From: dmag@caen.engin.umich.edu (Dan DeMaggio)
Subject: comp.sys.apple2 - Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) part 1 of 2
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 15:55:36 EST

Archive-name: apple2/part1
Last-modified: 1992/09/02
Version: 3.2


Topic:  The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) post
==========================================

      Hi! Welcome to the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup!
      This article contains the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions
 (FAQ) often seen in comp.sys.apple2. I am posting this article (once every
 three weeks or so--but once a week in September) to help reduce the volume in
 this newsgroup and to provide hard-to-find information of general interest.
      I hope it answers some of your questions. If you have other questions,
 feel free to e-mail me.
     Dan DeMaggio (dmag@caen.engin.umich.edu) June 9,1992

        Table of contents
        -----------------
Part I: The Net
 - What is c.s.a2? What is INFO-APPLE?                    (Why is there air?)
 - What is c.b.a2?                                     (Binaries only please)
 - FTP sites and e-mail servers      (or How To Get Great Programs for Free!)
 - File name extensions                                    (How to ID a file)
 - Archivers and decoders                          (What they are useful for)
 - Downloading                         (Term programs and download protocols)
 - Field guide to file formats                     (How to ID a file part II)

Part II: Apple stuff
 - What is an Apple II?                 (common configurations and additions)
 - Frequently Asked Questions   (IBM+HFS disks, HD drives, computer versions)
 - GS System 6.0 Notes                                     (from the experts)
 - What the Apple II can do                 (ideas for adding to your system)
 - Apple II resources                              (Places supporting the II)
 - troubleshooting           (90% of problems can be solved with these hints)
 - SCSI Notes                                    (Notes on dealing with SCSI)
    


Topic:  What is comp.sys.apple2? What is INFO-APPLE?
==========================================

      Comp.sys.apple2 is a Usenet newsgroup that was created for the discussion
 of the Apple II series of computers. This forum provides a way for interested
 people to compare notes, ask questions, and share insights about Apple IIs.
 Each message gets passed on to tens of thousands of systems around the world
 that make up Usenet.
      INFO-APPLE is a mailing list that is maintained on some networks other
 than Usenet. Comp.sys.apple2 messages are sent to INFO-APPLE and INFO-APPLE
 messages are sent to comp.sys.apple2. The central location of INFO-APPLE is
 at apple.com.
     Thank you, Apple Computer!
      Comp.sys.apple2 is also accessed by users of ProLine bulletin board
 systems. ProLine systems run, appropriately enough, on Apple II computers.
 ProLine users account for a large group of participants on comp.sys.apple2.
 Using ProLine's Conference System, users can read and reply to articles on
 comp.sys.apple2, as well as many other Usenet newsgroups. And since ProLine
 systems have UUCP/Internet access, users can also exchange electronic mail
 with people world-wide.
      To subscribe (or (sadly) unsubscribe) to INFO-APPLE, send your request to
 the info-apple-request@apple.com address. Please do not send subscription
 requests to info-apple@apple.com - it is doubtful that you will achieve what
 you are attempting!!!! There is no need to subscribe to INFO-APPLE when you
 are getting comp.sys.apple2, since the messages are identical.
      To post a message to the thousands of readers of INFO-APPLE (and
 comp.sys.apple2) subscribers send their messages to one of the following
 addresses: info-apple@apple.com OR comp-sys-apple2@ucbvax.berkeley.edu. To
 post programs to be used by thousands of grateful readers, send the
 appropriately formatted mail to one of the following addresses:
 comp-binaries-apple2@ucbvax.berkeley.edu. Source code in AAF format should go
 to comp-sources-apple2@ucbvax.berkeley.edu
     [There is no need for comp.sys.apple2 users to do this - they can use the
 standard posting features of Usenet.]
      On BITNET, INFO-APP@NDSUVM1 (aka VM1.Nodak.Edu) is available through the
 LISTSERV on NDSUVM1 to distribute the Apple II discussion mail and
 APPLE2-L@BROWNVM distributes messages dealing with programs. They work by
 maintaining a private list of users who wish to see the messages in their
 mailbox.
      The appropriate place for posting equipment for sale is in the Usenet
 groups misc.forsale.computers, misc.forsale, or misc.wanted.


