table of contents
INTRODUCTION
What is webspace?
Preface to this guide
INFORMATION
How do i get webspace?
IMPORTANT REMINDER
Which webhost should i use?
YOUR WEBSPACE ACCOUNT
First step
Welcome to your webspace
MANIPULATING FILES
Uploading from your VMU to your webspace
Transloading from the Web to your webspace
FINAL WORDS
And that is all there is to it!
Note For DreamPassport Premier Users
Relevant Bookmarks
INTRODUCTION
What is Webspace?
well, you can store files in it, like webpages, pics, sounds, etc...
every file will get an address... a url...
it is like a big file-cabinet... there are drawers in the cabinet, and in each drawer you can have folders, and put files in them...
since Dreamcasts don't have a hard drive and VMU's are very small, webspace is sort of like the next best thing...
Preface to this guide
this stuff is definitely worth taking the time to learn...
and you probably don't want to wait until you need it to learn to do it, otherwise, it will just be frustrating...
so, DON'T give up until you try it...
i have no idea what the reader already knows, so, i will be thorough...
also, it is important to note that i will use very loose terminology... i am showing the concepts, not teaching the correct technical terms... you will pick that up as you start using what you learn in this guide...
on the same note, some explanations of things will be the short version, not the full story... again, you can choose to learn all the technical details in the future, i am only trying to explain concepts as simply as possible and will intentionally keep it simple in order to not confuse those who may be totally new to many of these concepts...
INFORMATION
How Do I Get Webspace?
many companies offer "free web-site hosting"...
a place to build a website for free...
a website is just a public collection of files...
you have, of course, been to many of them...
you can look at their webpages, maybe watch their movies or listen to their sound files, look at their pics or whatever...
you can use a free web-site provider to store files...
(if you want to build a full-blown website, that is up to you... this is not a guide for making a website, though...<
this is a guide to show you how to store, retrieve and move files... BUT, if you want to make a site, this is all stuff you will need to know first...)
for this guide, i will use geocities in all my instructions and examples, but, this is NOT a guide for using geocities...
i will not explain all of what it can do or what all the buttons are and everything else...
this guide only covers how to deal with webspace and files in general using the dreamcast...
obviously, that will include showing you how to do some things in geocities, but, not an exhaustive guide for using geocities... geocities has plenty of help screens and it is very easy to get help using the geocities service...
(while i am covering what this guide is not, this guide does not cover all the complications of setting up game saves on your own site... this is all about handling standard files, especially media files like pics, midi's, wav's, etc.... dealing with game saves is a little bit more complicated, so, i am not going into that here...)
now, this is a very...
IMPORTANT REMINDER!!!
YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE A FREE WEB-SITE PROVIDER FOR JUST FILE STORAGE!!!
for instance, if you use free web-space for keeping pictures in, they expect you to make a webpage with links to those pictures...
and on the webpage, they will put ads...
that is the only reason it is free... it is sort of a trick... you THINK you are getting a free web-site... actually, THEY are getting free advertising on your site...
so, you may want to make an effort to make some kind of web-site just to stay out of trouble...
if you break their rules, they can delete your entire account WITH NO WARNING... you go to your webspace one day, and it is suddenly gone... (several members of the dcbg can attest to this fact...)
the service is called 'webhosting'...
they are your host, and they make the rules...
however, your ISP probably offers you free webspace, whether you know it or not... since this is part of the service you are paying for, the rules are not as strict... most importantly, most ISPs do allow you to use your webspace for only file storage if that is all you want it for...
call your ISP, or email them, or visit their site...
Which webhost should i use?
well, as indicated above, webspace you are paying for is best as you have more rights and they have less rules...
but, as far as the popular free webhosts go, i have used angelfire, geocities, tripod, and a couple/few others and i think geocities is a good choice to start out... and i still use geocities for many things i do...
so, i will use geocities for all the instructions and examples in this guide...
it is important to note that U.S. geocities no longer allows FTP access... if you do not know what this means, you will by the time you get done with this guide, it is very important...
fortunately, the U.S. geocities is not your only option...
when you got a yahoo id, you got an account with EVERY geocities in the world... and ONLY the U.S. geocities discontinued ftp access... so, choose another geocities, such as geocities UK or geocities canada (since they both use an english interface), and use that...
for this guide, i will use geocities canada in all my instructions and examples...
this guide will assume that you are already a member of yahoo... if you are not, then, as you try to do the steps in this guide, it will first sign you up with yahoo... and you will probably find you cannot do this on dreamcast... yahoo has changed some things since this guide was originally created and you will probably need to have a friend create a yahoo id for you or go to a library or internet cafe or other place with public web-access...
or, just use another webhost that allows ftp access...
also, most of this will refer to things that you can only do with dreamkey and dreampassport, as planetweb is a browser that is so limited it is practically handicapped andcrippled... as has been very well said, planetweb browsers are toys made for children...
so, you will need dreamkey or dreampassport to do most o this stuff...
