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From: rubywand@swbell.net
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Subject: Apple II comp.sys.apple2 FAQs, Part 21/23
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Last-modified: 2000/4/1
URL: http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/A2FAQs1START.html

The comp.sys.apple2 Usenet newsgroup Apple II FAQs originate from
the Ground Apple II archive, 1997-2000. Administrator: Steve Nelson

Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2T2TCOM.txt  rev025 1 April 2000






Telecom-2: Downloading & Uploading

 001- What's the easiest way to download files from Apple II sites?
 002- Some of my downloads are bad; what's wrong?
 003- Are there download files I should process on the PC (or Mac)?
 004- How do I upload files?
 005- What kinds of files should I upload to which sites?
 006- How can I read & send email and newsgroup msgs with my A2?
 007- With a fast modem, how can the IIe connect to the internet?
 008- I'm running the Lynx web browser. Where do I put the URL?
 009- How do I download an .SHK file through Lynx?
 010- Can I send and receive FAXes using my Apple II?
 011- What is a "Binary II" header?
 012- Should I add a Binary II header to files I upload?
 013- How can I move A2 programs to Quick BASIC on my PC?
 014- What do file name extensions mean and how do I access the files?
 015- How do I tell what kind of file this is?
 016- How can I use my Apple II on the internet?






From: Rubywand

001- What is the easiest way to download files from Apple II sites?

     Modern PC internet browsers, like Netscape 4.x, have 'spoiled' much of the challenge of connecting to sites on the net, especially popular Apple II ftp sites. For example, entering

ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/apple16/Games/

in Netscape's "Location:" (or "Netsite:", etc.) box gets you to Ground's GS games folder ready to download with just a mouse click.

     Most major Apple II sites are FTP sites; so, we'll talk about FTP downloads first. FTP connections have a pretty raw look-- instead of colorful backgrounds, pictures, fancy buttons, etc., what you see is mainly text showing folder and file names. If you connect via a browser, you will probably get folder icons and, perhaps, some simple icon next to each file name.


Downloading via a Browser

     Once you are connected to an FTP site via, say, Netscape, you can Click (leftClick) on folder icons to get a listing of what's in the folder. You can navigate backward, too, by clicking "Up to higher level directory" (or whatever phrase the site uses).

     Generally, you should not just Click on an item you wish to download to disk. (This may immediately start a download to your display-- fine if you just want to view a text file; but not much help if you want to download one.)

     However, single-clicking on a file name is a quick way to find out whether your browser is ready to treat an .shk, .dsk, .bxy, or other non-text file as binary (as it should). For instance, if you Click on WUMPUS.SHK and you get an alert box with options including "save to disk", or you get a standard Save window, then you can be pretty sure your browser knows .shk files are 'special' and will not treat them like plain text.

     If you Click on a .shk, .dsk, etc. file and garbage starts to fill the screen, it probably means your browser knows nothing about the file type and is defaulting to text mode. To correctly download the files, you will need to set up the file type as one associated with some application. You can do this by creating a new type in the Windows95 View--Options--File Types window; or, if running Netscape, you can go to Edit--Preferences and create the new type in the Netscape Applications window. (File type

 changes in the Windows95 File Types window should be made before starting your browser.) Geoff Weiss has a page which talks about making web browsers aware of Apple II file types for ftp connections at http://www.gwlink.net/geoff/IIdownload.html .

     To download under a browser, the usual way to select an item is a SHIFT-Click (press the SHIFT key and leftClick) or a rightClick. The results are very similar. SHIFT-Click will normally bring up a Save window and you can change the name, change the destination folder, etc. before Clicking "Save". RightClick gets you a menu and you Click "Save Link As ..." to get to the Save window.

     Again, in the Save window, you pick the destination drive and folder and, if you like, modify the name of the file to be downloaded and saved. Clicking "Save" (or, "Okay", etc. for some browers) starts the download.


Downloading via an FTP Program

     A slightly different approach is to use a good FTP program (often called an "FTP client"), such as WS_FTP. It is easier to download (or upload) multiple files, speed is usually a bit better, and FTP is not much concerned with file type recognition.

     To connect to an FTP site you can run a dial-up program to establish contact with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and start your FTP program. If you are on the net under Netscape, 'Explorer, etc., then you are already connected to your ISP and can start your FTP program as a new task.

     After starting your FTP program, you can select the FTP site you want from a list you've created. The list, also called a "profile list", contains ...

o- the site's internet name-- such as "ground.ecn.uiowa.edu" (Note: there are no "/" folder separators in this entry.)

o- the particular folder or directory you want to begin with-- such as "/2/apple2"

o- and the folder on your computer for downloads-- such as "C:\Downloads".

     Other information, such as the kind of connection (usually "Unix standard") and the password you send to the site-- usually you will log-in as "anonymous" and use your email address as the password-- are entered more or less automatically when you first create a site's profile entry. (To create a new entry you will usually just click "New", "Create New", etc. instead of picking a site to contact.)

