Using FTP and Telnet
09/19/95
Braden Kato
Psy 409
Dr. Leon James
As far as this week's task goes, I found it to be the most difficult and frustrating of all the assignments we had. It didn't help that I had a nasty cold, and the humidity and heat were literally turning the Sinclair Clic lab into a sauna. I tried searching for other comfortable places to work but with waiting lists averaging almost fifty names long, the end result was ultimately Clic. Even there, I had a fifteen minute wait but I figured it wouldn't take as long as the other places to get a computer since the quantity of computers at Clic is far more than Keller, comparatively.
With all that behind me, I got settled in and started up windows which took the usual 10 minutes to show up. I then clicked on to your homepage and went to the heading Psy 409 Generation I students. I was surprised to find my friend's name there, for I hadn't seen it previously. I clicked on to her file and was ready to make the transaction. I was pretty confident that I could accomplish this week's task with no trouble, and I assumed it would be smooth sailing all the way. I was wrong; the trouble was just beginning!
When you said to copy a student file from Generation I into my CSS directory, I wasn't too sure how to achieve that route. I first tried sending it to my CSS account by means of using the send mail command to my CSS address, but the computer kept freezing up on me. I then saved it to my diskette directly from Netscape and was successful with that. However, when I tried sending it to my CSS account, it was unsuccessful. By this time I was really getting frustrated. Could it be that this process didn't work because of the fact that it is impossible to save the Generation I file in rich text format? If so, do you use plain text format? Was I using the wrong route to send the document to my CSS account? I think that if someone happened to yell "Lacunae!" in the Clic lab, I would have turned and answered to the call. I checked everything and anything that could have gone wrong in the process - correct heading, spelling, address, etc., basics to make sure any fossilized errors or repeated lapses weren't the problem.
I also tried calling the lab attendant but as usual, no luck. All he told me to do was just to reroute everything again which I kept trying to do for the past 2 hours. By this time, Lacunae was oozing out of my pores. I didn't know what to do. I was stuck at Clic lab with a lot of time to do the work but without any help. If only someone could help me!
I was assuming that this process is basically the same as when we post our weekly files on our homepage except for the difference in documents, and transferring process. However, I didn't know what you meant when you said to log into UNIX then FTP the file over to the CSS account. When in FTP mode, do I log in another address instead of the WWW address? Obviously, I have a lot of questions that need to be answered.
Truthfully , I am still somewhat shaky understanding the basic concept of the difference between the CSS and UNIX file system. I am just assuming that the CSS server is connected worldwide and UNIX is restrict only to this area. Could this be why I was having so much trouble?
Through the whole experience, I was turning from confident to slowly unconfident, or lacunae. I was obviously not progressing anywhere, nor developing, only regressing into that feeling of unknowns. It was inevitable for me to feel feelings of negativity- confused and irritated, yet I knew that I only had to try harder to reach my destination.
Was it I, my feelings of "Lacunae" or was it the computer I was using? I can honestly say that I was trying my best to get the task done. I ended up staying there from 2:00 PM to approximately 7:30 PM. Five and a half hours, and I still couldn't get it done!
How difficult was this week's task? 10
How much negative emotions did it cost you, all in all? 9
How valuable for later use is this knowledge or skill going to be for you? 10
How likely is it that you'll be getting good at this week's task? 7
How satisfied are you with the computer and internet systems? 8
How hard did you try to get through this week's task? 9
This week's rating= 9