Topic:  comp.binaries.apple2 and comp.sources.apple2
==========================================

      Comp.binaries.apple2 is a newsgroup used to distribute public domain,
 freeware, and shareware Apple II software (executables, pictures, sounds,
 etc...). Software distributed on comp.binaries.apple2 is expected to be a
 BinSCII text file of ShrinkIt archives. [See later in the FAQ for information
 on getting these programs.]
      Comp.sources.apple2 is a newsgroup used to distribute public domain,
 freeware, and shareware Apple II source code. The posts in
 comp.sources.apple2 should be in Apple Archive Format. Contact
 jac@paul.rutgers.edu for details.
      Discussions concerning the software posted in these groups, or the
 methods of locating, decoding, or accessing this software, or questions on
 locating archive sites of this software, or any OTHER discussions are to be
 held in comp.sys.apple2. If someone DOES either intentionally or accidentally
 post to these groups, please respond only in Email - do not compound the
 problem! We may switch to a moderated group eventually.
     Note: Distributing commercial software on the net is a crime - just don't
 do it!

Topic:  e-mail to other services
==========================================

      Compuserve: Enter the Compuserve address, replacing commas with periods,
 and tack "@compuserve.com" to the end. America Online: Enter the America
 Online address, followed by "@aol.com". Do not use uppercase letters in the
 AOL name.


Topic:  Anonymous FTP sites and e-mail servers
==========================================

      FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It allows one Internet computer to
 access files on another site. Many sites archive software and make it
 available via Anonymous FTP. The following is a list of sites with Apple //
 related files.

Site name               Internet address  Relevant Directory
---------               ----------------  ------------------
apple2.archive.umich.edu  [in transition] /archive/apple2 ($)
bric-a-brac.apple.com    ftp.apple.com
avalanche.berkeley.edu   128.32.234.22    /pub/Apple2
brownvm.brown.edu        128.148.128.40   LISTSERV.193 ($) (*)
bull.cs.williams.edu     137.165.5.2      /pub/AppleII
cnam.cnam.fr             192.33.159.6     /pub/Archives/comp.binaries.apple2
                                          /pub/Archives/comp.sources.apple2
cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu    128.59.40.129    KERMA
cco.caltech.edu OR ccosun.caltech.edu     /pub/apple2 ($)
f.ms.uky.edu             128.163.128.6    /pub/appleII ($)
ftp.apple.com            130.43.2.3       /dts/aii
ftp.hawaii.edu           128.171.43.7     /incoming/apple2 (@)
ftp.cc.utexas.edu        128.83.136.13    /gifstuff/apple
ftp.tohoku.ac.jp         130.34.8.9       /pub/news/comp.binaries.apple2 (@)
grind.isca.uiowa.edu     128.255.19.233   /apple2 ($)
                                          /unix/apple2
hp4nl.nluug.nl           192.16.202.2     /pub/newsarchive/comp/sources/apple2
isca02.isca.uiowa.edu    grind.isca.uiowa.edu
j.cc.purdue.edu          128.210.9.2      /kermit/appleII
jyu.fi                   128.214.7.5      /pub/apple2
mcsun.eu.net             192.16.202.1     /pub/newsarchive/comp/sources/apple2
methan.chemie.fu-berlin.de 130.133.2.81   /pub/doc/faq (@)
nic.funet.fi             128.214.6.100    /pub/archive/comp.sources.apple2
pindarus.cs.uiuc.edu     128.174.240.84   /pub/apple2
plains.nodak.edu         134.129.111.64   /pub/appleII ($)
relay.cs.toronto.edu     128.100.3.6      /pub/lists.1989 (@)
shark.nosc.mil           128.49.80.1      KER*MIT.
syr.edu                  128.230.1.49     /software/kermit/appleII
trantor.ee.msstate.edu   130.18.64.2      /files/appleII
tybalt.caltech.edu       See cco.caltech.edu
ucrmath.ucr.edu          138.23.146.21    /PC/apple2
watsun.cc.columbia.edu   128.59.39.2      /kermit/a
wsmr-simtel20.army.mil   192.88.110.20    PD2:<ARCHIVES.APPLE>
wuarchive.wustl.edu      128.252.135.4    /systems/apple2 ($)
                                          /usenet/comp.binaries.apple2
                                          /usenet/comp.sources.apple2

 [$] These are the "major" sites--those with many files.
 [@] These are the "small" sites--those with few Apple II files.
 [*] Files on brownvm.brown.edu are stored by serial number. For a
     human-readable directory, send e-mail with the text "INDEX APPLE2-L" to
     LISTSERV@brownvm.brown.edu.

