utilities to unpack the archived files like the .zip files referred
to in the above.  You can get the archive extractors from many
sites.  For Garbo the references to .zip extractors are the
following.  The self-extracting MS-DOS unzip can be obtained as
PKWare's shareware
 "202574 Feb  1 02:04 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/pkz204g.exe"
or Info-ZIP programming group's PD
 "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/unz512x.exe"
The Unix (and other platforms) unzip can be obtained as
 "garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/arcers/unzip512.tar.Z"
For the instructions to make a Unix tar.Z operational see the ascii
file "garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/ts/0news93.u, and gzipmake.inf and
unzmake.inf in /unix/arcers".

 A3: There are some "whereis" questions which tend to recur. Here
are some of them with pointers to further information
 :
 Subject: Re: Pc read/write Mac-disks... How!
 Pointer: garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/tspost17.zip
 :
 Subject: MS-DOS 6.2 Step Up upgrade, where and why?
 Pointer: garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/tspost17.zip
 Item:    Re: MsDos 6.2 upload rejected at Garbo
 :
 Subject: Re: Handling different archiver/compression formats
 Pointer: garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers /pc/unix and /unix/arcers
 Pointer: FAQPROGS.TXT in garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip
 Item:    I can't run this file I got with a .zip (.arc etc) extension
 Pointer: garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/doc-net/faqc9???.zip
 :
 Subject: Typing tutorials
 Pointer: garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/tspost19.zip
 Item:    Review of typing tutorials/games (by Lee Bailey)
 :
 Subject: Conversions between Unix and PC text-file end of lines
 Pointer: FAQFTP.TXT in garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip
 Item:    How do I convert Unix text files to PC files, and vice versa?
 :
 Subject: Turning off the PC's speaker
 Pointer: garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/tspost20.zip
 Item:    Re: Wanted - Speaker turn'er off'er
 :
 Subject: Printer redirection to a file
 Pointer: faqprogs.txt in garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip
 :
 Subject: Printing all output from screen (text-mode screen capture)
 Pointer: faqprogs.txt in garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip


13. *****
 Q: What is tar.Z? Where can I find tar for MS-DOS? What about
    uudecode, compress?

 A: These formats (tar and Z) are (usually) Unix files.  The files
with the .Z extension are compressed files which you'll need to
uncompress.  Uncompress is available as a standard feature on Unix
systems (try "man uncompress").  You can get it for MS-DOS as well
eg as "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/unix/comp430d.zip".  You can also use
/pc/unix/gzip124.zip (both for .Z and .gz files).  For more on this
and many similar MS-DOS utilities questions recurring over and over
again please see for example Samuel Ko's "The Most Useful MS-DOS
Programs at SimTel and Garbo" "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/filelist/
useful*.zip".
   Tarred files with the extension of .tar ("tape archives") can be
handled with a tar program on a Unix system, or on MS-DOS with the
utilities pointed to in "useful*.zip" like "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/unix/
tar4dos.zoo", "tar316us.zip" and "ltarv3.zip".  On Unix try "man
tar".
   Also see
     2785 Aug 11 08:49 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/ts/tarzfaq.txt
     tarzfaq.txt What are and how to handle tar.Z and tar.gz files

 A2: Uuencoding is a 7-bit format for sending files in ordinary
ascii format.  On a Unix system see "man uudecode" and for MS-DOS
get "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/decode/uuexe532.zip" and/or see again
"useful*.zip".
   How to get uudecode when your host has none.  Send mail to
[e-mail] with this request in the body of the
message:  get uudecode.bas uudecode.doc
If you prefer C language source code then: get uudecode.c


14. *****
 Q: How do I get it from a mirror site? And which directory?

 A: If you have managed to get a pointer to, and the location of a
utility you wish to have, and you would prefer to download it from a
mirror site near you, please consider the following.  All the
potential questions concerning the mirroring site are best directed
to the moderator of the site that does the mirroring.  Not to the
moderator of the site being mirrored.  This is because mirroring is
an independent operation.  You can find the email addresses of the
major MS-DOS mirror sites in the MS-DOS FTP site list.  It is
available as "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/moder*.zip", where the "*"
stands for a growing version number.
   Naturally, don't go asking the moderator to find the directory of
the utility for you.  See the site's file list(s).  The "moder*.zip"
has pointers to the file lists of some sites, and besides they are
usually well in evidence at the sites.


15. *****
 Q: Would someone uuencode and email me the program I want?

 A: It is not necessary to try to find someone who might be willing
to do it.  That is what the mail servers are for.  Reread item "I
don't have FTP.  Where are the mail servers?"  Or watch out for the
periodic information in comp.archives.msdos.announce.  Or if you
wish to use the garbo.uwasa.fi mail server you are welcome to email
me for the prerecorded instructions (long, about 29Kb) as explained
in the item "How do I obtain the announced files from the MS-DOS FTP
sites?" the A2 part of the answer.