     When the connection is made, you will see a list of files and folders in the folder you have entered. If you open one of the folders, you will get a new listing of files and folders contained in the selected folder. You can 'navigate' deeper into the archive and reach, say, Ground's /2/apple2/Collections/AOL/Games folder; and you can navigate backward to, say, /2/apple2/Collections and explore some other collection, such as /2/apple2/Collections/1WSW.

     You can, also, change the the drive and folder on your hard disk to which you wish to download. For example, the default "local" folder may be C:\Downloads whenever you connect to Ground. If you want downloads to go into D:\TempStuff, you can pick this destination. Another situation in which you may wish to change the local folder is when uploading files to a site.

     Practically all programs and compressed disks will be in .SHK, .SDK, .DSK, or some other "binary" form. In fact, "Binary" should nearly always be your download/upload mode setting, even when downloading (or uploading) Text files. About the only exception would be when dealing with a binscii archive site which can not handle binary.

     In general, when downloading an Apple II .SHK, .ZIP, etc. file, it is best to avoid letting any "helper" applications process the file during download. Usually, it is best to unZIP .zip and .gz files on the PC but, still, after you have completed the download. Your Apple II can take care of un-Shrinking and most other kinds of processing which may be required after the file is downloaded and transferred from the PC (or Mac).

     To download one or more files you click-highlight each file you want. Then, you click some button-- such as an arrow symbol pointing to your C:\Downloads folder-- to start the download.

     Usually everything will go smoothly and the files will appear on hard disk in your target folder (e.g. C:\Downloads).  If you use a dedicated ftp utility you will, usually, be able to see the exact length of a file on the site's file list. One good check for a successful download is to compare file lengths displayed in your target folder with those shown in the FTP site's file list. If you do straight downloads with no processing, there should be no differences for binary transfers. (Text file transfe

rs in Text mode often result in small length changes.)



Downloading from HTTP Sites

     Many users and vendors set up web pages-- pages you get to via an http:// URL-- which allow downloading software. Typically, you will see a relatively fancy display listing titles with descriptions and, by each title, a button to click to do the download.

     Here, you usually just click the button or item name to start the download process. An exception might be when the file is a Text file you wish to download; for Text file downloads you may need to right-click or SHIFT-click on the item.

     Assuming the file is some binary type (like .shk, .dsk, .bxy, etc.), just clicking should bring up a Save dialogue-- like an alert asking if you wish to Save the file-- or take you immediately to a Save window. When this happens it indicates that the download page's server knows that the item is not Text and the odds favor getting a good download. 

     Some Apple II http download pages are on servers which do not recognize popular Apple II file type designations. Most likely, you will experience no difficulty reading/downloading text or downloading files with .zip, .bin, .gz, and other standard PC designations; but, clicking a file ending in .shk, .sdk, .dsk, ... will probably lead to having it dumped to your screen because the server tells your browser that it is a Text type file. Right-clicking or SHIFT-clicking will allow you to get a download; b

ut, the file will still, almost certainly, be corrupted.

     The easiest "fix" for the above situation is to contact the site via its ftp:// URL, if it has one, and do FTP downloads. A pretty good alternative is to go ahead and download the .shk, etc. file and use a PC utility named "Uncook" to try producing a copy with the corruption removed.

     Uncook was 'discovered' by GS Ed (manager of the ACN Florida archive); and tests indicate that it usually succeeds when the file is corrupted. If the file is not corrupted, Uncook may produce a messed up copy! Fortunately, it is pretty easy to tell when the latter occurs.

     If the result of Uncook is a file just 2-4 or so bytes smaller, the original is probably good and the Uncook is bad. If the new (Uncooked) file is known to be the correct size (like it's a 143,360 byte .dsk file) or if it is many bytes smaller, or if the site is known to deliver corrupted files, then the Uncooked file is probably good. And, if there is any doubt, you can always try using both files-- e.g. the .sdk file which gets you a "bad data" error during unshrinking is the bad one.

     Uncook.zip is available from GS WorldView and Tarnover:

http://www.grin.net/~cturley/gsezine/GS.WorldView/v1999/Nov/
(Click on "Download Help")

ftp://tarnover.dyndns.org/Tarnover/Utilities/

----------------------------


002- Some of my downloads are bad; what's wrong?

     If the exact length of a downloaded file is different than its exact length on the download site (e.g. as shown via your FTP client program), the download is probably corrupted.

     A common reason for getting a bad download is that a binary file was downloaded in text mode. An FTP program should be set to "Binary" before doing most downloads from ftp sites. If using a browser, the browser needs to recognize the file name extension (e.g. .shk). There is some discussion about this in Q&A 001 above.

     Except for .bin, .zip, and some other standard PC file type designations, quite a few Apple II suffixes (like .shk and .dsk) are not correctly handled by some http site servers. The files should be downloaded from an ftp site.

