Hi out there in binaryland, I,ve been lurking a few weeks, enjoying the fruits of learning to D/L binaries, still and moving. In the process I learned the who, what, where, and when of the technique. Unfortunately, there are many out there who do not have a clue, some are polite enough to ask and others just shriek and scream. For those polite enough to ask or just can't seem to get the hang of this I am posting this course in Downloading. Old hands please forgive the text posting, thanks. The information presented here is directly applicable to a fast PC running Windows95 but should work for any reasonably fast machine using Win3.1 and the appropriate version of the programs listed. Title: Learning to Play in the A.B.M.E World (and others) Content: Answers to those nagging questions about downloading which you have always wanted to know but were afraid to ask, such as: 1. How do I D/L and decode binaries? 2. How do I view the decoded binaries? 3. How can I get complete posts? 4. Where do I store those large files? 5. Almost forgot those wonderful GL and DL files - Viewer? 6. What is the temperature in Oslo? Well - here we go!! 1.a The Newsreader 1. Getting a newsreader - Go to The Ultimate Collection of Windows Shareware (TUCOWS) using whatever browser you have. If you don't know how to do this, you can't finish this course. Stop now. Find a large, printed capital 'S' and paste it to your forehead - ..... Okay, nobody in that category - let's move along. Locate FAgent10.ZIP, the best newsreader going (and free). Get it and install. The setup is quite straightforward. The file is FAGENT10.ZIP. You do have an unzipper, right. Try PKZ204g.EXE. It's easiest to use the old DOS model. Find out why on your own. Or look for my tutorial on compressors ("Why rocks don't compress binaries like they should") on another NG. 2. Using the newsreader - You must know this or you wouldn't be here. 1.b The Viewer/Decoder 1. Getting the viewer - Hey, go to TUCOWS and find ViewPro4.4. D/L and install. I don't remember the ZIPped name but it shouldn't be hard to find. This program is great! Allows viewing including .mpg, & .avi, coding, decoding, converting, etc. There are some secrets, but I'll cover them later in the lesson. Remember we're in Sharewareville here so your deadbeat (free) time ends in 15 days. The cost is $40 US - otherwise your screen will forever have a banner across the picture to nag you. If you can't stand this - get a copy of ACDSee (TUCOWS again) - a superior picture viewer, but not much else. ACDC131.ZIP. Okay this doesn't get you near the .mov type. For this go to TUCOWS and get Player or Player32, I don't remember the zip names. Most current .mov clips play with Player.exe and not Player32. 2. Decoding - This falls into several groups and circumstances. a. Circumstances: 1. FreeAgent did not decode when you selected "Save binary attachments" (Left a little white script box when it should have left a little green form). 2. FreeAgent (FA) did decode the article attachment(s). You're in and no further action is necessary. You will find the picture or movie clip in your FreeAgent folder. b. Groups: 1. Moving picture clips - These may be .mov, .mpg, .avi, etc. I only deal in these three so thats all I'll cover. My chalk and my blackboard. Actually I have done some GLs and remarks on them can be found later. 2. Still pictures - These may be .jpg, .gif, .jpe, etc. Again, my chalk.... c. Generally, if FA does not decode all of a Group 1 posting when you select "Save binary attachments" it either did not find all of them or there was a posting error. You have wasted your time. For Group 2 postings the little white box should return. Select "Save Article As" and give it a name. You can use the given name or your own. I use numbers for ease and speed, the real name is usually in the text of the article. I also put these in a special folder for identification as a problem. For multiple sectioned pictures use 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc. ViewPro (VP) will find them. These are usually not decoded by FA because of faulty headers, Base64's, etc. I have a way around these types of problems which will be discussed later. 3. .mpg and .avi files can be viewed with VP. Just open them. For more sophisticated programs try AVIPRO and MPEGWIN from TUCOWS, of course. There is another MPEG player out there but it doesn't play very long clips in shareware form- I think it is VMPEG. 4. For another coder/decoder web search for uucode20.zip, but you don't need it if you have VP. 2. How do I view all them pitchers? Go to the game. a. You really only need 2 things once they're decoded: 1. ViewPro 4.4 2. ACDSee 1.31 - both at TUCOWS Or, if they are movie clips, either: 1. ViewPro4.4 for .avi and .mpg 2. Player for .mov 3. AVIPro for .avi (nice program) 4. MPEGWin for .mpg (also a very nice program) Actually all of these programs are up to snuff with varying features. 