Downloads!File archives & FTP Mac mavens know that the Info-Mac FTP archive is one of the finest collections of Macintosh software available on the Net. But the archive difficult to search. MIT's Info-Mac HyperArchive solves both these problems--it's a fast, searchable index of the files and abstracts on the archive, combined with a complete mirror of the overloaded Info-Mac site. Looking for a game? Type in "card game" to see nearly 20 choices. Click on one to see a brief description--if it sounds good, another click will download it right to your Mac. You can also search the archive by subject (such as education and fonts) or check out the most recent additions. The site couldn't be easier to use, and is a must for anyone looking to score some Mac software.: What are "zip" files? Where can I find a program to run *.zip files? A: Files with extension "zip" have been compressed by software, usually PKZIP. Zip files are often "bundles" of files, which simplifies downloading large applications that include many files (such as a program. its documentation, etc.) since they can be handled as a single file, then unpacked. You don't directly run zip files directly, you must unpack them first. PKZIP is a legendary shareware product for creating and unpacking ZIP files. PKZ: V2.04g works with DOS and is available here or at keyword: PKWARE. After you download it, create a directory on your PC called PKZIP and move PKZ204G.EXE from AOL25/DOWNLOAD (or wherever you told AOL to store the downloaded file) to the new directory. Finally, execute PKZ204G and it will unpack itself, "exploding" into a number of command and documentation files (with file extension "doc". Read the doc files, and enjoy using PKZIP! The two major commands included are PKZIP (used to compress/bundle files) and PKUNZIP (used to decompress and unbundle files). Although ZIP files are primarily used on DOS and Windows computers, Mac users can also create and unpack them using the shareware program Mac ZipIt, available in the AOL file archives. A "mirror" is a complete copy of one Internet site at another Internet site. Extremely popular FTP and World Wide Web sites are often overloaded--more people want to access them than the site can handle, making access difficult. When this happens, service providers sometimes set up a "mirror" of the popular site. Mirror sites allow easier access to information by making a copy available elsewhere on the Internet. If you can't reach one site, you can try to connect to its mirror. When you log into a FTP site, or connect to a Web site, you may see a message indicating that the site is mirrored. Make a note of the mirror sites--next time you want information from that site, you can relieve some stress from the main site by using the mirror instead. The most popular Internet sites--such as the Windows software repository at oak.oakland.edu and the Stanford's info-mac archive--have multiple mirrors around the world. America Online offers mirrors of some popular FTP sites, including Stanford's info-mac archive, MIT's FAQ archive at rtfm.mit.edu, and a PC games archive. You can reach any of these by opening an anonymous FTP connection to mirrors.aol.com and looking in the "pub" directory.Q: I need to upload a file via FTP--how? A: The AOL online service has built-in FTP (File Transfer Protocol) capabilities. FTP is a generalized Internet capability for transferring files to and from desktop systems, and among host computers. Go to keyword FTP for instructions on uploading/downloading to or from: your AOL FTP directory other members' AOL FTP directories other FTP sites If you are not dealing with your own directories, either you must be authorized to upload/download files, or a site must allow "anonynous FTP", a protocol by which users can manipulate files without prior arrangement. Anonymous FTP is often used to distribute software and other resources, since users can connect and retrieve files at their own convenience.Information on the Internet comes from a bewildering number of people and places. In one afternoon, you can download a game from a an Australian programmer, read some newsgroup postings originating from the South Bronx and South America, then cruise web pages from Russia, Singapore, and Cleveland. Besides having a unique origin, each piece of information that you find on the Internet comes with rules regarding what you may do with it. Certainly the Internet stimulates the free flow of ideas and information, but it is important to keep in mind: that information probably has an owner, and you need to respect the rights of the owner. Take, for instance, software that you download from an FTP site. Some software is "freeware," other software is "shareware." Still other software is commercial, other programs are in the "public domain." "Shareware" is software that you are expected to pay if you use. It's sort of "try before you buy" software: download it, play with it, and if you use it on a regular basis, the author of the program expects you to pony up some money. On the other hand, "freeware" is a program that you can use for free--you can play with it all day long, with no cost to you. You can also find demonstrations of commercial software on the Internet: these are usually trial versions of a program, with some functions disabled. You can try it; if you like what you see, you can pay for the complete version. Each of these three types of programs is owned and copyrighted by someone. Even "freeware" is copyrighted by someone. So, although you can use it, if you want to redistribute it, or change it, or sell it, you need permission from the author before doing so. The only exception to this rule is material that is in the "public domain." Works in the public domain aren't owned by anyone--you can use it, change it, distribute it, drop copies from low-flying aircraft, do whatever you want to do with it, because the person who created it has given up (or lost) the rights to it. The term "public domain" is all too often misused -- "public domain FTP archives" are usually not archives of public domain software; they are archives of freeware, shareware, commercial demos--all copyrighted material, plus some "true" public domain material, too. Besides software, there are a lot of electronic texts, or etexts, on the Internet that are in the public domain. Classics like Alice in Wonderland, and the works of Shakespeare, whose