     Some files may seem to be corrupted-- i.e. 'not work right'-- even if a length check shows that the download size is identical to the file's size on an ftp site. One possibility is that the file was corrupted somewhere in the upload process. This is fairly rare for files made available for download.

     A few Apple II files still include a Binary II prefix. This may cause the file to appear corrupted to some utility you try to use on a PC; but, it will work fine once transferred to your Apple II. (Normally, a modern Apple II telecom program such as Spectrum or ProTERM will be set to automatically strip off the Binary II prefix during transfer. GS-ShrinkIt and 8-bit ShrinkIt will remove a Binary II prefix from .shk, etc. ShrinkIt files.)

     The file may be okay but incorrectly named. For example, an .sys or .bin file may be shrinked but still uploaded as an ".sys" or ".bin" file (instead of ".shk").  Or, an .shk file may be uploaded in binscii form as an ".shk" file. (Such a file should end with ".bsq".)  When a downloaded .shk or .sdk file is rejected by ShrinkIt, it's a good idea to try running it through Binscii or GScii. Sometimes the result will be a genuine .shk or .sdk file.

     Other kinds of files are just misunderstood. A user who downloads a 'disk image' file named NarfGame.dsk.gz" may conclude it is "corrupted" when it is rejected by an emulator program of fails to convert to diskette with DSK2FILE. But, all that's required is to decompress the .gz file using WinZIP to produce a true .dsk disk image file.

     A source of possible confusion for IIgs users is the occasional .shk or .sdk file which looks fine but is rejected as damaged by GS-ShrinkIt. The problem may be that the file was created by a Mac owner. Sometimes these Mac-created Shrink files unShrink fine using GS-ShrinkIt; sometimes, not. Before trashing a "damaged" .shk or .sdk IIgs file, try running it through Balloon.

----------------------------


From: Greg J. Buchner

     Balloon is a IIGS desk accessory that was put out by Ego Systems...it handles ShrinkIt archives from anywhere you can access a New Desk Accessory on the IIGS. For the Mac, you'd use Shrink II.

____________________________



From: Rubywand

003- Are there any kinds of files I should process on the
     PC (or Mac) before transfer to my Apple II?

     Yes. Many old games and other interesting wares downloaded from "emulator" sites like Asimov (ftp.apple.asimov-net)  will arrive as .gz files. These will, almost always, be compressed 5.25" disk image (DSK) files. They should be un-compressed on the PC via WinZIP before being sent to your Apple II. This avoids a messy de-compression process on the Apple and makes the DSK file available on the PC (or Mac) should you wish to use it with AppleWin or some other A2 emulator program.

Note: If you are running an FTP program under plain DOS or Windows 3.x, long file names will be truncated to fit PC's old "8 and 3" format. A .gz file may not show up in your C:\UPDOWN (or whatever) directory with the ".gz" suffix. It is still a .gz file and will not be useful as a disk image (DSK) file until it is uncompressed. The usual size of a 5.25" disk image file is about 143kB.

     Other chores you will want to handle on the PC before sending a file to your Apple II include converting .HTM (HTML) files to text and splitting up very large Text files. Similarly, it will be easier to view, process, and convert most large graphics files on the PC.

----------------------------


004- I need some help with uploading. I uploaded a large file to
     apple2.caltech but nobody seems able to download it without
     ending up with garbage. What's wrong?

     Uploading files to an FTP site is a fairly simple process-- basically, it's pretty close to the reverse of downloading described above. For example, to upload a group of Apple IIgs files named "NARFGAME" you would ...

o  On the GS, use GS-ShrinkIt to created a single compressed file 
   containing the NARFGAME files. The new .SHK file could be named
  "NARFGAME.SHK". (On an Apple IIe or other 8-bit Apple II, you
   could use an 8-bit version of ShrinkIt to compress the NARFGAME
   files.)

o  Use Spectrum or some other A2 telecom program to NULL modem
   NARFGAME.SHK to, say, the PC's C:\UPDOWN folder using Z-modem
   protocol.(Z-modem is easiest; but, other protocols, like X-modem,
   are fine. Mainly, both telecom programs involved in the transfer,
   Apple II and PC, need to be set to the same protocol.)

o  Dial-up your ISP-- no need if you are already connected via
   Netscape, 'Explorer, or some other browser or application.


Uploading via a Browser

o  If you are running Netscape or some similar browser, you can do
   the upload very easily to one of several ftp sites. (Some ftp 
   sites may not permit uploading from a browser. Major Apple II
   sites which will include Asimov, Ground, and A2-Caltech.)

   Go to the site's upload URL-- e.g. you might type in
   ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/ (or click your bookmark for
  "Ground") and click on the upload/ folder to open it.

   Note1: The folder for uploads will usually be named "upload",
  "uploads", or "incoming". Sometimes, there will be folders inside,
   like apple2/, apple2gs/, etc. which you should open depending
   upon where you think your stuff fits.

