I voted HTTP, but the file transferring in mIRC and most IM mediums works pretty well too. Only problem is you need two humans (one on each end), or at least a chat bot and a human. Actually, two chat bots might actually be able to get the job done. ;)

For those want definitions all in one place...:

HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol - you just used it to retrieve the site before looking at it.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol - A service that was recently shut down on ticalc.org that allows the retrieval of multiple files without the mess of a web page.
NFS: Network FileSystem - A protocol that allows a remote computer to mount a foreign filesystem as if it was in the local machine.
SMB/CIFS: dunno what it stands for.. - If you've used Windows to get files from over a network (Or samba on a *nix machine) you've used it...
RSYNC: Remote Sync? - used to update the differences between teo files, one local, the other on a remote host (eg: just differences...)
SCP (SSH): Secure CoPy (Secure SHell) - Like an FTP that uses SSH encryption...

To split hairs, you don't really need to mess with web pages to download multiple files over HTTP. I do it all the time with wget, and I notice that HTTP is usually faster than FTP (if it's even available).

Also, SMB/CIFS stand for Session Message Block and Common Internet FileSystem, respectively.

Just my two cents.

SMB = Server Message Block

FTP is better because it's the only way that I can download files at school. You can't save them in IE, so you have to go to WinExplorer and ftp, then dragndrop onto the destination.

> SMB = Server Message Block

I stand corrected, though I've only seen it as Session Message Block, especially in the context of Samba (a Unix SMB file/print sharing program).

Also:
SMB = Super Mario Bros

But it takes too long for Mario to take the packet written on a turtle shell from point A to point B.

LOL! Nice one :)

Hm... I never actually said that that was the only use or method of use for it, I just gave an example...

Oh, thanks. I was hoping somebody would define these for me :)

NFS sounds interesting. Is that like getting files directly off a remote computer? Could I do this with anybody? Could I access my friends files (with permission)? :-D

Hm... I haven't heard of NFS for windows, but it may be out there... I've never used it personally, (I haven't had time to set up a second *nix computer...) I'm installing gentoo on the computer I'm posting from right now... using links on tty2 while bootstrapping on tty1 ;)

If you have dealt with a NTFS server system you have dealt with Microsoft's version of it - although it loses many of its benifits in Windows.

NTFS and NFS have nothing in common. NTFS is a local filesystem, which can be compared to things like UFS, XFS, etc.

NFS is a remote filesystem, which can be compared with SMB/CIFS.

Oh, and Microsoft has a NFS implementation. It's called Services for Unix. Not free, though (if you ever thought it was)

Ya, looking at it now - I don't know what I was thinking. Thanks for straightening me out there and sorry to anyone that I confused the heck out of.

By the way - a slight bit of trivia and an example cf Gate's huge ego - NTFS stands for New Technology File System.

Thanks again for the correction!

if that is true, this is the time for revolution. Grab your dart guns, were moving out!

...but it's as in "Windows NT".
Windows New Technology.
:)

Windows NT was thought to mean New Technology. But then it was realized that most of the team worked on VMS (by Digital Equipment Corporation). VMS moved one letter forward is WNT (V-W, M-N, S-T)- probably coincidence but all the same.

Yes - you are correct - but we are on the NTFS topic - which is off topic. All the same - they should be shot for naming Windows NT for new technology then.

Given the right permissions (and a network connection etc.) you can simply mount and access an NFS filesystem just like a local filesystem, though with some technical differences like file-locking semantics (if you don't know what it is, you really don't need to worry about it).

> SCP (SSH): Secure CoPy (Secure SHell) - Like an
> FTP that uses SSH encryption...

No, it is like an RCP (Remote CoPy) that uses a SSH tunnel. ;)

rsync over SSH rules. It is very handy when you have two trees to keep in sync that are several gigs.

rsync and ssh/scp were created for two different purposes. you cannot really compare them.

I believe he means using rsync _through_ ssh and not comparing them, since ssh can be used for many things besides scp.

In good Unix tradition, ssh can be used for more purposes than the designers ever thought of, and I suppose rsync is just one of them.