ESM4714
Scientific Visual Data Analysis and Multimedia
Exercise #4: Details of File Transfer in the SciViz and Multimedia labs

Objective:
Transfer images of various physical phenomena created on UNIX workstations to the Mac which is where we create QuickTime movies that will play on Macs and PC-Window computers. These same animations can then be distributed to a much wider audience with Mosaic or other web browsers. Although there are more convenient file transfer software applications like "Fetch", here we introduce you to NCSA's Telnet. Because the SciViz and Multimedia labs are connected to a common "Gator box" it is even more convenient to use the chooser on the Macs and select the appropriate UNIX hard disk (viz1, viz2, viz5, viz9, viz10, or mercury -> pluto) and just drag and drop the files from one machine to the other. We believe Telnet should not be used just because it is the best known public domain application with the widest distribution, but because the internet commands that are used on UNIX operating system are also used by Telnet on the Mac and PC. In this exercise we will introduce you to all these file transfer software tools but with NCSA Telnet we can show you the essential concepts of internet and ftp commands that will work anywhere across the network. Ironically we encourage you to use applications like Fetch and the Gator box and abandon Telnet but only after you learn how to use the more basic network file transfer commands. The same can be said of the "vi" UNIX editor: it is not the editor of choice but everyone knows how to use it: "Wherever you go there it is"

Transferring files using the Macintosh chooser is made possible by a Gator Box located in the Multimedia Lab.

Unfortunately, when you are working on a UNIX machine, you do not have a choice of file transfer packages. You must use ftp commands on our UNIX system. But, when you are working on a Macintosh or a PC you have a few choices of file transfer packages.

If you are transferring files between two Macintosh machines, the easiest way to transfer files is to mount the remote Mac's hard-disk on your Mac only if the remote Mac is setup for file sharing. Follow the procedure below to mount the remote machines drive.

1. From the Apple Menu, chose, the Chooser option, and the menu below should appear.

   

   When you select the AppleShare option, the list on the right appears. From here, you can change the Apple Talk Zone and chose a file server. After choosing a file server, the figure below appears. In the case shown below, the file server that we have chosen is a UNIX machine, but the ability to mount such machines on a Macintosh rarely exists. In fact, the machines in the SciViz are the only machines on campus which can be mounted in this manner. This has been accomplished through the use of a Gator Box hardware that was made available to us in the Multimedia Lab.

2. Here, you must supply a valid user name and password. Press the 'tab' key to move between fields. After supplying the correct information, a third menu appears, shown below.

   

3. Now, you can finally chose which drive you wish to mount. If you select multiple drives (hold the shift key and click), each selected drive will appear as an icon on your Mac desktop. Do not select the boxes, if you do, it will create problems when the Mac has to be restarted.

   

4. Now just drag and drop files from the Mac to the UNIX or UNIX to the Mac hard-disk-drives. This is obviously the simplest of all the file transferring methods in this exercise.

If you need to move files between a Macintosh and a UNIX workstation that is located outside of the SciViz Lab, you must follow the procedure shown below.

Briefly:

• Using the Apple Menu, choose Applications, then Telnet (NCSA Telnet). The only thing that will happen is that the menu bar will change. So from the file menu, choose Open and the following menu will appear. Here I am logging onto my workstation in my office: www.esm.vt.edu.

  

• You must supply the Session name. This is the machine name of the machine which you wish to connect to. In this field, you can also input the IP number of the machine that you wish. If you are ftp'ing you should also check the FTP session box. Doing this avoids having to telnet to the machine and then ftp'ing back.

• If you are ftp'ing to the machine, once you are connected, you must issue the ftp 'user' command. This will prompt you for your username and password. If you forget to give the 'user' command, it will prompt you to issue it when you attempt to issue any other command. The only disadvantage of ftp'ing in this manner is that you do not get any command prompts at all.

• If you desire to see the command prompts, using NCSA Telnet you can telnet to the desired machine and then ftp back. But, you must keep straight where you are at, because now the remote machine is the machine that you are sitting in front of and you must issuer all "get" and "put" commands in reverse. This can get quite confusing at times, especially for novice users.

File Transfer Mac <-> UNIX Using Basic Commands without using the Gator box

1. On the appropriate Macintosh in the Multimedia lab go to the folder where you want to transfer the files and check to see if that file already exists. If it does remove it or change it's name.

