---------------------------------

Basic Technical Stuff for Newbies

---------------------------------

ps & ps2 are interactive fileservers running UPP. You have to enter them before
you can request files from them. phoomphy is more traditional fileserver running
VPowerServe and serving the same filesystem, so if you prefer to request files
directly from the channel window, type @phoomphy in the channel window for a
filelist and be sure to also queue phoomphy's files from the channel window.

To get into PS, type: /ctcp ps !ps

To get into PS2, type: /ctcp ps2 !ps

A window should open. From there you can type dir to get a directory listing,
cd to change directory, get to get a file, or help for further help. You can
also type 1f, 2f, 3f... to get the first, second, third files in the
directory or 1d, 2d... to navigate to various subdirectories. 0d or cd..
will take you back to the parent directory of the one you're in. See below
for a more complete list of available commands.

If you queue a lot of files and want to walk away from your computer as
they're downloading, you can set up mirc to autoaccept files. The specific
instructions for this vary from one irc client to another (see below).
Note that these settings will allow other irc users to send you files even
when you're not at your computer, so be cautious about files that you never
queued. If a file mysteriously shows up, especially if it has a sexually
suggestive name, it's probably malware, and so you should delete it
immediately without even opening it.

If you are still unable to download files even after following the
specific instructions for your irc client, then the problem might be your
firewall. Look at the firewall settings for both your computer as well as
your router. Lower the firewalls to their most relaxed setting and/or
create an exception in each for your irc client so that it can automatically
open the necessary ports to receive incoming files. You may need to
consult http://portforward.com/ for instrutions specific to your router.

Using mirc:

You can set up mirc to autoaccept files, which is very useful, because
otherwise you have to okay each file individually, and if you don't do it
in time, the file transfer will time-out. Go to Tools -> Options -> DCC
and select auto-get file and auto-accept chat. The minimize box on both of
these options can also be checked. Also, in the box that asks what to do
if the incoming file exists, select the "Resume" option. Another thing you
should to do is to verify that your irc client isn't purposely ignoring
certain file types, such as .pdf and such. To do this, snoop around under
tools -> options -> dcc -> folders to see if maybe you can add .pdf (and
any other files types which you want to download, such as .txt, .doc, .rtf,
.htm, .html, .epub, .mobi, .zip, .rar, .cbz, .cbr, .exe, .jpg, .gif, .bmp,
etc.) to the list of recognized files. Also, make sure your "DCC Get"
folders actually exist and aren't merely pointing to some location that has
long since been deleted from your harddrive. Also, under tools -> options ->
dcc -> ignore, set Method to "Disabled" to make sure that no file that is
sent to you will be ignored by your client. Don't forget to uncheck the
"Turn ignore back on" box.

Using Irssi:
If you're using Irssi, you'll need to set the 'dcc_autochat_masks' option to
my nick ('ps2' on undernet or 'ps' elsewhere). For example, you'd use the
command "/set dcc_autochat_masks ps2". You may choose to have dcc_autoget
enabled (/set dcc_autoget on), but note that this will leave you open to
any file from any nick. If you prefer to accept each file manually, use
this command: "/dcc get ps2 File_name_being_sent.ext". Also, the default
queue for irssi is 5, while I allow up to 100 queues, so you may want to
modify the default value in irssi: "/set max_ctcp_queue <new queue value>".

Using Colloquy:

If you're using Colloquy on a Mac, go to file -> preferences -> auto accept
files from: Anyone & if files already exist: Resume, and Save downloaded
files to: Downloads. Also, remove all the prompts unless you want it to
continally ask for permission to do every little thing. Alternately, if you
want to try Snak, see the instructions below, or if you want to try mirc on
a Mac, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJe6gPPvO4s

Using Snak:

Go to Preferences. The fifth option down is DCC. Click on the "Make an Action"
button. You'll get a window, within which you'll have several controls.
"Connection: Any connection will be selected" (leave as is). "Enabled" should be
checked as a tickbox. Below that you'll see a box that says "DCC" and a drop down
list: "DCC Chat offer", "DCC File transfer offer", "DCC file finished offer",
etc. Select the "DCC Chat offer" option; you can fill out a nickname in the
empty box such as "ps2", specifying from whom you will accept a DCC Chat offer,
or you can leave this blank so that you can enter into DCC-Chat with anyone
(allowing you to enter and use other interactive fserves). After making your
selection, hit OK. You should get a pop-up that has your option checked in a list.
Then continue with the "DCC File transfer offer" option, and do the same thing,
making an action. Make actions for "DCC Chat", "Receive File", and "File End" so
that all three of these functions are automated. Alternately, if you want to try
Colloquy, see the instructions above, or if you want to try mirc on a Mac, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJe6gPPvO4s

Using SeaMonkey:

If you're using SeaMonkey, be sure to enter the following command in the network:
"/dcc-accept-list-add ps2" (on undernet) or "/dcc-accept-list-add ps" (elsewhere).
Otherwise, your client will reject any file that my fserve tries to send to you.