   Note2: Some sites will show the current contents of the uploads
   folder and some will not. Often you will see a nearly blank
   screen.

   Open a window for the folder on your system which has the file or
   files you want to upload. For example, you may want to upload the
   file NARFGAME.SHK which is in the C:\NeatGames\ folder on your
   hard disk. So, you would open a window for C:\NeatGames\.

   Select (click on) the files to upload and drag them onto the
   uploads page display-- you would click on NARFGAME.SHK and drag it
   onto the part of your screen showing the uploads page display
  (which may be blank).

   Click "Yes" when asked if you want to upload the file(s).

   If the site accepts your upload you will get some kind of message
   indicating this somewhere on your screen-- maybe at the bottom--
   saying "upload successful", "upload done", etc..


Uploading via an FTP program

o  If you prefer using an ftp program (e.g. WS_FTP, Cute FTP, etc.)
   or the ftp site will not permit browser uploads, start your ftp
   program.

   Select the desired FTP site's name in your "profiles list" (or,
   if necessary, create the profile entry) and connect with the
   FTP site.

   Navigate to the FTP site's uploads folder-- usually, it will be
   named "upload", "uploads", or "incoming". There may be folders
   inside this one (like apple2/, apple2gs/, etc.) to open depending
   upon what sort of stuff you are uploading.

   Note: you may or may not see any files listed when in a site's
   Uploads folder. Some FTP sites hide file names in this folder
   and/or restrict folder access to upload-only.

   For .shk, .dsk, and most other program files you upload, make
   sure 'transfer mode' is set to "binary". (For Text files, mode
   can be "text" or "ASCII"; however, "binary" mode is fine for
   Text uploads.)

   Highlight "NARFGAME.SHK" (and any other binary mode files to
   upload) in the listing of files in your C:\UPDOWN folder.

   Click an arrow button (or whatever) to start the transfer to
   the FTP site's uploads folder.

   If the upload is successful, you will usually get a message like
  "transfer complete" on your ftp program's display.


     With a little experience everything is nearly 'automatic'. However, there are a few common mistakes which can ruin an upload:

o  Probably, the most common error is failing to make sure "binary" is set (check-marked, etc.) as the transfer mode when an .SHK file or other non-Text file is uploaded using an ftp program. Basically, you should use binary mode for all uploads to modern ftp sites. If some site complains when a .txt file is uploaded in binary mode, use "text" (or "ASCII") mode for the Text file.

o  Many Apple II users seem to feel that, because "Binary Up"-- an option which adds a Binary II header-- is available on their telecom program, it should be used for all transfers. It is best to turn OFF any Spectrum (ProTerm, etc.) option which adds a Binary II header. (Also, you should _not_ use GS-ShrinkIt's option to add a Binary II header.)  A Binary II header renders a file useless until the header is stripped off; so, for example, any Text file with the header will be un-readable by a PC. If a down

loader does not have an A2 telecom program which automatically strips off the header during NULL modem transfers (or if "Binary Down" is turned OFF), the Text file will look like garbage on the Apple II as well.

o  Too many old-time Apple II users still insist upon doing a binscii conversion of all .SHK files before uploading them. When, as sometimes happens, a binscii'd .SHK file is uploaded as an ".SHK" file, downloaders end up with a ".SHK file which ShrinkIt cannot unshrink". Except for uploads to text-oriented services like comp.binaries.apple2, binscii is not necessary on the modern internet.

o  Sometimes, a user will NULL modem an Apple Text file to PC using a block transfer protocol (like Z-modem) and, then, upload the file as Text intended to be readable on-line. Such a file will, usually, be a mess when viewed on a PC.

o  Mac owners sometimes use the Mac version of ShrinkIt to create a ".SHK" archive of Apple II files which is then uploaded to an Apple II FTP site. The result is another 'mystery .SHK file' which Apple II users cannot unshrink. .SHK files uploaded to an Apple II FTP site should be created on an Apple II using an Apple II version of ShrinkIt.

     In short, most of the common uploading errors are the result of carelessness or of doing something which is unnecessary. A good uploading 'rule of thumb' is "Keep it simple".


----------------------------


005- What kinds of files should I upload to which sites?


  I. Ground, A2-Caltech, and most other Apple II ftp sites

     These sites prefer .SHK files for stuff intended to run or be accessed on an Apple II. For example, a game which includes a program file, text Readme file, and folder of pic files would be Shrink'd into an .SHK file.

     It is best to Shrink even compressed picture, small binary, and icon files and upload them as .SHK files because everyone is used to dealing with .SHK files and the filetype of the Shrink'd file is preserved.

     ProDOS diskettes should, usually, be uploaded as a collection of files in a regular .SHK file. This uses less space than a whole-disk archive file.

     DOS 3.3 diskettes should be uploaded as whole-disk archive .SDK files. (That is, you have an .SHK whole-disk archive but you change its name to end with ".SDK".)