2. Return to the hard disk on the Macintosh computer.
   • Open the "communications" folder and then double-click on Telnet_2.5. (or select Telnet_2.5 from "Applications" under the apple on the main menu)

   • Select "open connection" under "File" of the main menu.

   • Enter the appropriate IP address number (128.173.___.___) or
     IP name (viz5.sv.vt.edu or mars.smvc.vt.edu for example)
     for the "Session name" and select "FTP Session",
     and then select "Enter" or "Connect".
     NOTE: You could at this point NOT select "FTP session" and just use telnet
     instead but you will not be able to ftp files from the UNIX workstation
     back to the Mac. Here we want to show you how to "get" or "put" files (get
     or put are ftp commands) from a Mac to a UNIX workstation.

     A window appears where you are prompted to logon:

     220 viz? FTP server (UNIX(r) System V Release 4.0) ready

     user "user-name"

     Password required for "user-name"

     user-password (NOTE: ftp and telnet logons are very different)

     ls -lag (lists files in the home directory)

     Change to directory on the UNIX workstation where the brown.hdf file exists.

     cd /opdisk or optical/ESM4714/examples/brown/make_hdf (assuming an optical disk has been mounted)

     You can also change to a directory on the "local" Mac computer by using the local change directory command "lcd". Go to the folder on the Mac were you want to transfer the file(s) and send them to that folder, but first initiate the binary command.

     binary

     lcd /"Mac hard disk name"/SciViz Tools/SpyGlass Tools/Dicer

     put "filename"

     lls (this verifies the file has been transferred to the localMac computer)

     NOTE: It is sometimes confusing when using the ftp get or put commands. The easiest way to remember which one to use is to keep your reference on the "local"machine. The local computer is the computer that started the ftp session, so to list files of change directories use the "l" prefix in front of the ftp command: lls -> lists files on the local machine and lcd -> changes directories on the local machine. Similarly you "get" files from the remote machine and "put" files on the remote machine where reference point is again the local machine. Using tools such as fetch on the Macs makes this less confusing.

     BASIC FTP COMMANDS:

     ftp> account (acc)

     ftp> ascii (asc)

     ftp> binary (bin)

     ftp> bye disconnect quit

     ftp> cd ()

     ftp> delete (del)

     ftp> dir (ls)

     ftp> disconnet ()

     ftp> get

     ftp> hash

     ftp> help (?)

     ftp> lcd

     ftp> ls

     ftp> lls

     ftp> mdelete

     ftp> mget

     ftp> mkdir

     ftp> mput

     ftp> open

     ftp> put or send

     ftp> pwd

     ftp> quit

     ftp> rmdir

     ftp> send

     ftp> user

     When all files have been transferred exit ftp.

     quit

3. Go to the file menu bar and quit the application. Now you are ready to use any of the Macintosh visual tools, see Exercise#6.

   Next we will show you how to use more convenient file transfer software tools such as Fetch and mounting remote UNIX hard disks onto the Mac using Mac's Chooser. But before we introduce you to those tools, we provide a short description of the most commonly used ftp commands where the command abbreviationis shown in parenthesis if it exists.

If you working on a Macintosh that has Fetch software installed, you can transfer files between a Macintosh and UNIX machine using Fetch, a point and click interface.

1. To start Fetch, From the Apple Menu, choose Applications, then Fetch. You will see on the monitor a menu, similar to the one shown below.

   

2. You must next supply the required information in all of the fields, except the directory field, which you can leave blank. Press the 'tab' key to move between fields. Leaving the directory field blank will put you in your home directory. When you type your password, it will not appear on the screen, but you will see a bullet series. After all of the fields are filled in, press the 'return' key and the screen below will become active. At this point, you can begin to select the appropriate directory that you wish to be in and get or put files automatically. The program can usually determine the correct mode of file transfer, but it does give you a chance to change the mode if you need to. When you are finished, click on the close connection box and quit Fetch.

   

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Click image to return to Visualization home page.

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R.D. Kriz
Virginia Tech
College of Engineering
Revised 01/10/99

http://www.sv.vt.edu/classes/ESM4714/exercises/exer4/exer4.html

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