Using ChatZilla:

Click ChatZilla, then preferences, then global options, then dcc, and set your
default download directory. Then add me to your autoaccept list:
"/dcc-accept-list-add ps2" (on undernet) or "/dcc-accept-list-add ps" (elsewhere).

Using Xchat:

XChat has a minimal preference settings, but one thing you need to do is set
the maximum file transfer speed. You might also need to set the DCC window
preference to "ask me". After doing that, it should hopefully work.

Using Nettalk:

Go to Options -> Connections -> then check the DCC Auto Accept Box.
Using IceChat 9:

Go to Options -> Program Settings -> DCC, then Auto Accept DCC chat requests
and Auto Accept DCC file requests.

--------------------
Commands You Can Use
--------------------

The first step is to get into my fserve:

From Undernet, type: /ctcp ps2 !ps

Elsewhere, type: /ctcp ps !ps

Once you are in, you can use the following commands:

dir/ls: lists all files and directories in your current directory

pwd: shows your current directory

cd: change your current directory (cd <directory>) [cd by itself will take you back
to root]
1d: go to the first subdirectory of the directory you're currently in
2d: go to the second subdirectory...
0d: go back to the parent directory of the directory you're currently in

get: gets file (get <filename>)

1f: get the first file of the directory you're currently in
2f: get the second file...

find/search: searches fileserver. wildcards are supported (find <filename>)

(limited to 100 results and 8 seconds, whichever is less)

my_queues/my_q/myq: lists your queues

clr_queue/del_q/clr_q: deletes one of your queues (clr_queue <number>)
clr_queues: deletes all your queues

time: shows when your session times out

(you have a 30 minutes to look around, but only 5 minutes of idling)

who: shows who else is currently on presumably either queuing files or just looking
around
queues/q: shows how many files are currently waiting to be sent
sends/s: shows how many files are currently being sent
stats: shows file server statistics

quit/exit/bye: closes this fserve session

--------------------------
Frequently Asked Questions
--------------------------

(1) I queued a file, but it's not downloading. What's going wrong?

Various things could be going wrong. The first thing to do is try to isolate the
problem.

First, let's see if the fileserver still has it in its queue. Go into the filesever
and
type "myq" to see your queues. If the file is still there, then it just hasn't been
sent yet.

This is a fairly unusual situation, because I've set up the fileserver for
unlimited
simultaneous sends (it doesn't care how people queue files; it'll try to send
files to
everyone simultaneously). Hence, even if someone queues a huge number of files,
they
(generally speaking) won't inadvertantly clog things up for hours on end. At
least,
that's the idea, but it doesn't always work out that way. The main problem has
to do
with the filesever software. In order for it to look down the queue list to your
queues,
it needs a little bit of free time where it's not doing anything else but
successfully
sending files to other users.

One problem that commonly occurs is when someone queues a lot of files and then
either
drops offline or simply changes their nick. They're no longer there (at least
not under
the nick which queued the file), but the fileserver doesn't know that, so it
tries to
send them each of their files, one at a time, searching for them again and again
and again
as it methodically goes through their queues. Because it's always so busy
looking for them,
it doesn't have the free time to look down the list to the queues of other
users. Hence, the
users who have files queued further down the list have no choice but to wait
until all the
queues of this "missing" user get dumped, one at a time, into the proverbial
bit-bucket.

A similar problem occurs when one of the users is trying to fill the holes in
his or her
collection. Maybe they downloaded files from me before, and so they already have
99% of
the files in a given directory. But, since I'm always adding files, there are a
few new
ones in there, and they want those files too, but they don't want to go to the
work of
comparing their own filelist with mine in order to determine which specific
files they
need to update their collection. Hence, they just requeue the entire directory
contents.
So what happens is that the fileserver connects to them and tries sending them
the first
file, and their client says, "Hey, I already got the whole file," and so then
the
fileserver moves on to the next file, and this process repeats over and over for
each
file they queued. Once again, the fileserve is so busy connecting and trying to
send
them each file that it doesn't have the spare time to look down the list to the
queues
 of other users. Hence, once again, everybody who queued files after this user
has to
wait, and it can easily take over an hour.

Keep in mind that in both of these cases, the user who is causing the clog
doesn't
realize that he or she is causing any sort of problem. Nobody sets out to clog
up
fileservers on purpose. The real problem here is with the software. Just be
patient.
The clog will eventually clear, and then your queued files will start
downloading.

If the file's not in the queue, then the filesever tried to send it, and the send
failed.
This can happen for any number of reasons. Sometimes it's your fault, and sometimes
it's not.

To make sure it's not your fault, verify that your irc client isn't purposely
ignoring
certain file types, such as .pdf and such. I talked about this above, but I'll
go
through it again, just in case you didn't read all the way through from the
beginning.
Snoop around under tools -> options -> dcc -> folders to see if maybe you can
add .pdf
(and any other files types which you want to download, such as .txt, .doc, .rtf,
.htm,
.html, .zip, .rar, .cbz, .cbr, .exe, .jpg, .gif, .bmp, etc.) to the list of
recognized
files. Also, make sure your "DCC Get" folders actually exist and aren't merely
pointing
to some location that doesn't exist. This can very easily be the case if you've
moved
your irc client, such as from one harddrive or directory to another. Also, under
tools ->
options -> dcc -> ignore, set Method to "Disabled" to make sure that no file
that is sent
to you will be ignored by your client. Don't forget to uncheck the "Turn ignore
back on" box.