     Pictures and diagrams you want to be both useable on an Apple II and viewable on-line should be converted to .GIF form (e.g. via Super Convert) and uploaded in this form.

     If you have several pictures or diagrams you want to be accessible off-line on an Apple II as well as a PC, Mac, etc., you can convert them to .GIF form, place them all in a .ZIP file on your PC, and upload the .ZIP file.

     All of the above would be uploaded in "binary" mode.


     Text which is intended to be readable on-line should be uploaded as plain Text in "ASCII" or "Text" mode or, on most sites today, in binary mode.

     Whenever you upload a game, utility, etc. to an ftp site, it's a good idea to also upload a brief Text file with a description of the uploaded item. For example, after uploading NARFGAME2.SHK (in binary mode), you could upload a brief description in a Text file named NARFGAME.TXT (in Text or binary mode).


 II. Comp.binaries.apple2

     Programs, etc. posted to this newsgroup are normally .SHK files which have been Binscii'd-- i.e. after Shrinking, the file is changed to Text form via a binscii utility.


III. Asimov and other Apple II emulator ftp sites

     Upload files will, generally, be individual DOS 3.3 or ProDOS disk image (.DSK) files created on an Apple II by DSK2FILE or ASIMOV. Upload in binary mode.

____________________________



From: Brian Hammack

006- How can I read & send email and newsgroup messages
     with my Apple II?

     You can use a program by Tom Larson named "2qwk!".  Many PC-based BBS's and other servers have hidden among the door programs a "maildoor," which will package all unread messages in a user's chosen news groups and make them available for download as a single compressed file, called a QWK packet. (Hence "2qwk", QWK access for Apple II; get it?!)

     So, you have a QWK packet sent to your machine, which takes a few seconds to a few minutes depending on how fast the modem is and how many messages there are. Then, you can go off-line and launch 2qwk!. Selecting "Archiver" lets you start the utility of your choice (such as Angel 0.81b, available separately) to unpack the QWK packet and return to 2qwk!.

     Now, you may select "Messages" to view your news groups, scan messages by author and subject, and, finally, read individual messages. When you find a post that needs a reply, you can decide how much of the message to quote and type-in your words of wisdom. You can also haul in text from disk and, even, pick just the right tagline (snappy words at the very end of many messages seen on-line nowadays). Naturally, 2qwk! allows complete freedom to change a message title along with the group to which it is 

to be posted and to originate new messages.

     When you are done reading and replying, you exit the program and it creates a reply file, called a REP packet. The next time you connect, you simply upload the REP to the maildoor. The maildoor will decide what goes where and your messages will enter cyberspace pronto!

     To use 2qwk! you will need an enhanced Apple IIe, IIc, or IIgs, with at least 128k RAM and drive space to hold the QWK data. The program itself will fit on a 5.25" disk with plenty of room to spare. Of course, the server to which you connect must have a QWK-compatible maildoor. 2qwk! runs under ProDOS 2.x. It comes with QuickFix, a program to patch ProDOS, and other utility programs to handle MSDOS-legal names.

____________________________



From: Richard Der

007- With a fast modem, how can the IIe connect to the internet?

     Get an Internet Service Provider that has the option of a text based shell account. For email, Proline and METAL BBS's work well too.

----------------------------


008- I'm on the Internet and running the Lynx web browser.
     It dosn't look like Netscape Navigator at all. Where do
     I put in the URL?

     Type "g" which will bring up a URL dialog. You can then type in the URL and hit return.

----------------------------



009- How do I download an .SHK file through Lynx? Selecting the
     link gives an unusable text dump.

     Just highlight the link, but do not press return.  Press "d"  instead, which will bring up the download dialog.

____________________________



From: Rubywand

010- Can I send and receive FAXes using my Apple II?

     If your Apple II is a IIgs, yes. There are two GS FAXing programs: FAXination and PMPFAX.

----------------------------


011- What is a "Binary II" header?

     A Binary II header is a small block of code tacked onto some Apple II files. Sometimes, this is referred to as a "binary wrapper". Mainly, the Binary II header contains filetype information. The purpose of Binary II is to allow Apple II users to download files and have them show up with the correct filetype. (Otherwise, a downloaded file tends to show up as a TXT type file.)

     In order for a Binary II header to be recognized and used to supply the filetype info, the Apple II downloading software must have its "Binary Down" option set to ON. The problem with this is that, at least on a few popular telecom wares (like Spectrum), setting "Binary Down" to ON will turn OFF Resume Transfer, something you probably do not want to do when downloading over phone lines.

     When you use a PC or Mac to handle downloads and, then, NULL-modem the files to your Apple, it makes sense to leave "Binary Down" ON for the telecom program running on the Apple II. Resume Transfer is not necessary because you have a direct, noise-free connection between two machines. Meanwhile, Binary Down will automatically recognize and strip-off any Binary II header and save the resulting file with the correct filetype.

