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Grex Internet Item 60: Usenet Binaries....HOW???
Entered by matts on Wed Jul 20 19:16:53 UTC 1994:

I need to know how i can get files from usenet, like alt.binaries, etc.
Can i do this via ftp or is there another method of doing this?

7 responses total.

#1 of 7 by kaplan on Wed Jul 20 21:35:40 1994:

Grex does not carry binaries newsgroups.  Members should be able to
retrieve binaries newsgroups via NNTP.  Perhaps the binary files
you are looking for are available someplace via FTP.  Depends on
what operators of FTP sites want to provide.  If you find unsenet 
articles which consist of un-readable characters, you're probably
looking at a uuencoded file.  Use the unix command uudecode to decode
them.  In rn and trn, you can type 
 
 |uudecode
 
at a more or end of article prompt and the binary file will be created
in you account.  

Does that answer your question?

#2 of 7 by chip on Wed Jul 20 21:38:28 1994:

I use the capture feature of my communications program. (Crosstalk) 
Turn capture on, read the article into the capture file (preferabley with
pager off), turn capture off.  If you are looking for binaries, there are
two extra steps.  Large binaries are usually seperated into several posts.
You should capture all these posts into the same buffer (file), taking
care that they are in the correct order.  When the file is on your local
storage device, edit the file with a text editor, removing extraneous
text.  You're left with a bunch of gibberish which is actually a uuencoded
binary file.  Finally, you must uudecode this file.  You'll have to get a
copy of uudecode for your machine type.  Good luck.

#3 of 7 by kaplan on Wed Jul 20 21:48:23 1994:

Right, I have a uudecode for dos which does work.  I suggested using the
unix uudecode program because I don't remember where I got the uudecode
program from.

The problem with your method, chip, is that line noise which causes
a little glitch in a text file that you'd hardly notice can render a 
binary file useless.  Better to download using zmodem or kermit instead
of text capture.

#4 of 7 by kentn on Wed Jul 20 23:23:18 1994:

I use trn's 'e .' or ':e' commands to automatically uudecode or unshar
Usenet binaries and shell archives.  Saves a helluva lot o' editing,
downloading, and uudecoding by hand, though it does take up disk space
on the Unix box for a while (I don't do this on Grex as a general
rule).

Unreadable Usenet articles may also be rot13 encoded.  You'll have to
depend on your newsreader to undecode them.

#5 of 7 by robh on Wed Jul 20 23:25:35 1994:

And for faster advice, remember to put your questions in the Info
conference.

#6 of 7 by carl on Thu Jul 21 01:50:11 1994:

Matt, I often use lynx for my interface for the internet.  All I
have to do is select a link to a binary file.  It asks if I want
to _d_ownload or _c_ancel?  I'll press "d" and select the
"Kermit binary via telnet" option.  Then I start the download
from my terminal with my name for the file (ignoring the one
that lynx temproarily assigns).

So far it's worked every time....

#7 of 7 by curby on Sat Jul 23 00:25:22 1994:

I think you can find a version of uudecode for DOS in the
archive.umich.edu archive's.  Good luck!

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