Subtopic:  A quick blurb on Anonymous FTP
------------------------------------------

      You should be able to find some documentation on FTP at your site.
 Anonymous FTP is just FTP, except you login as a guest on the remote system.
 As a guest, you must not abuse your privileges: Only use the site at off peak
 times: i.e. after 6pm their time. (Yes, these sites are all over the world:
 fr=France, jp=Japan). Here's a summary of the main FTP commands.

What you see           What you type          Comment
--------------------   -------------------    -----------------------------
PROMPT%                FTP                    (at your unix/VMS prompt)
FTP>                   open f.ms.uky.edu      substitute the site name
username?              anonymous              to login as a guest
ident?                 dmag@engin.umich.edu   type your e-mail address
FTP>                   type binary            set binary mode to on
FTP>                   ls                     to list files
FTP>                   dir                    another way to list files
FTP>                   cd /pub/apple2         to go into a directory
FTP>                   get file.ext           to get a file
FTP>                   close                  close connection
FTP>                   quit                   leave FTP
    

Subtopic:  Apple II-related Electronic Mail servers
------------------------------------------

     [users who have access to FTP should not need to use the e-mail servers]
      APPLE2-L is an software archive of Apple II programs provided by a BITNET
 mail server. To get help, send mail with a body of 'help' to
 LISTSERV@BROWNVM.BITNET. You can also send the message 'INDEX APPLE2-L' for a
 long listing of the Apple 2 archives. To get a program (BinSCII in this
 example), send the message 'get APPLE2-L 89-01123'. The file will come by
 return e-mail in text format. Most of the files come in BinSCII format
 (except BinSCII, of course-- it's in EXE format). Note that many sites have a
 maximum size on e-mail, so be sure to check the size of the file (the nrecs
 column) before getting it. The server may break up files for you (and you
 must piece them together before decoding them).
      Chris Chung <CHRIS@BROWNVM> administers APPLE2-L. (Thanks Chris!)
      There is also the server at plains.nodak. Send e-mail with the body
 'help' or 'index appleII' to archive-server@plains.nodak.edu for details.
      Note that these e-mail servers must do more work than FTP servers, and
 they can cause quite a bit of traffic on the networks. Do not abuse them by
 requesting large files. For alternatives, check the 'Apple II resources' part
 of the FAQ.

---------Internet-------------             ----------BITNET--------
archive-server@plains.nodak.edu            FILESERV@PLAINS (BITNET)
KERMSRV@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu              KERMSRV@CUVMA (BITNET)
LISTSERV@brownvm.brown.edu                 LISTSERV@BROWNVM (BITNET)
LISTSERV@utarlvm1.uta.edu                  LISTSERV@UTARLVM1 (BITNET)
       {umn-cs, ogicse, uunet}!plains!archive-server (UUCP)

      Note: Most games from comp.binaries.apple2 are stored on UTARLVM1, rather
 than BROWNVM.

Subtopic:  Archie, the archive searcher
------------------------------------------

      There is a program called archie that allows you to search many archives
 quickly. Look for the program 'archie' or 'xarchie' at your site, or you can
 telnet to archie.mcgill.ca, and login as archie (there is online help). If
 you are not on the Internet, you can send mail to archie@archie.mcgill.ca
 with the subject of "Help".


Topic:  Some common filename extensions
==========================================

      Many times, people put filename extensions (extra characters at the end
 of a filename) to denote what type of file it is. Please note that these are
 just accepted standards. If a file does not indicate it's type, see the
 'Field guide to file formats'. The following is a table of some common Apple
 // filename extensions. See the section on 'Archivers and decoders' for
 programs that will deal with these files.