----------------------------


012- Should I add a Binary II header to files I upload?

     In general, no. Binary II is an Apple-only device which, today, is largely unnecessary and can cause problems. Virtually the only valid use for Binary II is to retain filetype information for .SEA self-extracting archives. (An .SEA file with a Binary II header is a .BSE file.) The only file which significantly benefits form a Binary II header is a self-extracting archive of GS-ShrinkIt.

----------------------------


013- How can I move AppleSoft BASIC programs to Quick BASIC
     on my PC?

     Transferring Applesoft programs on an Apple II to QBASIC, GW-BASIC, etc. on the PC is mainly a matter of moving a text copy of the program to the PC. (To make a text copy of an Apple II program, you LIST the program to a Text file.)

     On the PC, you  bring the A2 program text into your BASIC editor. BASICs available on a PC are not 100% compatible with Applesoft. Once you can list the Applesoft program on the PC under QBASIC (or whatever), you will, almost certainly, need to modify it.

     It will be necessary to replace some Applesoft commands with their PC BASIC equivalents. Some commands are very similar but differ slightly in syntax; and you are likely to find that some conventions, such as the numerical value of "True" from boolean tests, are different.

     The more an Applesoft program is "pure BASIC", the easier it will be to get it working on a PC. Programs which employ lots of PEEKs and POKEs, do monitor CALLs, and access other features specific to the Apple II will be more troublesome.

____________________________



From: Dan DeMaggio, Boris Guenter, Nathan Mates, Phil Abro,
      Rubywand, Labelas Enoreth, tturner

014- What do the different popular file name extensions, like ".BSC",
     mean; and, how do I access the files?

     File name extensions tell you what sort of file you are dealing with so that you will know which program(s) to use to unpack, unShrink, display, etc. the file. Many programs which create such files do not automatically add an extension-- for example, most of the disk images on the Golden Orchard CD are DiskCopy files with no name extension. Many other programs which create files suggest a default extension as part of the name-- GS-ShrinkIt generally suggests ".SHK"-- but, the user can change this and 

save under any legal name desired. (One popular change is using ".SDK" for ShrinkIt whole-disk archive files.)

     Some extensions indicate a filetype recognized by Apple II ProDOS; but, often, the extension is just for user information or to help some utility recognize the file as one it can deal with. For such files the actual ProDOS filetype is usually TXT, BIN, or SHK.


