From: mahyar@netcom.com (Mahyar Rahmatian)
Subject: Everything you wanted to know about GIF files and less.
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 16:02:31 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

For a novice user, here is a short explanation on how to FTP and view GIF 
files in different platforms . ( excerpt from  Jim Howard's FAQ collection,
deej@cadence.com ) 

What is GIF?

"The most common type of picture is the GIF format (which usually has
a .GIF or .gif file suffix).  GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format,
and is a standard format for images that was developed by CompuServe to
be a device-independent method of storing pictures.  It includes
Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) compression, which makes the files fairly small."

To View a GIF file you need to ...

I- FTP the file, (set to binary)=transferring the GIF file to your system.
II- Use a graphic application that can read GIF files . 

I- Following is an explanation on FTP...
 
" The most likely place you are to find other pictures is in an archive
that is reachable via FTP.  FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and is a
program for transmitting files over the network.  To use FTP, you will
need access to a computer with the FTP program, and a network connection.
[ Be aware that files on FTP sites will probably NOT be UUENCODED,
so remember to transfer in binary when getting non-text files.]
[J-NOTE:  For the greatest level of detail on FTP, you can
execute 'finger ftp@piggy.ucsb.edu' to get a quick tutorial.]

Most ftp programs will allow you to enter something like
ftp wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
which will connect you with the mighty SIMTEL-20 archives at the
White Sands Missile Range.  Occasionally, you will encounter an ftp 
program that is old enough or slothful enough that it does not recognize
internet-style addresses like the one above.  In that case, you'll
need to know the computer's numeric address; for SIMTEL-20
you would enter
ftp 192.88.110.20

Once you're connected, you'll have to tell the computer at the other
end that you want to log in, by entering USER (some machines save you
this step by *assuming* you want to log in.  What else would you want
to do?)  When you are prompted for an account name, enter anonymous
When it asks you for a password, enter *your* internet address.

Often the machine to which you are trying to connect will be busy
(i.e. too many anonymous users), in which case the machine will inform
you of this and throw you off.  Try again later.

Now you're in.  What do you do?  Well, you need to know where the
files are stored that you want.  If you know this, just
cd directory-name
to the directory in question.  Then you can do a DIR to find out
what is in it.

So you see a file called CRSH+BRN.GIF and you want it for yourself.
What do you do?  Well, the first thing is to tell the computer on the
other end that you want it to transmit a binary file.  On most FTP
servers, entering the magic word TENEX will do this.  If the machine
doesn't recognize TENEX, try BINARY, or if all else fails, you can
enter
TYPE L 8
Be sure to do this for GIF files or you'll get garbage when you try
to view them!

Now you're ready to grab the files you want.  You have two options:
you can type
get filename
or
mget wildcard
where wildcard is any UNIX-style wildcard.  MGET will get all files
that satisfy the specification.

When you're done grabbing files, type QUIT or BYE to log off the remote
machine and return to yours.

A word about anonymous FTP and GIF files.  When you log onto a remote
machine via anonymous FTP, please try to restrict yourself to no more
then ten minutes of transmission time, or about five to ten files.  As
you can imagine, when people discover a new archive of GIF files,
they are all hot to download every one they can, and often they jam up
the site for *days*.  You'll notice this effect the first time some
one announces the name of a new GIF archive.  You won't be able to
get through without persistent efforts over several hours or even a
day or two.  Then the system administrators of that site notice that
they have had about $5,000 worth of anonymous FTP over the last two
days, and revoke the anonymous FTP privilege.  Now every one is
screwed.

Be considerate; grab only a few files and then let someone else have a
chance.  This probably won't solve the problem in the long term 
, but at least it will spread the wealth a bit."


II- A partial list of ShareWare/FreeWare  graphic programs and 
where you can get them for different platforms.

DOS SYSTEM:

CSHOW	Multiple format (including MacPaint image and Amiga
		IFF) viewer. Available via anonymous FTP on 	
		bongo.cc.utexas.edu, in the gifstuff/ibmpc directory.
VPIC		Multiple format (GIF, PCX, BMP, etc. - no JPEG) viewer.
		Written by Bob Montgomery (current version is 4.6).
		Available via anonymous FTP on bongo.cc.utexas.edu, in the
		gifstuff/ibmpc directory.

MACINTOSH SYSTEMS:

QuickGIF       Color Macintosh GIF viewer - gives thumbnails. Available via 
		anonymous FTP on bongo.cc.utexas.edu, in the gifstuff/mac 
		directory.
VisionLab    Monochrome Macintosh viewer. Available via anonymous FTP 
		on bongo.cc.utexas.edu, in the gifstuff/mac directory.

NeXT SYSTEMS:

		For viewing on NeXT computers, the easiest way is to use 
		NewsGrazer and ImageViewer (both PD and available at 
		sonata.cc.purdue.edu.)
        