16. *****
 Q: Please email the information directly to me!

 A: Unless you genuinely intend to post a summary for the benefit of
the other potentially interested readers, that is quite a selfish
attitude, and is not condoned.  To prosper the newsgroup needs
everyone to be ready to contribute one way or the other.  Please see
"garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip" for more thoughts on asking for
emailed replies.


17. *****
 Q: Me too!

 A: To avoid this is exactly why we need the users to summarize if
they get useful replies by email.  Likewise this is one of the
reasons why I almost always post my own pointers, and very seldom
email, even when the user has explicitly expressed such a wish in
his/her posting.  Besides, it often pays take a moment to scan the
postings before rushing to anything.  There may already be posted
replies to the question.  Please do not post "me too's" even if we
understand why some users do this.
   Now what to do if someone is clearly planning to hog the answers
to a question that definitely interests you.  The answer is not to
send a "me too", but to point out by email to the poster of the
request that you would like him/her to share the information s/he
gets from the gentle users of CAM.d.
   The real point here is, however, that in order to the newsgroup
to prosper we need all the gentle users to be also prepared to
contribute, not just to exploit.


18. *****
 Q: Where do I get the Zoo, the Zip or the other unarchivers?

 A: For the UnZip programs see the references in Item #5.  You can
get Zoo e.g. as
 "73461 Jul 12  1991 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/zoo210.exe"
 "55721 Jul 12 20:00 OAK.Oakland.Edu:/SimTel/msdos/zoo/zoo210.exe"
   For more information, and the rest of the unarchivers reread item
"Where can I find program package xxxxx.zip?" and item "How do I get
it from a mirror site? And which directory?" and/or see
"garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip" Frequently Asked Questions.
   The unarchivers (and many of the archivers) are available also
for Unix, which means that you can (if you wish to) check and handle
the downloaded files already on your Unix host before transferring
the files to your PC.  At Garbo the relevant directory is
/unix/arcers.


19. *****
 Q: Where do I find games?  Where do I find GIFs?

 A: The most publicized sites SimTel and Garbo do not carry
recreational games, but for example ftp.uml.edu (University of
Massachusetts at Lowell, USA) has a very good collection.  Also, for
example, nic.funet.fi and wuarchive.wustl.edu carry games.
   As for GIFs, that information is not readily available since the
powers that be do not always look benevolently upon using the
resources for the purpose.  Perhaps the best avenue for getting them
is calling BBSes (bulletin boards system).  One pointer to an
InterNet site, however, is that wuarchive.wustl.edu carries a large
selection of GIFs in their /graphics/gif directory.  (That will be
all from me on this.)


20. *****
 Q: What if the announced file is not at the archive site?

 A: The very first thing to do is assure that you have to the file
name and the directory right.  Especially if the announcement is not
very recent, it is possible that the file has been updated again.
Occasionally some updates come at rapid succession.  Check the
site's file lit for the current file name and path (most if not all
MS-DOS archive sites have an index).  For SimTel and Garbo the file
lists are
 OAK.Oakland.Edu:/SimTel/msdos/filedocs/simlist.zip
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/INDEX.ZIP        (a binary file)
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/INDEXTS.ZIP
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/UINDEX.ZIP
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/windows/WINDEX.ZIP
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/ql/QLINDEX          (a text file)
   If the announcement is recent, the file may not be at a mirroring
site.
   Errors in the announced file name or the directory path are very
uncommon, even if the "hand-written" file lists can quite well have
errors.  For example Garbo's upload announcement "thank you" notes
are made semi-automatically to prevent the possibility of typing
errors.  In case the problem concerns a Garbo file you can make an
additional check by looking at
 "garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/_file.zip Sorted filepath list"


21. *****
 Q: Are the back issues of comp.archives.msdos.announce available?

 A1: The upload announcements from Garbo are stored in digest format
for the last ten issues.  The format of the file name is
 20019 Aug 11 09:14 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/filelist/v94n005.lst
 v94n005.lst Garbo-Ann Digest Vol. 94 Nr. 5
See Garbo's /pc/INDEX.ZIP for the currently available back issues.

 A2: For the back issues of SimTel announcements send email to
[e-mail] including just the following without the
quotes to the body of your message "info".

 A3: Beyond these, the old announcements in CAM.announce are not
available from anywhere.


22. *****
 Q: Where should I post or look if my topic does not belong here?