        What is it?  (What program do I use?)
        ------------------------------------------------------------
 .2MG   XGS IIgs disk image file (DSK2FILE v5.5)
 .AAF   Apple Archive Format [TEXT] for source code (aaf.unpacker)
 .ACU   NuFX Applelink archive (ShrinkIt*)
 .ALU   usually a multi-file, non-compressed A2 archive (ALU)
 .APF   GS super-res "Apple Preferred" packed graphics format
       (Platinum Paint, Convert 3200, etc.)
 .ARC   PC Archive (GS-ShrinkIt* or DeArc2E or PC Arc program)
 .BMP   Windows Bit-Mapped graphics format (GS Convert 3200;
        many PC viewers)
 .BNX   NuFX with BLU header. (ShrinkIt*)
 .BNY   BLU archive. (ShrinkIt*)
 .BQY   NuFX with BLU header. (ShrinkIt*)
 .BSC   BinScii file. [TEXT]  (BinScii or GScii)
 .BSE   A GSHK* .SEA file with a Binary II header (ShrinkIt*)
 .BSQ   BinScii'd NuFX file. [TEXT]  (BinScii plus ShrinkIt* on
        the result)
 .BXY   NuFX archive with a Binary II header. (ShrinkIt*)
 .CPT   Compactor Pro archive (Compactor Pro on a Mac only)
 .DO    a .DSK file specified as having data in "DOS 3.3 Order"
        i.e. uses DOS 3.3 sector ordering (A2 DSK2FILE and GS ASIMOV)
 .DSK   standard emulator disk image-- length is 143360 bytes for
        5.25" disk images (A2 DSK2FILE and GS ASIMOV)
 .EXE   A2 Executioner file [TEXT]. (On A2; some files may EXEC
        properly under only DOS 3.3.)
 .GIF   Graphics Interchange Format: Compressed picture (IIGIF for
        //e; Super Convert, ... on GS; PC, etc.: many viewers
        and editors)
 .GZ    GZip PC archive format often used for storing A2 emulator
        disk images (GS GZPK v2 plus PMPUnZIP or Angel; PC WinZIP)
 .HQX   Mac BinHex file. [TEXT] (BinHex on Mac or GScii)
 .HTM   HTML [TEXT] with embedded Text commands (Web
        browsers, web editors, etc.)
 .IMAGE, .DIMG, .IMG  DiskCopy disk image file usually produced
        by a Mac (GS Clone or Diskcopy)
 .IMG   Type IMG or "user #7" Copy II Plus disk image file (A2
        Copy II Plus v6.x or v7.x) sometimes used for DiskCopy images
 .JPG   PC JPEG hi-res, hi-color graphics format (GS JPEG.VIEWER,
        etc. B/W only or PC, Unix viewers)
 .LBR   a multi-file, non-compressed A2 archive (Librarian)
 .LHA   LHA Archive (PC/Amiga LZH program)
 .LZH   LZH Archive (PC/Amiga LZH program)
 .NIB   emulator disk image (typical length: 232960) for protected
        5.25" software (A2 Saltine's Super Transcopy)
 .PCX   PC graphics format (GS Convert 3200; PC many viewers)
 .PD    compressed GS multi-palette graphics file w/o
        palettes (GS SuperPac)
 .PNG   PC PING hi-res, hi-color graphics format (PC viewer)
 .PO    a .DSK file specified as having data in "ProDOS Order"
        i.e. uses ProDOS sector ordering (A2 DSK2FILE and GS ASIMOV)
 .PS    compressed GS multi-palette graphics file with
        palettes (GS SuperPac)
 .QQ    BLU archive.  (ShrinkIt*)
 .SDK   ShrinkIt disk image, usually NuFX-compressed (ShrinkIt*)
 .SEA   Self-extracting A2 ShrinkIt* or Mac ShrinkIt archive
        (depending upon kind, run on Apple IIgs or Mac)
 .SHK   usually an A2 NuFX-compressed archive; non-A2-compatible
        Mac .SHK archives also exist (GS ShrinkIt* / Mac unshrinker
        utility / PC Nulib-- does not extract GS resource forks)
 .SIT   Mac StuffIt archive. (Stuffit on Mac or GS ShrinkIt)
        GS-ShrinkIt will not decode StuffIt Deluxe files.
 .TAR   Unix Tape Archive (Unix tar with -xvf option, GS EXE tar)
 .TGZ   Gzipped .TAR file
 .uu    Unix uuencode file [TEXT] (//e uudecode, Unix uudecode)
 .uue   Unix uuencode file [TEXT] (//e uudecode, Unix uudecode)
 .TIFF  Graphics format (GS SHR Convert)
 .TXT   [TEXT] An ASCII text file (Text editors,
        word processors, etc.)
 .UU    Unix uuencode file [TEXT] (A2 uudecode or Unix uudecode)
 .UUE   Unix uuencode file [TEXT] (A2 uudecode or Unix uudecode)
 .Z     Compressed file (GS-ShrinkIt or Unix uncompress)
 .ZIP   PC Zip Archive (GS PMPUnZIP or UNZIP [GS Shell EXE]
        or PC WinZIP, PKUNZIP, Unix unzip)
 .ZOO   PC Zoo Archive (GS-ShrinkIt??? or PC ZOO program)

* Note: GS-ShrinkIt (= GSHK) can handle all ShrinkIt files except
       .SDK (shrunken disk) files of 5.25" DOS 3.3 disks created by
        8-bit ShrinkIt. 8-bit ShrinkIt does not work for GS
        files having a resource fork or GS .SEA files.


----------------------------

From: Apple's ftp site ...

Most files are in one of a few common formats, and many are a combination.

 .sit    StuffIt 1.5.1 archives
 .hqx    BinHex 4.0 file
 .bin    Binary file
 .image  DiskCopy 4.2 image file
 .txt    plain ASCII text file
 .bsc    Apple II BinSCII file
 .shk    Apple II ShrinkIt file

     Most of the Macintosh files are BinHexed StuffIt files.  This means you need to transfer the file, then read the license agreement which is prepended to it (with any text processor), use BinHex or any utility which can read BinHex 4.0 files to decode the BinHex to a StuffIt archive, then use UnStuffIt or the StuffIt Expander (or any other utility) to decompress the .sit file into the final file.

     In some cases the final file is a .image file. These are exact duplicates of floppy disks (with verified checksums). Use DiskCopy to convert these files into floppy disks for installation. Some Apple System Software is in this format.

     Most of the Apple II files are either straight text or BinSCII'd ShrinkIt files. This means you need to transfer the file, then use BinSCII to convert the .bsc file to a ShrinkIt file, then use ShrinkIt to create the final file or disk.

Note: Apple calls their BinSCII'd .SHK files ".bsc" instead of ".bsq". It is fairly common for uploaders and ftp sites to tag any BinSCII'd file as ".bsc". The rationale is that, once a user un-BinSCII's a file, he or she will find an .SHK, .ZIP, etc. file and know how to continue.

____________________________



From: Dan DeMaggio

015- How do I tell what kind of file this is?

Here is a simple guide to help you identify a file. You should always go by filename extension first, but not everybody uses those. In Unix, you can use the 'head' command to look at the first couple of lines of a file. If it turns out to be a binary file, you may be in for a surprise. You may want to use the Unix 'file' command to find out if it is a text file or not first. Once you have identified the file, check the earlier info on filename extensions for how to deal with it.

