Glossary of Terms

Updated: 08-20-01
by jtp10181

FTP - File Transfer Protocol - A location on the internet with the purpose of storing files.

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - A location on the internet that store web pages like this.

IP - 32 bit binary number identifying the position of a computer on the Internet - similar to the URL. The URL is usually easier to remember as it is alpha based rather than numerical.

IP Range - usually referred to when talking about scanning a particular range of ip addresses. They can be broken down into A, B, and C ranges - AAA.BBB.CCC.xxx. Usually an entire B range will be scanned at a time.

KBps - Kilobytes per second - This is what most transfer speed are referring to. One Byte is comprised of 8 Bits.

Kbps - Kilobits per second - This is what most modem speeds are referring to. Why? Probably to make them look faster. Divide by 8 to get KBps.

Filler - Refers to a person who uploads stuff to pub for others to download.

FXP - File eXchange Protocol - This refers to server to server transfer. You can transfer files from one pub to another using very little of your own bandwidth. This is by far the best means for distributing large files, only problem is that a very limited number of FXP capable pubs exist.

NT - Windows NT/2k - An operating system geared towards businesses, most pubs are on NT systems.

Proxy - Generally used to speed up internet connections by storing frequently accessed images/html locally. Used in the FXP community to hide your identity by using anonymous proxies to connect to a ftp. Usually SOCKS4 or SOCKS5 are used for FTP transfers and are located on port 1080.

Pub - This is a public ftp that anyone can connect to with anonymous access. They are usually used for transferring large files to many people because of their high speeds.

Scanner - A person who scans for empty pubs to be used by a FXP group.

Sysop - The people that run these wonderful pubs, also the people who usually lock you out or delete your stuff.

Tag - This generally refers to the tagging of a pub. A FXP group uses a directory structure to claim it as their own. A general rule is that if a tag is 2 weeks old and not in use it has been abandoned.

Unix - An operating system similar to DOS but much more powerful, most of the FXPable pubs are found on Unix systems.

Warez - Slang for stolen computer programs on the internet available for free download.

Wingate - Similar to a proxy in that they are used to hide your identity, except all information actually passes through the Wingate, if you have a slow Wingate you get slow download/upload speeds. Wingates are also used to force FXP transfer on pubs that do not normally accept FXP, again all data passes through the Wingate so you need one that is fast for it to be useful.