So you need to get a file from us, and you are either desperate enough to figure out how that you have located this document, or one of us asked you to read this because we got tired of explaining it over the phone. In either case, let me offer my humble apologies and try to be as helpful as possible. The reason for this page's existence is that the S&H people often bark phrases like "Ive put it in the incoming directory" or "go get it out of GUEST". You are supposed to be able to followe directions like these to do business with us!
First let's talk about METHODS for downloading a little. The most common method is to access us via FTP. To do this, you must have an FTP client program. From your TSX system, you should be able to type "FTP SANDH.COM" and, after your computer connects with our computer, receive a prompt for a logon name. There are FTP clients built into Windows 95 and other systems as well, but please don't ask us how to use those, call Microsoft!
What username and password you type in depends on WHERE what you want is on our system, so let's defer for a moment on that issue until I have a chance to explain the organization of directories. What should be said in general, though, about FTP transfers, is that you should remember to use the BINARY command once to place your FTP client, and our FTP server, in "binary mode". Get into the habbit of always doing this, it won't hurt transfers of straight text and it's requred for transfers of ZIP files and other truly binary data.
Another common method of accessing our system is via Telnet. If you access our system via Telnet, your only hope of downloading stuff from the system is going to be ZMODEM. This is fine, our telnet server permits ZMODEM downloads, but your Telnet client program may well not know what to do with them. I know OUR Telnet client programs don't. However, if you are very far away from us, very poor, and can't use FTP for some reason, here is a method which DOES work: Use PROCOMM or some terminal program that supports ZMODEM. Use this to connect to a system, like a TSX system or your ISP. On that computer, run a Telnet client and connect to us. Be sure that the telnet client is in binary mode. Then a zmodem transfer should flow out our telnet server, into the telnet client on the TSX or ISP box, and all the way THROUGH it, into the terminal emulator like PCPLUS, which receives the file.
The method describe above is rarely used, since people who have access to the internet generally have access to FTP. Those of you with no access to the Internet at all are reduced to zmodem transfers over phone lines by directly calling our BBS at 615 320 1820.
Now let's talk a little about directories on our system, and how you access them. There are two biggies: the incoming directory and the guest account. Let's talk about the "guest account or "guest directory" first. This is a holdover from times that predate the internet. In the olden days, everybody had to dial up 615 320 1820, and log in as GUEST. The password for GUEST is guaranteed to be either GUEST, nothing at all, or something other than the first two. Have you ever noticed that the absolute guarantees in life always have a sort of grim quality? Anyway, logging in as an interactive GUEST user, or logging in as GUEST via FTP, has the attribute that it places you in a fixed directory named C:\GUEST. This is one place you can upload a file to us -- be sure to tell us you have uploaded to any part of our system, were are not just going to FIND it and DEAL with it alone -- and it's a place we occasionally tell people to download files as well. Mostly, however, we place outgoing files in the GUEST account for those of you who have been our customers since those pre-internet dark days. Keyword phrase: "I've put it in the guest account for you".
All of the other publicly available areas on our system are subdirectories of C:\BBS. Why? Because our TSX-Online file library is organized so that every file library area stores its files in a subdirectory of C:\BBS, and the TSX-Online product was once called TSX-BBS. If you access us via FTP, and log on as ANONYMOUS, you can enter your e-mail address as a a password and find yourself plopped right into the C:\BBS directory. There is nothing there for you, and you can't upload anything either; you must use the CD command in FTP to move to one of the many subdirectories of BBS.
The most commonly used subdirectory of C:\BBS\ is the INCOMING directory. This is the one directory where anonymous FTP users have the privilege to upload files to us (hence the name "incoming"). However, since it's one of the few subdirectories of BBS which is not associated with a file library area, and since it's a place people get used to going, we leave outgoing files for people in this area as well. Keyword phrase: "I've left it in the incoming directory for you". There is a sample FTP session showing how to get files out of the incoming directory at the bottom of this page.
Another commonly used subdirectory of the BBS directory is the "field test" directory. However, this is not available via anonymous FTP logon; it's only available for those who log into the BBSTEST account. We only give the password to the BBSTEST account to supported customers who are also on "the field test list". If this applies to you, the name of the directory is FTTSXBBS. That's right, once you log in as BBSTEST, to get to the field test directory, you must type the command "CD FTTSXBBS". Read that carefully, I've said it S L O W L Y over the phone at least five hundred times. "C D F T T S X B B S".
Those of you who are trying to get a file out of our file library should have no confusion if your method of access is dial-up, since you can navigate through the menus of TSX-Online, use keyword searches to locate things in the file library, and pick "download" right off the mini-menus of our wonderful software. If anybody really wants to get a file from the file library through FTP, here is a list of the file library areas and the corresponding subdirectories of BBS:
To close, let's have a sample FTP session, using the TSX FTP client, which I submit to help newbies who need some FTP keyword help. Let's suppose you have been instructed to "Use FTP and get the file named LARRYLIP.ZIP out of our INCOMING directory". Here is what you would type to accomplish this, together with what FTP responds with:
ftp sandh.com (here is a long pause while FTP connects) Username: Anonymous Password: my.name@domain.com ftp> binary ftp> cd incoming ftp> get larrylip.zip (here is a long pause while FTP transfers) (here is some message saying it got it) ftp> quit