authors are long gone or have relinquished copyright, are in the public domain. There are huge collections of public domain texts on the Internet--Project Bartleby at http://www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/ is one organization that specializes in collecting public domain books on the Internet. I've created a list of public domain materials available on the Internet. Check out The Unofficial Public Domain Index at http://www.northcoast.com/savetz/pd/pd.html to see the index of PD material on the Internet. What's out there? You name it--graphics, sound files, software and etexts, and lots of other good stuff. If you don't see an explicit message stating that a work you find on the Net is in the public domain, it probably is copyrighted. This goes for software, electronic texts, and even postings on Usenet So, as you cruise the Internet, keep in mind that most of the stuff you find is owned by someone--and you should respect that ownership. And if you come across something that's in the public domain, consider it yours to do with as you please. For more information, see: 10 Big Myths about copyright at http://www.clari.net/brad/copymyths.html Information on the Internet comes from a bewildering number of people and places. In one afternoon, you can download a game from a an Australian programmer, read some newsgroup postings originating from the South Bronx and South America, then cruise web pages from Russia, Singapore, and Cleveland. Besides having a unique origin, each piece of information that you find on the Internet comes with rules regarding what you may do with it. Certainly the Internet stimulates the free flow of ideas and information, but it is important to keep in mind: that information probably has an owner, and you need to respect the rights of the owner. Take, for instance, software that you download from an FTP site. Some software is "freeware," other software is "shareware." Still other software is commercial, other programs are in the "public domain." "Shareware" is software that you are expected to pay if you use. It's sort of "try before you buy" software: download it, play with it, and if you use it on a regular basis, the author of the program expects you to pony up some money. On the other hand, "freeware" is a program that you can use for free--you can play with it all day long, with no cost to you. You can also find demonstrations of commercial software on the Internet: these are usually trial versions of a program, with some functions disabled. You can try it; if you like what you see, you can pay for the complete version. Each of these three types of programs is owned and copyrighted by someone. Even "freeware" is copyrighted by someone. So, although you can use it, if you want to redistribute it, or change it, or sell it, you need permission from the author before doing so. The only exception to this rule is material that is in the "public domain." Works in the public domain aren't owned by anyone--you can use it, change it, distribute it, drop copies from low-flying aircraft, do whatever you want to do with it, because the person who created it has given up (or lost) the rights to it. The term "public domain" is all too often misused -- "public domain FTP archives" are usually not archives of public domain software; they are archives of freeware, shareware, commercial demos--all copyrighted material, plus some "true" public domain material, too. Besides software, there are a lot of electronic texts, or etexts, on the Internet that are in the public domain. Classics like Alice in Wonderland, and the works of Shakespeare, whose authors are long gone or have relinquished copyright, are in the public domain. There are huge collections of public domain texts on the Internet--Project Bartleby at http://www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/ is one organization that specializes in collecting public domain books on the Internet. I've created a list of public domain materials available on the Internet. Check out The Unofficial Public Domain Index at http://www.northcoast.com/savetz/pd/pd.html to see the index of PD material on the Internet. What's out there? You name it--graphics, sound files, software and etexts, and lots of other good stuff. If you don't see an explicit message stating that a work you find on the Net is in the public domain, it probably is copyrighted. This goes for software, electronic texts, and even postings on Usenet So, as you cruise the Internet, keep in mind that most of the stuff you find is owned by someone--and you should respect that ownership. And if you come across something that's in the public domain, consider it yours to do with as you please. For more information, see: 10 Big Myths about copyright at http://www.clari.net/brad/copymyths.htmlEager to learn the intracicies of FTP? Check out Life on the Internet--FTP, a web page with almost everything you'd ever want to know and links to just about everywhere you'd want to go related to FTP. Located at http://www.cochran.com/understand/ftp.html, this site has links for novice and power users on either the Mac or Windows platform. Many files that you download from the Net are in a compressed format (such as .ZIP and .SIT). This makes the download time shorter, but it also means you need software to decompress the file once it's on your hard disk. You can find Stuffit Expander (for Macs) and Winzip (for Windows), tools for uncompressing files, at this site. Life on the Internet also contains links to some of the most popular FTP sites on the Internet. (Thanks to CJ Eagle for this site description.)The TUCOWS archive site at http://www.tucows.com/ is one of the most popular sites Internet for shareware. Here you can search for Win95, Windows 3, or Macintosh software. The site is pleasing to the eye and to your sense of humor. The files are rated -- those with the most "cows" are the most popular. If you don't know what you are looking for you can just click on the appropriate operating system and get a complete listing of all the available files by category. Categories include anti-virus scanners, HTML editors, stock quotes, utilities, audio applications, image viewers, Interent tools...and many more! Tucows is a very easy site to navigate and offers many "mirror sites" (sites that are duplicates of the original but may be closer to you or less busy). (Thanks to CJ Eagle