Armageddon BBS How to Download Files Tutorial
Copyright © 2015-2024 Bill Kochman
Published On :
April 7, 2015
Last Updated :
April 2, 2024
Greetings, BBSer. So, you are interested in downloading some files from the Armageddon BBS, but you aren't quite sure how to accomplish it. Relax, my friend. This tutorial will spell it out for you, and will hopefully make it easier for you to download what you want.
First Conduct Your File Search
No doubt, the minute that you go to our File Transfer Menu by typing a "
t" on the Main Menu, you are going to be tempted to type that letter "
d" that you see on the bottom left-hand corner of the Transfer Menu.
But wait! If you do that, you are going to be confronted with an empty blue field, which is waiting for you to type in a file name. Do you know the name of the file that you want to download? Probably not yet, unless you have already followed the steps which are outlined below.
So, what you need to do is use the commands that you see under both the "
FILES AREA ORGANIZATION" section, as well as the "
FILES SEARCH OPTIONS" section, in order to find the file(s) that you want and need.
If the commands in those two sections are not clear to you, then please refer to the "
Transfer Menu Commands Tutorial", a link to which you will find near the bottom of this same page in the tutorials section.
No Point and Click, Folks!
Once you know the name of the file(s) that you wish to download, that is when you can type that letter "
d". Oh, and by the way, you do
not need to be in any particular download directory in order to download files from the Armageddon BBS. Regardless of which file directory you are in when you type the letter "
d", the BBS will still find the file for you.
Download Tip: Unless you have an excellent memory, it would be a good idea to write down the names of the files which you want to download. This is
not the World Wide Web where you just point and click, and
ZAP!, a file just magically and automatically begins to download to your downloads folder. This is BBS software, and old technology which has been around for decades now. So you need to do a little extra work in order to get what you want. However, it is a new and interesting learning experience for you, so enjoy it.
So, type the letter "
d" in order to bring up that blue field, and enter the name of the file you wish to download. Next, hit your return key.
Protocol Pandemonium
At this point, you are going to see a question mark, and you will be able to choose between a number of different download protocol options. This is where it gets a bit tricky, because each operating system is a little different, and each terminal or telnet client behaves a little differently as well.
What you need to know is that unlike the HTTP protocol and the FTP protocol which are widely used on the World Wide Web, BBSes use the telnet protocol. As such, just typing in a file name, and hitting your return key is not enough. You need to understand your telnet client/terminal, and you need to know which download protocol is the best one to use in your situation. Of course, those particular transfer protocol files need to be a part of your operating system or telnet client to begin with.
Choose a Protocol, Select Download Location, Receive the File
If you are new to BBSing and the telnet protocol, what you also need to know is that just entering a filename in the blue field and hitting your return key will not initiate the file download. As soon as you type a number which corresponds to the protocol that you wish to use, the BBS will be ready to begin the download from
my end. However, it will not actually start the download just yet, because it will now be waiting for you to do a few things on
your end.
First, if everything is working properly, the minute you enter the protocol number, you should receive some kind of notification on your screen, where you need to select a download protocol, probably from a small list of protocols. Obviously, whatever you choose on your own machine should match the protocol that you chose on the BBS. Second, once you do that, you should also be prompted to select a download location on your hard drive, unless you have already chosen a default download folder for your terminal or telnet app.
So, you need to tell your terminal or telnet client which protocol to use; you need to tell it where to save the downloaded file to on your hard drive; and you need to tell it to actually begin receiving the file that the BBS is waiting to send to you. So those are three things which should immediately occur after you select a protocol number on the Armageddon BBS. As soon as you do them, the BBS will begin sending the file to you, and you will probably see some kind of progress bar or window on your screen.
An Example Scenario
For example, in the Public Address BBS software, under the "Terminal" menu there is an option called "Receive File". If you click on that, it brings up a submenu where you can choose which download protocol to use. Likewise under that "Terminal" menu in Public Address, there is also an option called "Set Receive Folder". So as you can see, unlike a modern web browser which is pretty much automated when it comes to file downloads, with a BBS, everything must be done manually.