This FAQ was not written by me, and I have no personal experience with AOL
or it's software. If you are having trouble with your AOL software, you will
have much more luck asking in places mentioned in the FAQ. For general
questions, or info on most Unix newsreaders, you can reach me at
hagie@netcom.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: admin32709@aol.com (Admin32709)
Newsgroups: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.d
Subject: AOL Downloading Guide v1.01 (w/ sample file)
Date: 30 Jul 1994 14:16:04 -0400
DOWNLOADING BINARIES WITH AMERICA ONLINE
version 1.01
CONTENTS
1. Intro
2. AOL and binaries
3. Graphic formats and UUcoding
4. Downloading files
5. Decoding the binary
6. Viewing the file
7. A sample file
8. Conclusion
(NOTE: Keep clicking the MORE button until the end of the file is reached.
Then select SAVE AS... from the "File" menu, and save this post as a file
on your computer.)
1. INTRO
This file contains basic information on downloading and viewing binary
files using America Online software. It's intended for AOL users who are
new to Usenet. It isn't a formal FAQ, and will only be posted to the
newsgroups with the greatest volume of queries for help. The most useful
feature of this guide is that in addition to step-by-step instructions it
also contains a sample binary as a test file. Anybody is free to
redistribute, modify and repost this guide at will.
2. AOL AND BINARIES
If you're reading this, you've used America Online software to enter one
of the Usenet alt.binaries.pictures newsgroups, where graphics files are
posted. The graphics files on the Internet are in a different format than
the files you'll find in AOL's graphics archives, and you can't download
them in the same way. They've been converted into text, so that they can
be distributed using text-only methods such as E-mail and Usenet. This
technique is a clever way to work around the limitations of present-day
computer networks, but it has its weaknesses. "Binary" postings tend to be
very large compared to "real" text messages, for instance, and if you
choose to use America Online to receive them you will need a lot of
patience and a lot of on-line time, which can become expensive. The
process will also test the limits of the AOL software, and you will always
run the risk of crashing your computer and losing your data.
3. GRAPHIC FORMATS AND UUCODING
The binary files you are probably interested in are photographs, although
binary encoding can be performed on any type of computer file. Most
alt.binaries.pictures photographs have been digitized in either one of two
formats. The GIF format is the most widespread, but GIF files are bulky
and limited to 8-bit color. The other format, JPEG, is able to record
24-bit data, and creates very compact files using compression, but loses
some image information in the process. Because of their smaller sizes, you
will probably want to start out downloading JPEG files. These have the
extension .JPG.
Since GIF and JPEG files can't be posted directly on Usenet, a process
called "UUencoding" has been performed on them to turn them into text
files which Internet newsreaders can handle. Software for UUencoding and
UUdecoding is freely available on every computer platform. A UUencoded
file has a "begin" and an "end" line, with a body of text strings in
between. Each line of text is less than 72 characters and begins with M
(except for the final ones). If any of these elements are out of place,
the file is corrupt and won't decode.
4. DOWNLOADING FILES
In order to convert the UUcoded text back into a picture, you need to get
the posting onto your computer. For most Internet users, this is very
quick and easy. Their Internet accounts usually provide them with a
partition of space on their service’s hard drive, and all they do is mark
the heading of the post they want, enter a command to copy its contents
into their partition , and then run a decoding routine on the file. On
America Online, though, you need to actually open the post and "read" each
line of it on your screen , then save the text as a file on your personal
computer's hard disk. This is very slow and clumsy, but can be done.
America Online has a major bug in that it cannot receive a file larger
than 60 KB, or 1003 lines of text. When this limit is exceeded, your
computer will crash and you will need to reboot, breaking your AOL
connection. Fortunately, many large graphics files are segmented into
multiple 60KB posts by considerate posters, though this practice seems to
be declining.
To download a binary when logged onto AOL, first open a logging file using
the command in the FILE menu. (You can also save each post individually by
using SAVE AS, or do both to create a backup.) Now open a newsgroup and
scroll through the list of subject headers until you find an appealing
post. Select the header by clicking ONCE on it with the mouse (it will
become red) and then click on the LIST MESSAGES button at the bottom of
the window. A new window will appear, showing the poster's ID, the time
and date of transmission, and the number of lines in the post. If the size
is less than 1003 lines, you can then open it up by double-clicking on the
header. The post will appear in a new window, the text either scrolling or
stationary depending on how you 've set up your AOL software. Click on
the MORE button until the end of the post is reached. Then save the post
if you need to and close the window. Remember that log files are only
actually written to your drive by the AOL software when you close it or
exit the application, so if you crash with an open log file you will lose
the whole thing.