 A: It is not possible to give fool-proof all-round advice on the
alternatives, but it would seem that fairly often one of the groups
below might turn out to be suitable. The (M) means moderated.
  comp.answers             (Repository for periodic USENET articles) (M)
  comp.binaries.ibm.pc     (Binary-only postings for IBM PC/MS-DOS) (M)
  comp.binaries.ms-windows (Binary programs for Microsoft Windows) (M)
  comp.binaries.os2        (Binaries for use under the OS/2 ABI) (M)
  comp.compression         (Data compression algorithms and theory)
  comp.editors             (Discussion about editors)
  comp.graphics            (Computer graphics, art, animation, image proc.)
  comp.lang.c              (Discussion about C)
  comp.lang.pascal         (Discussion about Pascal)
  comp.os.linux.misc       (The free UNIX-clone for the 386/486, LINUX)
  comp.os.misc             (General OS-oriented discussion)
  comp.os.msdos.apps       (On MS-DOS applications, also on fully commercial)
  comp.os.msdos.misc       (Miscellaneous topics about MS-DOS machines)
  comp.os.msdos.programmer (Programming MS-DOS machines)
  comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy (Speculation and debate about Microsoft Windows)
  comp.os.ms-windows.apps  (Applications in the Windows environment)
  comp.os.ms-windows.misc  (General discussions about Windows issues)
  comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc (Programming Microsoft Windows)
  comp.os.os2.advocacy     (Supporting and flaming OS/2)
  comp.os.os2.apps         (Discussions of applications under OS/2)
  comp.os.os2.misc         (Miscellaneous topics about the OS/2 system)
  comp.os.os2.programmer.misc   (Programming OS/2 machines)
  comp.sources.testers     (Finding people to test software)
  comp.sources.unix        (Postings of complete, UNIX-oriented sources (M)
  comp.sources.wanted      (Requests for software and fixes)
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.*  (Games for IBM PCs and compatibles, many groups!)
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc (Games not covered by other PC games groups)
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.* (PC hardware topics, many groups)
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc     (Discussion about IBM personal computers)
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest   (The IBM PC, PC-XT, and PC-AT) (M)
  comp.sys.laptops         (Laptop (portable) computers)
  comp.sys.mac.apps        Discussions of Macintosh applications.
  comp.sys.mac.wanted      Postings of "I want XYZ for my Mac."
  comp.unix.programmer     (Q&A for people programming under Unix)
  comp.unix.questions      (UNIX neophytes group)
  comp.virus               (Computer viruses & security) (M)
  news.answers             (Repository for periodic USENET articles) (M)
  news.admin.misc          (General topics of network news administration)
  news.admin.policy        (Policy issues of USENET)
  news.groups              (Discussions and lists of newsgroups)
  news.groups.questions    (Where can I find talk about topic X?)
  news.lists               (News-related statistics and lists)
  news.newusers.questions  (Q & A for users new to the Usenet, "newbies")
  misc.books.technical     (Discussion of books about technical topics)
  misc.forsale             (Short, tasteful postings about items for sale)
  misc.forsale.computers.d (Discussion of misc.forsale.computers.*)
  misc.forsale.computers.other (Selling miscellaneous computer stuff)
  misc.forsale.computers.pc-clone (IBM PC related computer items)
  misc.legal.computing     (Discussing the legal aspects of computing)
  misc.misc                (Discussions not fitting elsewhere)
  misc.test                (For test messages. Gives feedback of propagation)
  alt.flame                (Take it to here)
  alt.religion.computers   (Whatever you believe in and preach in computing)
  alt.test                 (An alternative newsgroup for your test messages)
A tip:
  If you do not know where to ask, news.newusers.questions is the
  best bet.  If you need the complete list of newsgroups, please see
  garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/doc-net/newsgrps.zip.  Furthermore, there even
  is a special newsgroup, news.groups.questions, for inquiring where
  you can ask where to find talk about topic X?


23. *****
 Q: What if my question is not covered in this FAQ?

 A: There is a wealth of further relevant information in the the
"garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip" Frequently Asked Questions
collection.  Furthermore, there is plenty of additional information
and feedback (much but not all related to Garbo) in the
"garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/tspost*.zip" collections.  Start by getting
the index tspost00.zip.  It includes the contents lists of all Timo
Salmi's FAQs.

 A2: Here are some very common additional questions with more
accurate pointers to the location of the information
 Subject: Re: FTP dir scroll, or textfile read
 Pointer: garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/tspost07.zip
 Pointer: FAQFTP.TXT in garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaqn*.zip


24. *****
 Q: What has changed in this FAQ since the last time?

 A: If you wish to know that, please store the previous version of
this FAQ.  Then run it and the new version through any suitable diff
program.  (I am too pressed for time to provide also such a service
for you).


25. *****
 Q: Acknowledgments for positive contributions for my FAQ maintenance

 A: The following persons have contributed in one constructive way
or another for this FAQ.  In an alphabetical order Colin Douthwaite,
Michael Evans, Greg Franklin, Mikko Hypponen, Jonathan Kamens, John
Marter, Keith Petersen, Simon Ritchie, Frank Slootweg, Henrik
Storner, David Sward, Carlos Teixeira, Doug Tooley, Steve Walters.

..................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi      Co-moderator of comp.archives.msdos.announce
Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous FTP  archives  128.214.87.1
Faculty of Accounting & Industrial Management; University of Vaasa
Internet: [e-mail]   BBS +(358)-61-3170972; FIN-65101,  Finland