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- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!news.ysu.edu!psuvm!pef2
- Organization: Penn State University
- Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 00:00:51 EST
- From: Per Fjelstad <PEF2@psuvm.psu.edu>
- Message-ID: <92365.000051PEF2@psuvm.psu.edu>
- Newsgroups: rec.games.go
- Subject: Help me "self-extract" PCIGC44Z.EXE
- Lines: 35
-
- I am interested in playing some games on IGS. My mainframe account is on a
- VM machine, for which no client programs seem to be written. I logon, however,
- from a PC at home. Thus I have been hoping that I could use PCIGC44Z.EXE to
- manage that connection for me.
-
- I downloaded PCIGC44Z.EXE via ftp from u.washington. I read in an earlier note
- in this newsgroup that this program was "self-extracting." I imagined this to
- mean that if I got it to my PC, then all I would need to do is type the
- filename and it would transform itself into a working program. I believe I got
- the file intact to my PC today. Yet my prediction did not hold. The first
- time I typed the filename, my PC rebooted itself. The second time, the cursor
- moved down a line on the screen, but the computer did not even appear to read
- off the disk. The third time, the cursor moved down a line, displayed perhaps
- seven graphics characters, and then idled again as it had the second time.
- Clearly something is not working properly. Perhaps you can help me locate my
- mistake.
-
- I introduced one possibly significant irregularity in transferring the file to
- my home computer. I needed to reduce the record length to get VM's command
- "pctrans" to move the file. I did this by running it through VM's simulations
- of the Unix "Compress" _and_ "Decompress" commands. On the return "Decompress"
- operation, I choose an option that reduced the length of the records in the
- output file. With this done, I was able to download the file to my PC.
-
- 1. Might I have distorted the file by sending it through that sequence?
-
- 2. Or was my original understanding wrong that I just needed to type the
- filename, once the file was on my PC, to get a working program?
-
- Thanks for your help,
-
- Per Fjelstad (3k),
- Rhetorical Studies
- Dept. of Speech Communication
- Penn State University
-