UNIX/XWINDOW:

artshow	SunView viewer by Alan Sparks Available via anonymous 
		FTP on bongo.cc.utexas.edu, in the gifstuff/sunview/artshow 
		directory.
viewgif	SunView GIF viewer Available via anonymous FTP on 
		bongo.cc.utexas.edu, in the gifstuff/sunview/viewgif directory.
xloadimage	X-windows viewer supporting multiple formats (also reputedly 
		provides "true" 24 bit viewing). Available via anonymous FTP 
		on bongo.cc.utexas.edu, in the gifstuff/xwindows/xloadimage
		directory, or on export.lcs.mit.edu (18.24.0.12) in the contrib 
		directory as file xloadimage.*.tar.Z.

VAX SYSTEMS:

xv		X-windows viewer supporting multiple formats,
		including JPEG.  Also writes many formats, making
		it viable as a format conversion tool as well.
		available via anonymous FTP on cerritos.edu and 
		acfcluster.nyu.edu.

XI. BONGO FILE LISTING

Here's the most recent file list from bongo, showing all the archived
software there (all under the "gifstuff" directory).

apple               ;directory for Apple ][ series
amiga               ;directory for Commodore Amiga
ftpsites            ;listing of pictures-related anonymous FTP sites
gifutils            ;directory for miscellaneous GIF utilities
ibmpc               ;directory for PC-Clones
intro.asp           ;current version of "frequently asked questions" file
iris                ;directory for Silicon Graphics Iris conversion utilities
mac                 ;directory for Macintosh line
sunview             ;directory for Sun series running SunView
uutools             ;directory with source for current version of UUXFER
                      and other uudecode tools and info...
xwindows            ;directory with source for X11R4

amiga:
GIFMachine.lzh      ;LZH-compressed GIFMachine
gl1-1.lzh           ;LZH-compressed GL viewer for Amiga

apple:
ii                  ;directory for Apple ][+/c/e
iigs                ;directory for Apple ][GS

apple/ii:
iigif               ;][Gif program for Apple ][+/c/e

apple/iigs:
gif3200.shk         ;GIF3200 and VIEW3200 shareware files (Shrinkit)
iffconv.shk         ;shareware to convert AMIGA IFF files (Shrinkit)

gifutils:
giftest.c           ;C source code for testing integrity of GIF files
giftops.c           ;C source code for GIF to postscript converter

ibmpc:
cshw821b.zip        ;CSHOW v 8.21b in ZIP format
grasp35.zip         ;ZIP'ed GRASP viewer (GRASPRT v 3.5)
vpic34.zip          ;ZIP'ed VPIC v 3.4 (*HIGHLY* recommended!)

iris:
fromgif.c           ;C source to convert GIF files to IRIS format
togif.c             ;C source to convert IRIS format to GIF

mac:
quick-gif.hqx       ;QuickGif, in BinHex 4.0
visionlab.hqx       ;VisionLab, also in BinHex 4.0

sunview:
artshow             ;Directory for Alan Sparks' ARTSHOW viewer for SunView
viewgif             ;Directory for ViewGif for SunView

sunview/artshow:
Makefile            ;Makefile for ArtShow
README.artshow      ;Installation notes for ArtShow
artshow.tar.Z       ;ArtShow sources, tar'ed and compressed.

sunview/viewgif:
viewgif.shar.Z      ;Compressed shar file for ViewGif

uutools:
uucat.c             ;C source for uucat
uuconvert.c         ;C source for uuconvert
uudecode.c          ;standard Berkeley uudecode (source)
uuencode.txt        ;description of uuencode 'standard'
README              ;Notes for UUXFER
uuxfer20.c          ;C source for UUXFER ver. 2.0
uuxfer20.doc        ;Documentation & installation notes for UUXFER v 2.0

xwindows:
xloadimage          ;Directory for Xloadimage
xshowgif            ;Directory for xshowgif
xv                  ;Directory for xv
xviewgl             ;Directory for xviewgl

xwindows/xloadimage:
README.1st             ;Installation notes for xloadimage
xloadimage.3.01.tar.Z  ;Compressed tar file for xloadimage 3.01

xwindows/xshowgif:
README.1st          ;Installation notes for xshowgif
xshowgif.tar.Z      ;Compressed tar file for xshowgif

xwindows/xv:
README.1st          ;Installation notes for xv v. 2.00
xv2.tar.Z           ;Compressed tarfile for xv v. 2.00

xwindows/xviewgl:
README.1st          ;Installation notes for xviewgl
xviewgl_v1.0.tar.Z  ;Compressed tar file for xviewgl v 1.0



== You may talk all you please about patriotism and religion, but a right good love affair moves a man more than anything else. ==Ed Howe