Extension   What is it?  (What program do I use?)
---------  ---------------------------------------------------------------
 .SHK   NuFX archive. (Shrinkit)
 .SDK   NuFX with a shrunk disk image. (Shrinkit)
 .exe   Executioner file [TEXT]. May only work in DOS 3.3.
 .Z     Compressed file (GS Shrinkit or Unix uncompress)
 .tar   Unix Tape Archive (Unix tar [with -xvf option, GS EXE tar])
 .txt   [TEXT] An ASCII text file: usually english text.
 .aaf   [TEXT] Apple Archive Format for source code (aaf.unpacker)
 .uu    Unix uuencode file [TEXT] (uudecode or Unix uudecode)
 .GIF   Graphics Interchange Format: Compressed picture.
        (IIGIF for //e, many programs for all other computers)
 .LZH   LZH Archive (IBM/Amiga LZH program)
 .LHA   LHA Archive (IBM/Amiga LZH program)
 .QQ    BLU archive.  (Shrinkit)
 .BSC   BinScii file. [TEXT]  (BinScii)
 .BSQ   BinScii'ed NuFX file. [TEXT]  (BinScii, Shrinkit on the result)
 .BXY   NuFX archive with a Binary II header.  (Shrinkit)
 .BNY   BLU archive. (Shrinkit)
 .BQY   NuFX with BLU header. (Shrinkit)
 .BNX   NuFX with BLU header. (Shrinkit)
 .ACU   NuFX (Shrinkit)
 .HQX   Mac BinHex file. [TEXT] (BinHex on Mac or GSCII+)
 .SIT   Mac StuffIt archive. (Stuffit on Mac or GS ShrinkIt)
        GS Shrinkit will not decode StuffIt Deluxe files.
 .CPT   Compactor Pro archive (Compactor Pro on a Mac only)
 .SEA   Self-extracting archive (Mac only)
 .ARC   IBM Archive (GS Shrinkit or DeArc2E or IBM Arc program)
 .ZOO   IBM Zoo Archive (GS Shrinkit??? or IBM ZOO program)
 .ZIP   IBM Zip Archive (UNZIP [GS Shell EXE]or IBM PKUNZIP or Unix unzip)
 .JPEG  Newer graphics format. (only Unix/IBM/etc viewers)
 .JPG   Newer graphics format. (only Unix/IBM/etc viewers)
 .TIFF  Graphics format (GS SHR Convert)

      All of these types, except the ones marked [TEXT] are BINARY files.
 Binary files cannot be sent over e-mail, posted to the newsgroups or FTP'd in
 text mode. You can FTP them if you set 'type binary'. You can also download
 them using x,y or z-modem.
      Generally, anything labeled as 'Archive' will contain multiple files, and
 even subdirectories. Most archives are also in compressed format.
      Sometimes you will find multiple filename extensions. Simply take the
 filename extensions apart one at a time and you should be able to reconstruct
 the original file. (i.e. file.bsq.tar.Z would mean: uncompress, untar,
 unbinscii, unShrink to get the original file!)


Topic:  Archivers and decoders
==========================================


Subtopic:  BinSCII
------------------------------------------

      BinScii converts binary files to text files and back. Binary files
 contain pictures, computer programs, etc. Text files usually contain human
 readable text (like this file), but a BinSCII file just looks like a jumble
 of letters and symbols. A BinScii text file is larger than the original
 binary file. Binscii is needed to transfer programs across the network when
 there is no binary mode (like the Usenet newsgroups and e-mail).
      When turning a binary file into text, BinSCII will output a series of
 files. Each file contains a segment of the original program encoded in
 BinSCII format. These segments are small enough to be posted or e-mailed
 without clogging the network. (Actually, they are usually posted 3 at a time
 to save bandwidth).
      When re-creating a binary file from the BinScii segments, all one has to
 do is collect ALL the segments and run them through BinScii. Each segment has
 a header that tells BinScii which segment it is. BinScii is intelligent
 enough to wade through all extraneous text (i.e. newsgroup headers, etc) and
 find the segments. It does not matter what order the segments are in, and the
 segments can be in different files. The only thing you have to remember is
 that BinScii does not check to see if ALL of the segments have been accounted
 for. If there are segments missing, the program will not work, or more likely
 you will get a 'file corrupted' error when unshrinking.
      GS users can use GSCII+, an NDA version of Binscii. GSCII+ can also
 encode/decode several other formats.
     [ Note that most files on the network are NuFX archives that have been
 BinSCII'ed so they can be posted. After running Binscii, you will still need
 to run ShrinkIt on the resulting file.]
      For those of us on Unix boxes who are able to transfer binary files to
 our Apple ][, SciiBin can reduce the time spend downloading. It is a
 decode-only version of BinSCII written in C. The idea is that you compile
 this on your Unix box, and run your BinScii files from comp.binaries.apple2
 through it. It will re-create the original (smaller) file. This works great
 if there is a NuFX archive in the BinSCII file, but can cause problems if
 BinSCII was applied directly to ProDos executable files. (Unix has no way of
 storing the ProDos file type and aux type of a file, so they simply get lost.
 See the section on filetypes.
      If you need a Unix BinSCII encoder, Bsc will do the trick. The source
 code is in the file bsc.aaf ("Apple archive format") is in the various
 comp.sources.apple2 archive sites as well as on cco.caltech.edu in the
 directory /pub/apple2/source.

