Re: gif's/jpeg's/picture files..I'm clueless

[cmice@mke.ab.com (Christopher Ice x2136)]

In a previous message,Matt Bartholomew writes:
>
>With all the recent traffic on Audi picture files, I've decided to try
>and jump on the bandwagon.  Unfortunately, I'm totally clueless as to
>how.  Are there any good ftp sites that describe the process for
>obtaining, transfering, uncompressing, and displaying these files?
>Thanks for any input.  Hmmmm... Maybe I should say something Audi
>related too...

I don't know of a specific FAQ which can answer this.  Picture files are
stored in a variety of formats, each offering different advantages and
limitations.  However, as a VIEWEE, you don't need to concern yourself with
the formats.  You do, however, need to be armed with a very flexible viewer.
There are several available via anon. ftp.

Macs:  GraphicConverter (available from any mac archive)
IBM:   LView (available from any IBM archive)
Sun:   XView (usually already installed on your XWindowing system)

All of these can handle a large variety of picture formats and you don't need
to sweat the formats.

You can retrieve picture files from a server in a variety of ways.  Anon FTP
is the first and one you seem to be familiar with.  WWW (Mosaic or Gopher) is
another way.  This is where a site sets up a public "Page" of services, files,
and directories.  Simply clicking on the appropriate gadget will begin the
download.  Many WWW pages (known as Web Pages) have thumbnail sized pictures
so you can get a rough idea of what you're getting before downloading a 200+K
picture file.

Here are some guidelines for picture formats:

TIFF - Macintosh "standard" format.  Tyipically very LARGE files but contain
quality and filesize.  Excellent graphic detail
BMP - IBM format...again, very large with good detail.  Usually limited to 256
colors however.
GIF - Perhaps most popular.  Originally developed by Compuserve (?), it's a
compressed graphics format which gives a good comprimise between graphic
quality and filesize.  Limited to 256 colors??
JPG (JPEG) - Very popular format.  Excellent compression, but sometimes
sacrifices quality.  Takes time to view on most systems due to decompression
time.  Offers GREAT filesize vs. graphic quality.  Can display MILLIONS of
colors (ie. 24 bit).
MPEG - Movie format for animations.  Beginning to catch on...however, most
systems don't have the horsepower to display these at a usable rate.
Compression offers great filesize but poor graphic quality.  Capable of
containing several minutes of animation in a few hundred K of filesize.  Other
formats woud be several Megs.


-- 
                        --------
 +---------------------| _   /| |---------------------+ Opinions expressed 
 |   Chris Ice, CMfgT  | \`o_O' | Allen-Bradley Co.   | are mine and don't
 |   CMIce@mke.AB.com  |   ( )  | 1201 S. Second St.  | reflect views of my
 |   (414) 382-2136    |    U   | Milwaukee, WI 53204 | employer.  So there!
 +---------------------|  Ack!  |---------------------+
  Amiga 2000/030@33MHz  --------  1988 Audi 90 Quattro