If there are lines in the file that look like this (there can be other text before it--search for 'FiLeStArT'):

FiLeStArTfIlEsTaRt
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789()
GBINSCII        AQhmAAAAA8)4MIAI02DA9ARMQEDtAQhmAIVZ
gYITA6u7xADA0MjM3YTNBlDOENkQwYURzITM2UDN5gzNDJUQGVERyEDM1QzM4cjN
CFUOFR0QxAjR0MjM3YTNBlDOENkQwAQRzITM2UDN5gzNDJUQGVERyEDM1QzM4cjN
..

then you've got something encoded by BinSCII. You must decode _all_ the parts using BinSCII before attempting to extract using ShrinkIt.


On the other hand, if you have a binary file which resembles:

NuFilei][![/#NuFX_<:c[[[ H`F-fGSCII~[
cRJ0)fNN^P)3'A2p6SF6X#GPd<9#'LC^08N7n\NB7Dd!eMN&eYX0Am=fXp
dsPAsp7rh`I'NS0ALAfi2)2ysGEQ$k9CP%L9
...

then you have a NuFX file (note the key words NuFile and NuFX).  You should be able to extract the files it contains using ShrinkIt.


On the third hand, if you have a text file which resembles:

begin 666 nonsense.bny
M4W5N3U,s4F5L96%S92 T+C$s\%-$4U0V,"Ds(SsZ(%1U92!/8W0s.2 Q,CHS
M...3HT.2!%1%0s,3DY, HT

then you have a uuencoded file.


On another hand, if you have a text file which begins with

(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)
:$&4)48C28N0&,P009!"6593K8dP8)3%!!!#Ls!!!!!!Qie009#%!!3!!SPKb6'&
e!3!!!!!!!!!#!!P8D'8J4QpbBf9P)IN33)(4$N#"d4K!JG%S!!!!!`!'VfJ!"VP

then you have a BinHex file. The GScii NDA by Derek Taubert decodes BinHex files on an Apple IIGS. You can also use a variety of macintosh programs to do the decoding. There is also a Unix implementation of BinHex called mcvert.


On one more hand, if you have a text file which resembles:

CALL-151
E00:38 A5 FF D0 32 D8 20 8E FD AD 30 BF 8D 6A 0E 20
E10:00 BF C7 6D 0E 0D 80 02 D0 1D 20 00 BF C5 69 0E

and more lines like that, followed by a bunch of lines that look like:

A90885A420732090242039FB2058FCA200BD9220F00620EDFDE8D0F5200CFDA9
008DF2038DF3038DF4036CFCFFE6A4A5A4C96F90CFA9008DFCBFA9018DFDBFA0
A90885A420732090242039FB2058FCA200BD9220F00620EDFDE8D0F5200CFDA9

then you have an Executioner file.

____________________________



From: Adalbert Goertz

016- How can I use my Apple II on the internet?

So, you have been told that you cannot get ftp or http files or images, right? Of course, you cannot read .pdf files either because you have an obsolete computer, right? Well, you are told wrong!

There is a list that you can subscribe to which tells you all you need to know about emailing efficiently. It is called "ACCMAIL". To subscribe write to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM with message in body:
 
  subscribe accmail your.id

and you should be on. You can change the setting to digest, too, (which I recommend). 
 
So, how do you get ftp files? There are a number of addresses which will send you ftp files which accmail tells you about. I use bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu to get ftp files by email. I think that by sending HELP to that address you will get the rules of how to do it. 
 
How about surfing the net? Well, I send messages to www4mail@unganisha.idrc.ca or www4mail@web.bellanet.org with SUBJECT anything (it will be ignored) and message: 
 
  get http://www..................html 
 
You can expect to receive the www-document in your email box. 
 
If you need to look at the source files of the www-page, send message: 
 
  source http://www.................html 
 
You also may simply send message HELP to the above addresses, if your request fails. This way you will find out whether or not you made a mistake in sending your request. If the http-URL is too long (more than one line), you may expect problems.

Some of the servers will send you image files, too, like .gif or .jpg files. I get these files as file attachments in my mailbox. You have to experiment to see what works for you. Some files are ready to use, others need to be decoded (uuencode or mime) with BISCIT. 
 
Search engines? Yes, they are available, too.

You need to know about http-URLs on keyword1 and keyword2? Send message to www@kfs.org. In the body write this:
 
  search keyword1 keyword2 
 
Voila, you are in business. 
  
If the http-URL contains a pdf-file, send message to pdf2txt@adobe.com or to pdf2txt@sun.trace.wisc.edu with message:  
 
  http://www.........pdf 
 
and you will get the file back in text format. 
 
If you want the pdf-files back in html-format, that can be done by replacing "txt" in the URLs with "htm". 
 
I use Proterm 3.1 for surfing by email and have my favorite addresses available as macros.