Subtopic:  ShrinkIt and NuFX archives
------------------------------------------

      ShrinkIt is an Apple II program which takes one or more Apple II ProDOS
 files or disks and 'archives' them into a single file (called a NuFX
 archive). It also stores all the vital ProDos information, such as filetype
 and auxtype. Usually these files are denoted by putting a ".SHK" extension on
 the archive. ShrinkIt can also shrink an entire disk into a file (extension
 ".SDK"), but this is only used when the disk is not ProDos. ShrinkIt is also
 a menu driven utility that compresses/extracts, but also formats disks,
 copies files, etc. ShrinkIt can also extract programs with Binary II headers,
 and files in BLU archives.
      GShk is a version of ShrinkIt for GS computers. This is even more of a
 wonder utility in that it extracts many different archive types (Unix
 compress, PC Arc, Mac StuffIt, Apple Single). Files encoded with GShk are
 usually smaller than those encoded with ShrinkIt, but can still be extracted
 with ShrinkIt (except files with resource forks).
      ShrinkIt+ and UnShrinkIt+ are programs for the Apple II+ that allow an
 Apple II+ user to create NuFX archives and extract from them. Autounshrink is
 a NuFX extractor that attempts to recover from errors within an NuFX file.

Subtopic:  Executioner
------------------------------------------

      Executioner was the standard program previous to BinSCII for converting
 Apple II files into text to be mailed/posted. It is no longer considered the
 standard for most transferals of Apple II binary files. Presently,
 Executioner is typically only used to distribute BinSCII. Some older files in
 the various archives may also be encoded with this program. Many of them will
 not work under ProDos.
      To translate an Executioner text file to an Apple II file required that
 you delete the mail headers/trailers, translated the newlines into carriage
 returns, download the file to your Apple II and from Applesoft Basic, type
 the command 'EXEC <filename>' where <filename> is the name of the file you
 downloaded.

Subtopic:  Apple Archive Format (aaf)
------------------------------------------

      Apple Archive Format was invented as a standard way to post source code
 to comp.sources.apple2. The C and Basic source code to aaf unpackers are
 available on the various FTP sites, in aaf format. Fortunately, files in aaf
 format can be turned back into source code with a simple text editor. Just
 break the file up into component files and remove the first character of each
 line.

Subtopic:  Net standard formats
------------------------------------------

      There are several formats that are used widely on the Internet. The most
 common in FTP sites are tar (.tar) and compress (.Z). To undo a Tape ARchive,
 type 'tar -xvf filename.tar'. To undo a compress, type 'uncompress
 filename.Z'. Since tar does not make the file smaller, and compress can only
 compress 1 file, many times you will find files that are 'tarred an
 feathered'. They have a '.tar.Z' extension. Just run uncompress then un-tar
 the result.
      To distribute binaries on the net, most other groups use uuencode (c.b.a2
 uses BinSCII). To return them to normal, type 'uudecode filename'. Note that
 uuencoded things were not meant to be split up and posted, so when getting
 multiple parts, you will have to paste them together and run them through
 uudecode. (BinSCII is a lot smarter, that's why we use it on c.b.a2.)
      Most of these 'Unix' standard formats are available on the Apple. For
 example, ShrinkIt GS will uncompress files, there is a uudecode for the //e,
 and Tar is available as a GS shell executable.

Subtopic:  A quick note about ProDos filetypes
------------------------------------------

      ProDos keeps some information about a file's type. Files can be text
 (TXT), binary (BIN), executable (SYS), fonts (FON), etc. Most other file
 systems do not have a place to store this information, so it may get 'lost'
 when you upload the file. Similarly, when you download a file, you may not
 know the file type. Most comm programs will use some default. For NuFX
 archives, this is not a big deal, since you can still unpack an archive if
 the filetype is wrong (and the archive stores the filetype of the files
 inside the archive). For other files, you may need to change the file's type.
 One utility I recommend is File Attribute Zapper II.
      All of the above programs are available via FTP (cco.caltech.edu and/or
 archive.umich) A quick author/version summary and compatibility chart:

