Why would you need file transfer?

Perhaps you want to transfer a program to be processed by another computer with more efficiency, free capacity, higher quality display or other properties required by the program. Or you might want to download public domain programs or other freely distributable material.

Are there any drawbacks involved?

The files themselves also differ, and owing to the internal structure of individual computers, files with identical contents can be presented in different computers in different manners. The most simple file to transfer is a one with 7 bit ASCII characters. Other files, such as the programs translated into the machine language, graphics, spreadsheet computation or word processing files, etc. must be coded for the transfer.

To save disk space and transfer time, public domain programs and other freely copyable files, in particular, are often compressed. Before using them, you need to know how to unpack the compressed files.

How are files transferred?

The so-called ftp service has been defined for data transmission on the Internet. With the help of this service, you create the connection between the computers involved in the copying process and can start the data transfer in both directions.

You need to know the domain names of the computers involved, user identification code and password to these computers, as well as the path name of the file to be transferred, i.e. its location in the computer in which the transfer takes place.

How can data be transferred?

Besides transferring your own files, you might want to download public, freely distributable files from file servers, such as NIC.FUNET.FI. They can be free (freeware) or public domain programs, or even publicly distributed commercial programs (shareware) for which you need to pay a reasonable user charge after an introductory period.

Besides programs, the archives contain images, graphics, maps, user instructions, reports, information, voice recordings and other most variable material.

For further information about data transfer and other network services, please refer to your own network support person.