YOUR WEBSPACE ACCOUNT
The First Step
http://ca.geocities.yahoo.com/filemanager
if you are not logged in to yahoo, you are seeing a login page... just log in with your yahoo id and password as usual...
once you are logged into yahoo, or if you already are, the page will ask you to select a topic, this will determine what advertising appears with any webpages you have in there... this is no important decision, so, just go with whatever you want...
after you do all that, you will be on an account creation confirmation page where it will say congratulations and welcome and all that and tell you your new website address, which will end with your user name...
so, your address will be http://ca.geocities.com/yourusername
keep this username in mind, you will use it alot in the following steps... (since your webspace username is your yahoo id, you should have no trouble remembering it...)
this page means you now have space on the geocities canda computer in which to put your files...
now, ignore what that page says, and ...
http://ca.geocities.yahoo.com/filemanager
that is the key address to all of this...
you will go there alot...
once you know how to get to that address, you are all set...
you have a place for files...
your "online harddrive"...
unless you start keeping huge mpeg movies in it or other very large files, it will take quite a while to run out of space...
Welcome to your webspace
okay, you should still be in your geocities file manager and there you see your big, empty file cabinet...
just to get a feel for it, add a couple of drawers to put things in...
they are called subdirectories...
look for the word 'subdirectories' and click on the button UNDER it that says 'new'...
it will ask for a name for it...
type in 'pics' then press enter or hit the create button...
then, do it again, and make one called 'sounds'...
(note, you can delete these when you are done, but, since i don't know what you want to store or do, i will use these two subdirectories for now to explain some things... so, it will be easier if you just make them and worry about keeping or deleting them later...)
here is what you should now see in your file manager
pics
sounds
index.html
(ignore the "index.html" for now...)
you now have two 'drawers' to put stuff in...
"pics" and "sounds"...
now, how do you put stuff in it?
well, first, look 'inside the drawer'...
to do this, use your geocities address, plus the new sub-directory you just created...
http://ca.geocities.com/yourusername/pics
when you go there, you will see nothing in it, except a link to the 'parent directory' of the subdirectory...
well, let's put something in it...
MANIPULATING FILES
Uploading from your VMU to your webspace
first, save this image to your VMU...
(save an image to vmu by putting your pointer on it and press X+A on your controller or alt+enter on your keyboard...)
ok...
now, you need to get it into your pics subdirectory...
so, http://snow.prohosting.com/droleen/uplo
that is the only uploader on the web that you can use to move a file from your vmu into your webspace...
click the button that is touching the white box to select the pic file you just saved...
then, click the other grey button...
you should now be on a page where you can see your pic...
you just put your pic in THEIR webspace... and, it will only be there a few minutes, so, you need to move it soon...
select 'transloader.com' then click the grey button directly beneath it...
you will go to another page where you will see your pic again, with six boxes beneath it...
the first box has the url of the pic at the site you just uploaded it to... leave that alone for now...
you need to fill in the rest...
- FTP HOST -
this is what you need to put in...
ftp.ca.geocities.com
you want to remember that... write it down or something... you will use it alot...
- FTP DIR -
it wants to know where to put it in your webspace...
well, that is what you made the pics subdirectory for...
so, type in 'pics'
- RenameFile -
this is what you want to name the file...
you could just make it 'testpic', BUT, you need an extension... you know, .html, .jpg, .gif, etc...
that top line with the url that i told you to leave alone? look at the end of the url... it will say either '.jpg' or '.gif'
whatever extension is in that box is what you need to use when you type in the file name...
i used a gif file for this example pic, so, you should type in 'testpic.gif'
- FTP username -
type in your webspace account user name...
- FTP password -
type in your password for your webspace account... (for geocities, it will be the same password you use to log in to yahoo...)
so, in summary...
FTP HOST - ftp.ca.geocities.com
FTP DIR - pics
RenameFile - testpic.gif
FTP username - yourusername
FTP password - yourpassword
when you have all the info filled out, click the grey button at the bottom...
you will now see a page with alot of stuff you probably don't understand yet... if you did everything right, it basically just means 'ok, you did it right'...
so, time to go see...
again, the format is...
http://ca.geocities.com/username/subdirectory
and, hey! look at that!
there you will see 'testpic.gif'
if you click on it, you will see the pic...
it is now yours...
now, if you want to send someone to see that pic, you just give them the full url...
so, it would be...
http://ca.geocities.com/username/pics/testpic.gif
get it?
pretty simple...
now, if you go back to your file manager
you will see your subdirectories, 'pics' and 'sounds'...