Program        Format   Author
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nulib v3.21      C      Andy McFadden  (fadden@uts.amdahl.com)
SciiBin v1.30    C      Marcel Mol, Dave Whitnet, Bruce Kahn
Bsc v1.1         C      Neil Parker
Executioner      A      Glen Bredon
BinSCII v1.0.3   A      David Whitney (davewh@microsoft.com)
ShrinkIt v3.3    A      Andy Nicholas  (shrinkit@apple.com)
(Un)ShrinkIt+    A      Andy Nicholas  (shrinkit@apple.com)
AutoUnShrink     A      Andy Nicholas  (shrinkit@apple.com)
GShk v1.0.4      G      Andy Nicholas  (shrinkit@apple.com)
GSCII+ 2.3.1     G      Darek Taubert  (dat33228@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)

Format:
  C - Distributed as source code written in C.
  A - Executable, runs on most Apple //s.
  G - Executable, runs on GS only.

     |Type| NuFX | Bin  | uuen-| com-  | tar | Bin | LZH/| Stuff| ARC | aaf |
Program | |      | SCII | code | press |     | Hex | LHA | -It  |     |     |
--------|-|------|------|------|-------|-----|-----|-----|------|-----|-----|
Nulib   |C|   X  |      |      |       |     |     |     |      |     |     |
SciiBin |C|      |   D  |      |       |     |     |     |      |     |     |
Shrinkit|A|   X  |      |      |       |     |     |     |      |     |     |
GShk    |G|   X  |      |      |   D   |     |     |     |  D   |  D  |     |
BSC     |C|      |   E  |      |       |     |     |     |      |     |     |
GSCII+  |G|      |   X  |   X  |       |     |  D  |     |      |     |  X  |
LHArc   |E|      |      |      |       |     |     |  D? |      |     |     |

(Key:   E = Encode only,    D = Decode only,  X = Encode and Decode)
(Type:  C = C Source code,  A = Apple //e,    G = GS Only,  E = GS EXE file)
    


Topic:  How to get stuff off the net:
==========================================

      This is a tricky question. You will have to look around for what
 resources you can get your hands on. You can break it down into two steps.
 Step 1: Get the file to your online account. Step 2: get the file to your ][.
      Step 1 depends on what type of account you have.
      -Most people with Internet accounts will be able to do FTP. See the
 section on FTP sites.
      -If you get comp.binaries.apple2, you can use your newsreader to save the
 articles to your account.
      -BITFTP is a way of doing FTP by e-mail. See the section on FTP sites for
 details.
      -Somebody could e-mail you a file.
      Once you have the file on your online account, you may want to run
 uudecode, uncompress, tar, SciiBin, Nulib, etc on the file. See the section
 on Decoders and archivers for details. By far, most Apple // files are
 transferred around in either .SHK (NuFX) or .BSQ format. I recommend getting
 SciiBin to turn your .BSQ files into .SHK files for 3 reasons: 1) The archive
 is smaller than the original files, and a LOT smaller than BinScii files. 2)
 One file can hold all the files and documentation for the program. 3) The
 archive keeps the ProDos filetype information.
      Step 2 also has a variety of options:
 a) If your ][ has a modem, you may be able to download it directly. There are
     a variety of downloading protocols (both sides must support the same
     protocol). Kermit is slowest, but can work over a 7 bit network. X-modem
     is faster and available just about everywhere. Y-modem and Z-modem are
     even better. (the Unix command for zmodem is usually 'sz'). Sometimes
     downloading can be tricky if you are not familiar with your terminal
     program.
 b) If you can get the files to a Mac (maybe it is on the net or has a modem):
     If you have a GS, just use System 6's HFS FST directly on the Mac Disks.
     If you have a //e with a 3.5" drive, you can do the same thing with the
     program a2fx or HFSLink. If you can't find those, you can use the
     Macintosh Apple File Exchange program to put the data onto a ProDos disk,
     but it is SLOW.
 c) If you can get the files to an IBM (maybe it is on the net or has a
     modem): If you have a PC Transporter, you are all set. Otherwise, use
     Apple File Exchange on the Mac to copy the files from MS/DOS directly
     onto a ProDos disk.
      Once you get the file to your Apple, you have to undo any encoding (i.e.
 run ShrinkIt). Alternately, you may have to change the ProDos file type. One
 easy to use program is File Attribute Zapper II (FAZII).

