7.1  TONS OF FILES

hundreds of systems connected to Internet have file libraries, or 
archives, accessible to the public. Much of this consists of free or low-
cost shareware programs for virtually every make of computer.  If you 
want a different communications program for your IBM, or feel like 
playing a new game on your Amiga, you'll be able to get it from the Net.
    
But there are also libraries of documents as well.  If you want a copy of 
a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, you can find it on the Net.  Copies 
of historical documents, from the Magna Carta to the Declaration of 
Independence are also yours for the asking, along with a translation of a 
telegram from Lenin ordering the execution of rebellious peasants.  You 
can also find song lyrics, poems, even summaries of every "Lost in Space" 
episode ever made.  You can also find extensive files detailing 
everything you could ever possibly want to know about the Net itself.  
First you'll see how to get these files; then we'll show you where 
they're kept. 
 
Increasingly, you can get these files via gopher or the World-Wide 
Web (see Chapter 8 for gopher; Chapter 9 for the Web).  But it's still 
good to know how to use the original way of getting files across the Net: 
file-transfer protocol, or FTP, because there is still a large 
number of files stil stored on FTP sites.

Starting ftp is as easy as using telnet. At your host system's command 
line, type 
 
     ftp site.name
 
and hit enter, where "site.name" is the address of the ftp site you want 
to reach.  One major difference between telnet and ftp is that it is 
considered bad form to connect to most ftp sites during their business 
hours (generally 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time).  This is because 
transferring files across the network takes up considerable computing 
power, which during the day is likely to be needed for whatever the 
computer's main function is.  There are some ftp sites that are 
accessible to the public 24 hours a day, though.  You'll find these noted 
in the list of ftp sites in section 7.6.