3. How about some complete posts? It's the second week of deer camp!! a. What goes around, comes around. If your server doesn't pass everything along, the next d/ler gets less. Some servers may add to posts later that day or next. Some don't. Don't ask for reposts. Take what's there and put it in the bank. It will come back later, posted by someone who thinks it's the best. If it doesn't come back you can be sure it was a turkey!! b. Make notes for your partial and search for it periodically via FA. Note how many parts it should have had and the poster because various posters post various forms of the same clip. Does this make any sense at all????? 4. Pretty big files alright. Some of these .mpgs run over 13 megs. I like the long ones but generally don't invest the net time to get anything over one hour. If I want to invest more time I'll buy the movie, or rent it or d/l on my friend's time. HaHa!! Hey, get a ZIP drive. cheap at half the price. Under $200 initially for the box. Mailorder 100meg discs run 15-20 buckeroos each + driving them to your house in a plain wrapper. You'll never need a bigger HD. 5. GL and DL viewers - Search for DLVIEW.ZIP for the DLs and WINGRASP.ZIP for the GLs. Pretty much out of fashion now. 6.a What is the temperature in Olso? 1. Cold 2. This is the area for tips and tricks a. FreeAgent 1. If you D/L both movies and stills - do the stills first and view/sort while the movies D/L or massage the problems. Oh, you have Win3.1? Sorry. I forget because I run my old Commodore PC-10 (XT) for DOS stuff, a 386/25 for passable win3.1 and a Pentium-90 with Win95 for current stuff. By the way, my Zip drive plays .mpgs fast enough to view. Yes, it does stutter some. 2. Place d/l's in a sub-folder of FA and move them from there as you view them. ACDSee (TUCOWS) is the premier fast viewer here. b. ViewPro 1. When ready to decode problems, fire up an editor (WordPad) so you can look at the raw files. a. Files that have /9/ at the start of the picture data. Insert the following lines at the start of pic data, leaving a blank line above and below them. Resave the file and decode/open with VP. Content-Type: Image/JPEG Content-Transfer-Encoding: Base64 b. Files that have > at the start of each line of picture data. This is the quote repeater. The easiest way to get rid of it? An editor that does columns! Is there one. Of course. An old DOS program called QEdit. Don't have a copy? Can't find one on the Net? It's the only DOS carryover I have from my XT days and I will upload it on request here using the key QEDITNEEDED. It's small and will be further zipped. Set it up, highlight the offending column, delete that sucker and, providing the whole file is present - voila - a picture will emerge. Check that the file has no other problems first: No "BEGIN------cut here------" Yes "begin 644 (or 755) filename.jpg (or .gif) No "END----------cut here--------" Yes "`" "end" (and a return to next line) The above will appear without the double quotes. c. Files that say they are MIME: 1. Find the beginning of the picture data. 2. Insert the following lines leaving a space above and below them. Resave the file and decode/open with ViewPro. Content-Type: Image/JPEG Content-Transfer-Encoding: Base64 3. Make a note of the original filename. You can reinsert it after decoding and before deleting the coded file. d. Files that have "Content-Type: Image/GIF" or do not have "M" at the start of each data line. 1. Try putting the following above the picture data Content-Type: Image/GIF Content-Transfer-Encoding: Base64 2. If file is multi-part and has the above heading try to put the files together - the clipboard now takes J. Holmes length files. Then decode with VP. e. Some applefiles produce two decoded files, one with your filename and one with the file filename. The one with your filename should open. Delete the other and the original. f. A lot of the .jpg files are far too large for thier own good. Use VP to convert large (over 100K) .jpg files to .jpg. It works with no noticeable degradation and the file shrinks like a limp d*ck. If you are not sure about a file, try zipping it. If it zips by more than a few percent it will take the conversion (yes, that's .jpg to .jpg) very nicely. Haven't tried this with .gif files yet - I generally do not d/l them because of their posting size. I don't see any purpose having a picture that has to be scrolled around my screen. g. Files that have none of the above appearances: 1. Try any of the above remedies. 2. There may be no hope yet - but I'm workin' on it. 3. Some of these are Mxx's and no sane person could ever figger 'em out. 2. You might also want to try munpack for those pesky mime files. You guessed it - it's found on SimTel, The Software Depository or possibly the mighty Oakland. Really shouldn't need it though if you have VP. The file is MPACK15d.ZIP. c. ACDSee 1. Use the MOVE feature to best advantage 2. Use the DELETE feature to best advantage 3. And of course this program produces fine full screen pics as well as the speedy thumbs. 4. Sometimes ACDSee won't open a picture that d/l'd okay - Use VP to convert it to .jpg. By damn - it will now open in ACDSee!!! Ain't computers wunnerful!! Thanks for listening, and help stop the whining and spamming, Refrigeraider