Subtopic:  Communications programs
------------------------------------------

      If you go for route (a) above, you will need a communications program on
 your Apple //. Most of the time, the program is simply a 'dumb terminal'
 putting characters on the screen and sending them out the serial port to the
 modem. There are two areas where the program actually DOES something:
 terminal emulation and downloading. Emulation is where your computer pretends
 to be a certain type of terminal. By far, the standard is VT-100. This allows
 the other computer to do nice effects on your screen, like clear it or move
 text around. If your program doesn't support it, your screen may look funny,
 and you will see ]'s and ;'s where the remote computer is trying to make the
 screen look nice. IBM's use a special character set and variation of VT-100
 called ANSI. ProTerm supports a subset of this (no graphics), and also
 another format called ProTerm Special Emulation (PSE). [Don't you just love
 standards?]
      The other time your term program matters is when you are trying to
 download. By far, the Apple ][ standard is X-modem. It allows a file to be
 sent across a modem with an error correction protocol. New variations are
 Y-modem and Z-modem. These are very, very nice and should be used where
 possible. Note that both sides have to support it in order to use it. There
 is also a protocol called Kermit. You are probably better off using X-modem,
 but sometimes it is useful.



Program   Comp Emulations     Protocols             Note
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ProTerm    E$  PSE, VT-100     Kermit, X,Y,Z-modem  From InSync
Kermit-65  E   VT-100          Kermit, X-modem      Hard to use,Works on ][+
Z-Link     E   VT-100          X-modem              Good.
CommSys    E   none            X-modem              Works on ][+
TIC        E$  VT-52 (+)       X-modem              For hackers. From Q-Labs
Agate      E   mono ANSI       X,(Y,Z rec'v only)   Unpacks ZIP, Buggy
ColorTerm  GS  color ANSI      X-modem              Desktop based
MegaTerm   GS  color ANSI      none                 ProDOS 8
ANSITerm   GS$ color ANSI, PSE X,Y,Z-modem          Haven't seen it.
SnowTerm   GS  VT-100 (+)      none                 Desktop based
FreeTerm   GS  none            X-modem              Desktop based
GenComm    GS  none            none                 Text, Shell Compat.
GSVT       GS  VT-100          none                 Desktop
GTerm      GS  color ANSI      none                 Written in BASIC/ML
Telcom     GS  VT-100, PSE     X, (Y rec'v only)    Shell compat
----------Key:---------
Key: $ = A commercial program
Computer:  E = works on GS and //e, GS = only works on GS

      All of the non-commercial programs are available on the different FTP
 sites. If you don't have a comm program already, your best bet is to have
 someone mail you one on a disk.
    


Topic:  Field guide to file formats
==========================================

      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 nasty 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, see the section 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
d@PAsp7rh`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,@4F5L96%S92 T+C$@*%-$4U0V,"D@(S@Z(%1U92!/8W0@.2 Q,CHS
M...3HT.2!%1%0@,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)
:$&4)48C28N0&,P0*9!"6593K8dP8)3%!!!#L@!!!!!!Qie0*9#%!!3!!SPKb6'&
e!3!!!!!!!!!#!!P8D'8J4QpbBf9P)IN33)(4$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 00 BF C7 6D 0E 0D 80 02
E18:D0 1D 20 00 BF C5 69 0E B0 15 AD 81 02 29 0F AA E8 8E 80 02 A9 2F 8D 81

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

A90885A420732090242039FB2058FCA200BD9220F00620EDFDE8D0F5200CFDA9
008DF2038DF3038DF4036CFCFFE6A4A5A4C96F90CFA9008DFCBFA9018DFDBFA0
A90885A420732090242039FB2058FCA200BD9220F00620EDFDE8D0F5200CFDA9

     then you have an Executioner file.


======================================================================
This FAQ is available on-line at apple2.archive.umich.edu and via AFS
(in /afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive/apple2). Permission granted to
copy portions into non-profit User Group newsletters.

This FAQ is also in transition. Any additions/corrections/suggestions
would be appreciated.  Also, if this FAQ has helped you, e-mail me
and let me know!
                            Dan DeMaggio (dmag@caen.engin.umich.edu)
    
-- 
      -=- Dan DeMaggio -=- dmag@caen.engin.umich.edu -=-
"That is really incredible. That is truly incredible.  That is so
incredibly incredible that I think I'd like to steal it." -Zaphod
-- 
      -=- Dan DeMaggio -=- dmag@caen.engin.umich.edu -=-
"That is really incredible. That is truly incredible.  That is so
incredibly incredible that I think I'd like to steal it." -Zaphod
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2