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NcFTP v2.3.0- by Trevor Smith
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Most modern computer users gravitate toward graphical applications for most of their needs. At the other end of the spectrum, many operating systems (such as OS/2, Linux and Windows) come with a built in "command line" FTP application, usually called FTP.EXE.

Somewhere between the plain command line and a full graphical application, lies NcFTP. The developers of this program claim it is, "a highly-enhanced version of the 'standard' FTP program," and it lives up to this billing. With a plain but efficient interface, NcFTP allows the average and advanced user to get his or her files to or from where they're going with minimum effort.

Originally a Unix program with freely available source code, NcFTP has been ported to many operating systems, including OS/2. I have been using version 2.3.0 release 1 for OS/2 for over a year.

Installation

Possibly because of its Unix heritage, NcFTP does not come with any installation program. To "install" it, all that is required is to unzip the archive it comes in and put the files wherever you prefer them. If you want a program object to double click on from the Desktop or another folder, you will have to create it yourself.

There are some installation instructions in the included documentation (see below) which should be followed to properly set NcFTP up, but for basic functionality, you can just unzip and type 'ncftp.exe' to run the program. I have found that just copying the 'ncftp.exe' file to a directory in my path allows me to run NcFTP from any directory.

However, you should note that you will need a copy of the EMX runtime DLLs (v0.9b or later) installed to use NcFTP.

Interface

As you have probably gathered, the interface to NcFTP (GIF, 5.3k) is spartan, to say the least. Basically you see an OS/2 command window; information from the remote host is displayed in the top portion of the screen and the bottom line is for typing in your commands. This means you must know the commands to connect to and disconnect from remote hosts, get and put files, list local or remote directory contents, etc. All interaction is done by typing in commands via the keyboard.

Documentation

The documentation that comes in INF format with the OS/2 port of NcFTP is comprehensive. It covers installation, usage, and other interesting material. This INF file, combined with NcFTP's built in help (typing 'help <command>' from within the program displays quick help on a topic), should provide all the training you will need to use the program.

Features

NcFTP's command line nature may be a drawback when it comes to ease of use but it is a definite advantage in terms of power. With NcFTP, users can receive and send files to remote FTP sites with total flexibility. In case of interrupted downloads, NcFTP supports "regets" so you don't need to re-download the whole file. A variety of progress meters indicating download status are available. Multiple file downloads and uploads are possible with wildcard notation (for example, 'get pmma*' will get all files starting with 'pmma'). "Recursive gets" are supported, meaning you can download all files and subdirectories from a remote site with one command. And NcFTP can even retrieve only files you don't already have or only files that are newer than a specified date.

Viewing text files on remote sites without saving them to your local drive is supported and NcFTP can be configured to use different command line programs to do this. The default setting is to use OS/2's "more.com" command which will display one screenful of information from the remote file at a time and then pause until a key is pressed. Other, more useful programs, such as the OS/2 port of the Unix "less.exe" (ZIP, 288k) program can be used instead.

NcFTP also sports a competent bookmarks feature and, in fact, NcFTP will add bookmarks to sites automatically when you first visit them. All the standard settings (GIF, 8k) are available, including preferred remote and local directories to view, user name and password, transfer type and more.

Performance

In terms of responsiveness, programs don't get much better than NcFTP. Because there is no graphical interface to deal with and, really, almost no overhead at all (ncftp.exe is only 207k) NcFTP will be snappy on any system, no matter how memory constrained it is. I have never encountered anything I consider to be a bug in this version of NcFTP (although the documentation does list one known problem).

Conclusions

Despite its sparse interface, NcFTP is a very capable FTP client. Even with the learning curve, beginners should be able to get up to speed quickly, and experienced Internet users will love the flexibility and power of this program. Overall, NcFTP is a great FTP workhorse.

* * *

NcFTP v2.3.0

by Mike Gleason
OS/2 port by Mark R. Evans
download from the OS/2 Supersite (ZIP, 447k)
Registration: Freeware

Trevor Smith is the Editor-in-Chief of OS/2 e-Zine!. While he spends substantial amounts of time looking at FTP screens, he would prefer to spend his time in Vegas watching Tom Jones or hiking in the woods.


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