On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 01:01:34 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

Jim Flanagan wrote:

Hello...
I wondering if I am the only one having trouble accessing the BAMA
ftp site for schematics. I haven't been successful for some time. Is
it me or the site?

ftp://bama.sbc.edu/downloads/

Thanks..
Jim
WB5KYE

The FTP server is limited to ten users at a time. About the only time
I can get something is around 4:00AM to 5:00AM.

What are you looking for? someone may have already downloaded it and
can post it to news:alt.binaries.pictures.radio or email it to you.

Mike is correct. The ftp server, from which most BAMA material is
downloaded, has a 10 simultaneous user limit applied. I wish that the
limit could be raised, but since BAMA is a "freeloading" hobby site,
the primary users of the sbc servers have to be protected from clogged
data pipes! 8*) Currently those pipes are multiple T-1 lines.
Hopefully, they will be replaced in the near future with a T-3 line.
If/when that happens, the limit could almost certainly be raised.

Most new material is not being placed on the ftp server, but rather
directly on the web server where BAMA is located. This alleviates the
problem of the web to ftp interface that Internet Explorer is too
stupid to do correctly. This pleases those who want to download using
their browser, since the downloads begin immediately. It displeases
the folks who have become addicted to the great art of FTPing.

For those manuals that are still housed on the ftp site, and that
includes most of the BAMA collection, the absolute best way of getting
them is to use an ftp client program such as SmartFTP. This program
can be set up so that it will keep trying to connect every minute or
so until connection is made. You can then select the manuals that you
need and they will download without any further intervention by the
user.

FTP is relatively ancient technology, but it is one of the slickest
things going for transferring files, since that is what it was
designed to do!!! Web browsers are designed primarily to read html
code and have ftp capability tacked on as an afterthought. A few,
such as Mozilla, Netscape and Opera, got it right. Internet Explorer
seems to have a few problems!

I am also looking at the possibility of mirror sites for BAMA.
However, with its messy split personality, it would be rather
difficult to implement. If I can find sites that would be willing to
host such a large collection as BAMA, I would probably migrate all the
material from the ftp site to the web site, thereby simplifying
matters. That task alone would take quite a while to accomplish,
since every link would have to be recoded.

I'm sorry to have gone on at such length here, but just wanted BAMA
users...and particularly those who are becoming frustrated...to know
what is going on behind the scenes. When I started BAMA, I never
dreamed that the level of use for the site would be as great as it is
today. I'm trying to make BAMA as accessible as possible, but there
are limitations that, at the moment, are beyond my control.

Ken K4XL - Replace "invalid" with "net" to reply.
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