If this doesn't solve the problem, then it could be a firewall issue. If it's a
firewall
problem, then you probably can't download any files from anyone on IRC. Dealing
with
filewall issues can get a little technical, but the basic idea is that you have
to put
an exception for your irc client so that it can automatically open the necessary
ports to
receive incoming files.

If you can download files from some filesevers but not from others, then the
problem
probably isn't on your end but exists somewhere in between you and the
fileserver you're
accessing, in which case you're not likely to ever find it. Do not be alarmed.
Every file
transfer is a roll of the dice. Most make it, but some don't. Generally
speaking, my file
 server will detect transfer failures and put these into a "failqueue", basically
a big
list of files that failed to get where they were supposed to go. As long as you
log in
within three days, it'll inform you about files that are still waiting for you
in this
failqueue, and it'll tell you how to requeue them so it can try sending them
again.
Beware, however, that the failqueue is an imperfect solution to this problem,
and so you
shouldn't totally depend on it. In order to make sure you received what you
queued, keep
some sort of log of what files you're queuing so that you can verify that all
the files
you queued actually transferred completely. For those that failed or are
incomplete,
simply try again later.

(2) Your @phoomphy command downloads 6 megs of crap that says it is a text file but
is
really a rar file with crap photos!

This was an actual message I received today (2013-07-04), and it points to some
sort of
intermittent problem that I haven't figured out yet. What happened is that someone
queued my filelist, but instead of sending the filelist, my fileserver sent them
some other file (in this case an unidentified .rar file with some "crap photos"),
transfering this mystery file under the same filename as the file they requested.

I've noticed this problem with other fileservers, most notably omenserve, where the
fileserver would somehow get mixed up and send me a file that was clearly meant for
someone else (but which it uploaded to me with the name of the file I queued;
hence,
I would only discover the error when I actually opened the file in question). One
of
the reasons I initially chose BWI as a fileserver is that I never heard of it
having
this sort of problem, but it did happen, albeit infrequently, and it also happens
once in a great while with VPowerServe. So far the only solution is to try again.

This seems to me to be a particularly tough error to isolate, as it occurs only

infrequently, but because I've seen it happen with multiple fileservers, I wonder
if
perhaps it might not necessarily be related to any particular fileserver script but
may rather be some error that is occurring within mirc itself. If anyone has any
information about this, please send me a private message.

(3) Are they any other ways to get these files?

I'm also serving this collection via DC++ in Chaos Wasteland. DC++ is an
alternative
to IRC. It allows you to queue files or entire folders and it seems to be better in
terms
of handling the file transfers. The really cool part is that you manage your own
queues
(rather than the fileserver), so I could go offline, or you could, and when we both
come
back to the channel, DC++ will automatically pick up from where it left off. Oh,
and it's
free at http://dcplusplus.sourceforge.net, or if you prefer the mac version you can
go to
http://sourceforge.net/projects/macdcpp

One technical note worth mentioning is that a typical installation of DC++ wants to
make
use various ports for handling various things. If your router can handle NAT-
PMP/UPnP
(it probably can), then when you enter DC++, do the following: File -> Settings ->
Connectivity -> Manual Configuration, Select: Let DC++ configure my router (NAT-PMP
/ UPnP).
Then enter your external / WAN IP in the box below. You can find your external IP
at
http://www.whatismyip.com

(4) Do you accept submissions?

Over the years several people have been sending me files, albeit infrequently, and
it gets
me to expand the collection in various ways that I wouldn't normally do. Anyway,
I'm
perfectly content to scrounge around for files worthy of being shared, but if you
want to
pitch in and send me stuff that I don't already have, feel free to do so. Just a
warning
that at this time I am not hosting video, music, or audiobooks, but I am hosting
rpg-related
podcasts and, of course, books, magazines, comics, and tabletop rpgs and wargames.

(5) How can I serve files?

There are a number of different fileserver programs. Phoomphy uses one called
vPowerServe
(available in this archive under Programs\Misc). It works under Win10 with some
caveats.

PS & PS2 use UPP (also available in this archive under Programs\Misc) which also
works
under Win10. This one is an interactive fileserver where you have to enter the
fileserver
to queue files rather than being able to queue them from the channel window. It
also
takes a long time to update the cache (analogous to a filelist updates in non-
interactive
fileservers). Hence, phoomphy's filelist tends to be more up-to-date than
ps's/ps2's.

Talk to the people you like to download files from, and see what they're using, and
find out
the pros and cons of each. Also bear in mind that some may work well with some
operating
systems but not so well with others, so when you talk to people, ask what OS
they're running.
(6) How can I get more help?

You can send me a question via private message, but I'm not around all the time, so
it may
be some hours before I see it. If you stay in the channel, I will respond
eventually.