5. DECODING THE BINARY
Now that you have the UUencoded text stored safely on your own computer,
you need an application which converts it back into the original file
format. There are plenty of shareware or freeware apps for this. On
Macintoshes, the most popular is UULite,and for Windows, it's Wincode.
(America Online has both of these programs in its archives. Open "File
Search", the little icon at the top right of the screen that depicts a
magnifying glass over a floppy disk, and type each file name into the
window which appears).
For a trial run, it's probably best to start with a clean file. Using any
text editor to open this guide, copy everything in the sample file below,
from "begin 644 jmis-267.jpg" down to "end". Paste it into a new document
and save it as "Text Only" using the filename TEST.UUE. (On a Mac, the
extension isn't necessary, but Wincode needs it to recognize the file as a
binary. You can set the program up to recognize other extensions by
changing the decode options.) Now run it through your UUcode app. In
Wincode, choose DECODE from the FILE menu and then select TEST.UUE. On a
Mac with System 7, just drag and drop the file onto the UULite icon, and
it will suck out the data automatically. Unless something unforeseen has
occurred, a new file called JMIS-267.JPG will be written onto your disk.
6. VIEWING THE GRAPHIC
The final step is to look at the file with a graphics viewer. There are
loads of graphics viewers available, from bare-bones shareware to
professional tools like Photoshop. The basic shareware tool for the
Macintosh is JPEGview (which is now available in a "fat binary" compile
for use on Power Macs, BTW.) Windows users can use the slow, no-frills
WinJPEG if they only want to view one file at a time, or PaintShop if
they desire editing power. My personal favorite Windows viewer is Thumbs,
which is fast, provides many viewing options, and organizes your files on
disk for you. Once again, all of these programs are shareware available in
AOL archives. Before viewing, reconfigure your monitor resolution, if
necessary, for maximum quality. The number of colors is the important
factor, not the number of pixels. At the very minimum, you need to be able
to display 256 colors to view photographic files. The JMIS-267.JPG
picture should appear tiny but detailed; most graphics posts are much ,
much larger, of course.
7. A SAMPLE FILE
Here is a small binary file, one of the JMIS pictures, which I have
resized into a thumbnail. It depicts a lovely young woman on a sofa
demonstrating her flexibility.
section 1/1 file jmis-267.jpg [ Wincode v2.3 ]
begin 644 jmis-267.jpg
M_]C_X``02D9)1@`!`0```0`!``#_VP!#``@&!@<&!0@'!P<)"0@*#!0-#`L+
M#!D2$P\4'1H?'AT:'!P@)"XG("(L(QP<*#E1,^>$L<9&V*C:8\.5WQSVJ-YT8+AL[]*2QT$M+A02#O6K2Y4AM\^-"/,&
M4][;EM4+3]GC;.3C&*%AH8I*Q;(?`ZBI>UR=]_`TMMWD8LN,J-^+-9G+O$!N
M&YG\*G/*HK^E<>&4Y?PFNM3MK5"9)!@8&`A]+GD2WBF$I1P`$..@SCY@YK(_R9-[6C=^GCXZ[+4[$*V^1C(;-*
M-7O$@MQ+.$,7(ECPE?0GQY5C4[Y[2UBDB4YF0\*@[%QS'TKF-[[:ZI%=S6M_
M"(!GAD"QGEG<%6;!^8'U&I24E:,2@X3WZ)?;V[-G?12P.ZSO');2JP5EX3DD
M#=L?K]/X7K5'>::2W$(&4+<04<^([[=TG3B9NQDB*B')(`(
MSX;^7GS*&>[$LH[)&"EOU.(X/VY^VC'KH:;=O8.K%#W@`<;9%;=J/%?_`*U(
MR7$4966!55FSQ,@SG'+/QY?A4?>\%^0_"F)GTE[XN`,';?(-9]Z!8G))\CSI
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MAF2*&<(JI&Q[[M&>'+8`SCKR^P4-J5RCL(HCW1N2!^L:EVR[J,0*61;F8O<@
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MD:E9=H;"VO\`1[BTN`&2,]H#G=2!S%<;]N-/NM.USM;M68W!'!B/NLJJJ['E
MGR'EFNSV$\=I?@R.JAQ@C\[5C6='AOE>S>(/82CB50!F"0N^R^8R?(T6FF:?'`KR7Y-PP!$4,);`/B6
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MB-/G74"TZ0.%5B&X6R<_7J?3SZ,.S'\7/_\`K\*38-%T%S@UD78*[TI>4@_K
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MJ8)YC)&#ZT#=ZA)I]N5P92KC@9C@J ( geocities.com/siliconvalley)