FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the most basic Internet utility for retrieving files located on different computers. Because its very basic, it can be a little difficult to use at first. However, once you have mastered the basic commands, you can access hundreds of thousands of files all across the Internet.

After you are connected to your local Internet site and have the standard Unix prompt (%, equivalent to the DOS symbol ">"), type:

% ftp infomeister.osc.edu

Your screen will respond with something like:

Connected to infomeister.osc.edu.
220- The Ohio Supercomputer Center FTP Server
220 infomeister FTP server (Version wu-2.1c(1) Thu Mar 24 09:29:59 EST 1994) ready.
Name (infomeister.osc.edu:ccsi):

After prompt above, type: anonymous

FTP (cont'd)

The computer then asks for your password.

331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.

Give your complete e-mail address. For CCSI this is

Password: [email protected]
230- Welcome to the Ohio Supercomputer Center FTP Server!
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.

You must now change directories at the Ohio Supercomputer Center, in order to get to the directory which contains Max's files. At the ftp> prompt, type cd (for "change directory") followed by the location of Max's files:

ftp> cd pub/central_eastern_europe/ukrainian/organizations
250-Please read the file README
250 CWD command successful.

Now you are in Max's subdirectory. To see a list of the files he has there, type ls (for "list")

ftp> ls
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list.
orgngou.txt
orgngou.zip
orgukram.txt
old
README~
README
e-mail-addresses
226 Transfer complete.
80 bytes received in 0.01 seconds (7.81 Kbyte/s)

Now you are ready to "get" or transfer any of Max's 7 files from their location in Ohio to the network site to which you are connected. If you want, for example, to get Max's list of 80 Ukrainian-American organizations, just type

ftp> get orgukram.txt
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for README (2512 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: orgukram.txt remote: orgukram.txt
2561 bytes received in 11.61 seconds (0.22 Kbyte/s)

The file was transferred. Note the transfer speed: .22 KB/second. A large document of 200 KB (roughly 100 typed pages) at the same rate would transfer in just over 15 minutes.

If you don't wish to get any other files, you simply end your FTP session by typing:

ftp> quit 221 Goodbye.

%

Key Files in Max's Ukrainian/organizations Directory:

Filename              Type        Size           Description

README               Ascii       2,512    Directions and descriptions of files
e-mail-addresses     Ascii      43,118    List of 200 Ukrainian e-mail addr
orgngou.txt          Ascii   1,063,791    PVO/NGO orgs working in Ukraine
orgngou.zip          Binary    254,033    Database in dBase 3+ format
orgukram.txt         Ascii      13,753    List of 80 Ukrainian-Am orgs 

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Center for Civil Society International [email protected]