Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!sunic!tut!ra!chyde!ts
From: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi LASK)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: SIMTEL20 TROUBLES
Message-ID: <801@chyde.uwasa.fi>
Date: 28 Sep 89 21:20:20 GMT
References: <120800007@silver>
Reply-To: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi LASK)
Organization: U of Vaasa, Finland
Lines: 41

In article <120800007@silver> sl179060@silver.bacs.indiana.edu writes:
>program and I declare myself to be an anonymous user. I follow this
>procedure:
>
>%ftp simtel20.arpa 
>.... sign off message .......
... stuff deleted ...
>ftp>quit
>%ftp 129.79.101.146  {my workstation}
>ftp>send gmovie.arc

I can always be mistaken, but as far as I could see there was
nothing wrong in your simtel procedure, but I think you have failed
to move the file correctly to your PC.  In getting the file from
your workstation you have omitted the all-important command: binary. 

Here at the University of Vaasa we run an ftp system as well, and
the experience here is the same as I know Simtel20 maintainer Keith
Petersen must have: A great majority of problems in transferring
files from ftp sites is NOT in the transfer between the ftp site and
the user's mainframe (or workstation) but in errors in transferring
from the user's mainframe to the users PC.  Two errors are
particularly common:

1) Forgetting to set the file type binary (this was your problem
most probably).

2) Failing to set the parity correctly at *each* end of the user's
mainframe <--> PC.  Eg in kermit setting the parity even at each end
usually helps. 

-----

Keith, if you are reading this message.  Should you and I consider
preparing an automated reply-message to these queries, because this
same question comes up so often?

...................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi                                (Site 128.214.12.3)
School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, SF-65101, Finland
Internet: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi Funet: vakk::salmi Bitnet: salmi@finfun