The Online World resources handbook

Your first trip online. Typical pitfalls and simple solutions http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v3.html
The term "strip"
The purpose of 'strip' is to remove something from incoming data or to change it on the
fly.
When you use ASCII downloading with Procomm, ALL incoming data are being stored.
This includes so called ESCape sequences. If you use File Logging, all control
characters (except the line feed and new page characters) are being removed (filtered).
If you download text from a computer that uses other ASCII characters for linefeed and
return, save time by having the communications program convert them on the fly to their
correct form for your computer.
You define strip procedures through Procomm's SetUp menu (ALT S). You can also
request automatic conversion of characters to graphics values, or local language
variants.
National characters
Special national characters cause problems in many countries. One reason is that they
are represented by different internal codes on various hardware platforms, and that some
networks are unable to transmit 8 bits data.
Some systems represent these special characters by a 7 bit code, others by an 8 bit code.
Some depend on the computer having an internal national language ROM, or that it uses
a special (resident) conversion program.
What gives good results on an MS DOS computer, may give rubbish on a Macintosh,
Amiga, Atari, or a PC using MS Windows.
Many communication programs have features that can help you solve at least some
these problems. They let you make translation tables for automatic conversion of special
incoming and outgoing characters.
If you call a Scandinavian online service using 7 bits even parity, many transfer the
national special characters using the ASCII code equivalents of number 91, 92, 93, 123,
124, and 125. Similar, more or less formal standards are in place in other countries.
Protocol transfers
If your purpose is to transfer digitized pictures, a computer program, a batch of invoices,
a piece of music or an animated sequence of pictures, it's important that each character
(bit) arrives correctly. We achieve this by using protocol transfers.
These files often contain control or binary characters. You cannot transfer binary files
without the use of special methods.
It is easy to understand why we need protocol transfers when retrieving plain text as
tables of numbers, statistics, and financial reports. Transfer errors may have fatal results.
Protocol transfers are also required when transferring word processor text files having
imbedded control codes (like text made with WordPerfect), and compressed files.
Here is an example:
Downloading public domain software
First, you need the names and features of the programs that can be downloaded from a
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