When you upload files you are adding files to the bulletin board system. The files are posted so other users may download the files.

In order to upload a file, you must specify the filename(s) you will be uploading and a description for each file uploaded. Once all of the files and descriptions have been entered, you may begin the file transfer.

As an example, we will upload a file called MNHIT110.ZIP. Begin by entering U at a conference command prompt to initiate an upload. PCBoard will display the following prompt:

(1) Enter the Filename to Upload (Enter)=none?

At this prompt, enter the filename which is MNHIT110.ZIP. Now, you are asked to enter a description for the filename that you just entered. You need to enter at least 5 characters for the filename. You are told how many 45 character description lines you can enter. We will enter the following:

Before beginning, enter a description of: MNHIT110.ZIP Begin description with (/) to make upload `Private'.

Enter your text. (Enter) alone to end. (45 chars/line, 12 lines maximum)
? (MANHIT v1.10 -- Utility you can use to enhance)
? (your computer/system security.                )

On the next blank description line, press ENTER to finish entering the description. You will now either be asked for another filename to transfer or the transfer will begin. It all depends on how you answered the Promote to Batch Transfers question in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | File Transfers. If you are asked for another filename, you may enter another filename to transfer or press ENTER to begin the transfer.

The transfer should now begin. There is a different method for uploading from remote or locally. The following describes each.

You need to transfer a file using your communications program. With most communication programs you can do this by pressing PgUp. You are usually prompted for the protocol you wish to use for the transfer. Make sure you select the same one as you did on the bulletin board system. Once you select the protocol, you are asked for the filename(s) you wish to transfer. Enter the location to find the files you want to upload on your disk and press ENTER. At this point you will see the files being transferred.

Local uploads are a little different because PCBoard is in control. To perform a local upload, you need to make sure you have selected an internal protocol to PCBoard. At the point where you would press u from remote to begin the transfer you will see the following prompt at the top of your screen:

Local Upload Path or Filename? (                         )

In this field, enter the filename(s) you want to upload. For example, if you want to upload a single file called MNHIT110.ZIP that is located in D:\TEMP\, enter D:\TEMP\MNHIT110.ZIP at this prompt. If you want to upload every file in D:\TEMP\, enter D:\TEMP*.*.

If your file transfer is aborted, it may occur for any of the following reasons:

• You were using an internal protocol, and one or more of the files you were transferring duplicated filenames already on the system. The non-duplicate files (if any) will still be transferred, but you will receive the transfer aborted message to let you know one or more of your files were aborted.
• You took too long to begin the transfer. The internal protocols in PCBoard give you approximately 60 seconds to begin the transfer. Most external protocols have a built in time-out value as well.
• If you are prompted for any descriptions after the transfer has taken place, you have done an unannounced upload. This is where you send files you did not inform PCBoard you would be sending. Because PCBoard requires each filename to have a description, it will ask you for a description if it cannot find one.
• Before PCBoard asks for a description, however, it will check the file to see if it has a FILEID.DIZ in it. If so, the file will be immediately tested without prompting for a description. PCBoard is able to determine if a ZIP, ARJ, LZH, PAK, or ARC file has a FILEID.DIZ file. If it does, the description file will be used to describe the file. If PCBoard is unable to find a description in the file, it will ask for a description of the file.

All files that are successfully transferred will be tested via PCBTEST.BAT if you have enabled the testing of uploads on your system.

If you have configured your system to test all uploaded files, all successfully uploaded files will be tested (one at a time) using PCBTEST.BAT. Even if carrier is lost during the transfer, PCBoard will test all files that were successfully transferred. For more information about testing files using PCBTEST.BAT, see the Batch Files chapter of this manual.

There are two methods you can use to disable uploads on your system. You can set the security level required to execute the U command in PCBSetup | Security Levels | User Commands very high so no one can upload. This would effectively disable uploads across the entire system.

If you are looking to disable uploads on a conference by conference basis, you may do that as well. To disable uploads for a particular conference, clear out the field which contains the location of where uploads will be stored. The field you need to clear depends on how you answered the Make All Uploads Private question. If you answered with a Y, clear out the location of private uploads. The following is a sample display:

           Sort   Name/Loc Upload DIR File       Location of Uploads

Public Upld: 0 : C:\PCB\MAIN\UPLOAD : C:\PCB\MAIN\UPLOAD

Private Upld: 0   : C:\PCB\MAIN\PRIVATE           : 

If you answered with an N instead (making all uploads in the conference public), clear out the Location of Uploads for the public upload directory instead.

