How to Get Software via Anonymous FTP

This article has been intended for those readers who don't know how to use anonymous FTP or who don't understand the cryptic notation I use for FTP retrieval information.Get Software via Anonymous FTP
All of the public domain and shareware software may be retrieved over the Internet via anonymous FTP. In most cases, the packages are available from many different FTP sites, but to save space, I only list one. The retrieval information given here is correct as I write this, but some of it will almost certainly be out of date by the time you read it. If you can't find one of these packages using the exact retrieval information given here, you might want to check for newer versions of the same package at the same location. You can also use Archie to find alternative sources for any of this software.

The retrieval information is given in the following format:
sitename.domain:path/file

For example, the retrieval information for WHAM (a Windows audio player) is given as:

ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:/Web/Mosaic/Windows/viewers/wham131.zip

To retrieve this file, use FTP to connect to the machine named ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, login as anonymous, give your e-mail address as your password, go to the /PC/Mosaic/Windows/viewers directory, and retrieve the file wham131.zip in binary mode.


If you happen to be using NcFTP, you can use the retrieval information exactly as given, by putting it on the NcFTP command line. For example, to retrieve WHAM using NcFTP on a UNIX host, you would type:


You can also retrieve these files using a World Wide Web browser, by massaging the retrieval information into Universal Resource Locator format. Instead of using sitename.domain:path/file, you would use sitename.domain/path/file" target=_blank>ftp://sitename.domain/path/file. For example, to retrieve WHAM using the Windows version of Mosaic, select "Open URL" from the File menu, and type the following text into the dialog box that appears:

ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Web/Mosaic/Windows/viewers/wham131.zip

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