for this site description.)Shareware.com at http://www.shareware.com/ is another very popular site where you can search for shareware, freeware and public domain software in all flavors of Windows, Mac, Amiga, DOS, OS/2, Unix, and more. You can also browse the most popular files, and find downloading tips and tools. (Thanks to CJ Eagle for this site description.)The JUMBO Shareware Archive at http://www.jumbo.com arranges the software by type or you can search for a particular file by name. With over 74,000 shareware and freeware programs, I'm sure you will be able to find something you "need" here. (Thanks to CJ Eagle for this site description.)Just for you Mac users: the Association Bulletin Board web site not only has many, many files to download, but descriptions to go along with them. Located at http://associate.com/bbs_mug.html, you can search for a particular file, find out what's new, or browse the directories. The web page has a nice clean format that's easy to follow. It's simple to find anything that you want and need. (Thanks to CJ Eagle for this site description.)c|net has added yet another service to its arsenal, DOWNLOAD.COM. This new site is a "source for commercial demos, drivers, and patches, with access to shareware and freeware applications." In addition to search capability, the site offers users a browsable directory with (at present) nine subject categories, from business to utilities. Each category is further divided into several subcategories. The site also offers a beginners tutorial explaining how to download software (Toolkits) as well as brief profiles of notable shareware and freeware authors (Profiles). Although in no way as comprehensive as c|net's SHAREWARE.COM, DOWNLOAD.COM's offers a more user-friendly interface to the world of software on the Internet. (Site description courtesy of InterNIC Net Scout, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin - Madison.)You say you just can't get enough shareware reviews? Then subscribe to the Download Dispatch, the brand-new e-mail newsletter from DOWNLOAD.COM that's full of shareware and demo reviews, useful downloading tips, must-have updates, a pick of the week from GAMECENTER's GamerX, the latest downloads from the browser front lines, and more. You can order up the Mac or PC Edition of the Download Dispatch by going to http://www.download.com/PC/Join/0,19,0,00.html From that same page, you can also subscribe to the Shareware.Com Dispatch, a free weekly newsletter that offers info and easy access to featured applications for the PC and featured applications for the Mac. T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP: FILEZ! In this issue we check out Filez, which claims to be the biggest software search site on the Internet and promises to simplify the hunt for software and other specialized types of files on the Internet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FREE Coupons on great apparel brands like Timberland, Duck Head, Woolrich, and Calvin Klein. Just sign up at Aardwulf Apparel's web store. Since they're electronic, they'll never clutter your drawers! ---------------------( http://www.aardwulf.com )---------------------- Visitors to Filez can search for software programs, games, graphics, fonts, sounds, movies - you name it! Since they index a huge percentage of the files on the Net (over 4000 servers), chances are you'll find that Lion King video, Eiffel tower picture, or a new version of your favorite game. While most search engines concentrate on WWW pages, Filez indexes thousands of software sites and amasses the largest database of files on the Internet. Their search system permits users to search through a list of over 75 million files (yes, I counted them) for specific titles and types of files in just seconds. >From one web form, searches can be performed for software, games, graphics, sounds, movies, midi files, and more. And category headings make it easy for Windows, Mac, OS/2, Amiga and other computer users to select only titles applicable to their needs. Choosy Surfers Chew GIFs? ------------------------- Users can search all of the servers catalogued by Filez or select only servers with certain domain endings such as sites geographically located close to them. (If you download from a site that's closer, you'll get your files quicker!) Besides searching, users can also peruse the holdings of popular FTP sites at Filez. This allows you to check out notoriously busy sites that typically deny access because of limitations on the number of users or simply do not offer searching capabilities. All these advanced searching features, along with related sites such as Shareware.Com (http://www.shareware.com) seem to put a few more nails in the coffin of Archie, the not-so-friendly tool that has long been in use for indexing and searching FTP sites. The Filez service can be located at http://www.filez.com and can be accessed from any forms capable World Wide Web browser. Hey, I finally found that "Mission Impossible" theme song in MIDI format - cool! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Get FOUR FREE CD-Roms! Find out how by visiting this site: ----------- http://www.worldvillage.com/freecds.htm ---------------- Stupid Computer Joke of the Week -------------------------------- Thanks to all who sent their favorite SCJ's! Robert Payes sent me these two, which will cause all true geeks to chortle heartily. :-) * 10 PRINT Waiter there's a BUG in my LOOP! : GOTO 10 * if (odor(litterbox)>"Yuk!") newlitter(litterbox); else catpoop++; See you next time! --Bob ======================================================================== Join : Send SUBSCRIBE TOURBUS Your Name to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Leave : Send SIGNOFF TOURBUS to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Archives: On the Web at http://www.worldvillage.com/tourbus.htm Advertising: E-mail BobRankin@MHV.net w/ Subject: SEND TBRATES =----------------------------------------------------------------------= Get The Scoop On --> "Doctor Bob's Painless Guide To The Internet" <-- Send e-mail to BobRankin@MHV.net w/ Subject: SEND BOOKINFO or browse reviews & sample chapters at http://biz.mhv.net/drbob ======================================================================== TOURBUS - (c) Copyright 1995-97, Patrick Crispen and Bob Rankin All rights reserved. Redistribution is allowed only with permission.