PCBoard uses a semi-intelligent method to determine if the file that is about to be uploaded is a duplicate of a file already on the system. A list of the filename extensions used by the most popular file compression programs is stored in memory. If it appears that the file is simply compressed with a different program, the file will be rejected as a duplicate.

For example, if you have a file called SPECIAL.ARJ on your system and an attempt is made to upload SPECIAL.ZIP, the file will be rejected as a duplicate. However, a file such as SPECIAL.TXT could be uploaded, because the TXT extension is not used by any compression programs. Therefore, this file most likely has contents that are different from SPECIAL.ARJ.

NOTE: The file extensions that are recognized as being used by compression programs are: ZIP, ARJ, LZH, LHA, ARC, PAK, ZOO, DWC, and EXE.
PCBoard checks the filename being uploaded against entries in DLPATH.LST to determine what files exist on the system. If the file already exists, a message stating that the upload is a duplicate of a file already on the system is displayed. If you have a security level equal to or greater than the value specified by the Level Needed to Overwrite Files on Uploads (PCBSetup | Security Levels | Sysop Commands), you are given the option to remove the file from disk or to continue with the upload.

You may also want to use what is called an ALLPATH.LST (All-Files DLPATH.LST
in PCBSetup | File Locations | Configuration Files). In this file you can list all of the paths you want PCBoard to check when uploading a file. This way you could include download paths from multiple conferences so users do not upload files that may be located in another conference. Since the ALLPATH.LST file is never checked for downloads, you do not compromise the security of your system. If you leave this field blank, PCBoard resorts to using only the DLPATH.LST method for duplicate checking.

When you download files, you are transferring a file which exists on the bulletin board to your machine.

In order to download a file, you must enter the filename(s) you want to download. To help find the filenames you want to download, use the L, N, Z, and F user commands. All of these commands will list files. To actually download the file(s), use the D command to download a single file or the DB command to download more than one file. If you have answered Y to the Promote to Batch Transfers question, the D command will behave like the DB command.

You will see the following prompt:

(1) Enter the filename to Download (Enter)=none?

At this prompt enter the filename you wish to download. You may stack multiple filenames at this prompt by separating each filename by either a space or a semi-colon. For example, enter BLADAR10.ZIP to download a file called BLADAR10.ZIP.

If the file is found on disk, you will be shown the filename, how many bytes are in the file, and an estimate of how long it will take to transfer at your current speed. You will then be asked for another filename. If you are finished entering the files you want to download, simply press ENTER.

After the filenames have been entered, you will be ready to begin the transfer. As with uploads, PCBoard treats remote and local transfers differently. The following describes each method:

You need to transfer a file using your communications program. With most communications program you can do this by pressing PgDn. You are usually prompted for the protocol you wish to use for the transfer. Make sure you select the same one as you did on the bulletin board system. Once you select the protocol, you are asked for the location where you wish to place the files you are about to download. Enter any valid subdirectory or filename in this box as necessary for your communications program. At this point you will see the files being transferred.

NOTE: Some communications programs support what is called auto-downloading. This is where the transfer automatically begins as soon as the communications program recognizes the protocol. This is most common with protocols like Zmodem.

Local downloads are a little different because PCBoard is in control. To perform a local download, you need to make sure you have selected an internal protocol to PCBoard. At the point where you would usually press d from remote to begin the transfer you will see the following prompt at the top of your screen:

Local Download Path? (                                   )

In this field, enter the drive and subdirectory where you want to store the file(s) you are about to download. For example, if you want the files to be stored in D:\TEMP\,
enter D:\TEMP at this prompt.

If your file transfer is aborted, it may mean you took too long to start it.
Internal protocols allow you about 90 seconds before they will abort. Local downloads will abort if you do not type anything in the box within 30 seconds.

If your download is aborted, PCBoard will remember the filenames you typed in and they will remain as flagged files. Therefore, if you attempt to do a download again, you will be asked if you wish to download flagged files.

You can mark or flag files for download while you are viewing the file listings. When you are viewing file listings, you will notice that the More? prompt has a (F)lag option. When you select this option, you will be asked what filename you would like to flag for download. If the filename you enter is found, you will be shown the filename, file size, and approximate minutes to download. You can continue looking at the file listings without having to begin your transfer immediately.

When you are ready to begin your transfer, simply use the D or DB commands.
You will be asked if you wish to download the files that are flagged for download.

Disabling downloads is a very simple process. To disable downloads across the entire system, you would set the security level in PCBSetup | Security Levels | User Commands for the D command very high.

To disable downloads in a particular conference is very easy. Simply make sure that the DLPATH.LST field in the conference configuration is blank. If it is blank, PCBoard will inform the user that downloads are currently disabled. Below is an example from a conference configuration screen:

Directories : C:\PCB\MAIN\DIRMNU           : C:\PCB\MAIN\DIR.LST
Download Paths (listing only)              : 

A FREE file is considered a file which does not count towards the user's bytes or files downloaded. In other words, if the user has 280k of bytes available for the day and a free file is downloaded, 280k of bytes will still be available for downloading.

To make a file free, you need to use the FSEC file which can be edited via PCBSetup | File Locations | Configuration Files. A file is considered FREE if the password required for the download is FREE. A couple of examples will help illustrate the point best. For example, all files in the G:\FORALL\ subdirectory will be considered FREE files. The entry you would make in the FSEC file looks like the following:

        
          Drive \ Path              File Name    Sec     Password
-------------------------------- -------------- ----- --------------
 G:\FORALL\                       *.*            0     FREE

Because almost all bulletin boards store files on the system as compressed files, you may want to make the utility necessary to uncompress the files a FREE download. For example, the decompression utility may be called ARJ300.EXE. If so, you may want to make the following entry in the FSEC file:

        Drive \ Path              File Name    Sec     Password

——————————– ————– —– ————–

                                  ARJ*.EXE       0     FREE

Notice how the Drive/Path field is left blank. This means that anytime a user downloads a file which begins with ARJ and has an extension of EXE it will be a FREE file.

As you know, you must use a file transfer protocol to transfer any files over the modem. As it turns out, some protocols can handle sending multiple files in a single transfer while others may be only capable of sending one file at a time.

If a protocol can send more than one file in a single transfer, it is known as a batch protocol. On the other hand, if the protocol is capable of sending only one file at a time, it is sometimes termed a single file protocol.

If you flag or attempt to download more than one file for a single transfer, PCBoard will only allow you to transfer the files using the batch protocols that are available on the system. If your default protocol is set to a single file protocol, you will be prompted for the batch protocol you wish to use for the transfer.

An aborted file is any file which was not fully transferred. The following details some reasons why files may be aborted:

Almost every protocol has some error-checking routines built in to assure the proper transfer of information. If an error in the transmission is detected the data packet will usually be re-sent. Most protocols also have a built in error limit. For example, if 10 successive errors occur, the protocol may decide to abort the transfer.

No transmission over phone lines is immune from line noise.
From time-to-time you may experience line noise. If you do not have an error-corrected connection, this may cause transmissions errors and if bad enough, could cause the transfer to be aborted. If you do have an error-corrected connection, it is quite unlikely that the transfer will be aborted (because modems are doing the error correcting automatically).
However, if the line noise is extremely bad, your modem may decide to automatically drop carrier.

With the influx of high-speed modems into the market it has become more important than ever to have serial port hardware that is adequate enough to handle the speed of the modem. If you plan on using a modem which uses a port speed of 19200 or higher, you should plan on either using an intelligent serial card supported by the /M version of PCBoard or at the very least make sure all of your serial ports have NS16550AFN UARTs installed.

It is very important that you use the right flow control.
There are two types of flow control–software and hardware. The former is commonly referred to as XON/XOFF flow control and the latter is referred to as CTS/RTS flow control. It is important that your modem and your software be configured to use CTS/RTS flow control exclusively. Protocols such as Ymodem/G assume that flow control is operating properly. If flow control is not working properly, you can lose an excessive amount of characters, etc.

NOTE: If the connection is set to be disconnected once the file transfer has completed and the file transfer aborts, PCBoard will wait 45 seconds instead of the normal 10 seconds.