(if you do not see the new changes at any point in the file manager while using this interactive guide, use the "Refresh Directory" button located near the bottom of each page in your file manager, NOT your browser reload button...
if you use your browser reload button, you will lose your place in this guide... if this happens, use the table of contents links in the very top frame to return to where you left off...)
click on 'pics' and you will be in your pics subdirectory and you will see the new pic there...
when you are working in your subdirectory from your file manager, you can move it to another directory or delete it and that sort of thing...
THIS is how to move files from your vmu to your webspace...
you upload them at the uploader, then 'transload' them to your space...
UPload
from you to somewhere else
eg, from your vmu to the uploader
DOWNload
from somewhere else to you
eg, you can download a midi or wav file or whatever...
TRANSload
from one place to another...
eg, you uploaded that pic to the site, then transloaded it from that site to your site...
for the most part, you will probably do more transloading than anything else, so, next will be more info about transloading...
Transloading from the Web to your webspace
time to use that sounds subdirectory...
since you probably don't have a sound file on your vmu you could just go grab, there will be one below...
alot of the time, you will come across a file you want to keep, but, you cannot see the url, only a link...
so, you need to find out the URL...
well, if you are using dreampassport or a full-version dreamkey, there is an easy way of getting it...
if you are using an in-game dreamkey, there is no easy way, the following will not work, but, click here to continue...
(only click on the link if you are using an in-game dreamkey, if you are using anything else, just continue...)
in a moment you will start loading the file by clicking on a link...
it will pop up the download progress box, showing you the name of the file, the size of the file, how fast it is downloading it, and the download progress bar...
what you want to do is stop it after that box pops up...
you CAN let it load all the way if you want, but, you will not always feel like waiting for a file to load to get the url... so, you can cancel it anytime after the box pops up and this method will still work...
so, click here to download a sound file, wait for the pop-up box, then cancel it or just exit the media player panel...
now, just get the url from your status bar...
to do this, put your pointer over the status bar at the bottom of your screen and press Y+A...
the jump box will pop up with the url of the file in it... copy it...
if this does not work, you need to unlock your hidden browser commands by holding A and pressing start ten times...
(if you don't know about this trick, go read the dk/dp commands faq... there is some very cool stuff you can do...)
*** need a link - maybe load the faq in the middle window??? ***
ok, you have the url of the file you want, so, go transload it...
http://Transloader.com
begin scrolling down the page and, along the left side, you will see three boxes with buttons...
ignore the middle one, it is for webtv'ers...
the top box has a button that says 'Proceed to step 2', though, i prefer the bottom one that says 'Step 2 (HTTP_AUTH)' because it seems to work faster and more reliably...
paste the url of the file into either box and hit the button directly beneath the box you use...
you should now be on the FTP page you were on a few minutes ago...
just enter the same info you used before, but, name this file 'testsound.wav' (again, you should always check the url in the top box to be sure what the file extension needs to be...) and, in the 'FTP DIR' space, put 'sounds' so it will put it straight into your sounds directory...
after you fill in the info, click the grey button and it will transload the file and take you to the results page...
so, after you do that, your sounds subdirectory...
and, if you want to access the file directly or send the link to someone or use it on a webpage, you just tack on the filename...
http://ca.geocities.com/username/sounds/testsound.wav
http://ca.geocities.com
is the computer, the domain, or the host
/username
is the name of your space on it that host... your directory on their computer...
/sounds
is a subdirectory you made for storing sound files...
testsound.wav
is the name of the file...
now, go back to your geocities file manager for a few final words...
http://ca.geocities.yahoo.com/filemanager
FINAL WORDS
And that is all there is to it!
with all that, you can pretty much do all the basic stuff...
you can keep those directories and files you just made or get rid of them...
yes, you WILL have questions on how to do some things... and on how to do more than the basic stuff i laid out...
but, you just did everything you need to know to store files to vmu, upload them, transload them into your own webspace as well as just move files from place to place on the web... many files can be saved to vmu, such as pictures, midis, and wav files, as long as they fit on your vmu and ten you simply upload them the way you did with the pic above...
for anything that you cannot save to vmu or that is too big for vmu, you can get the url and transload it the way you did with the sound file above... this method can be used for web pages, video clips, and pretty much any other file you find on the web...
make directories, subdirectories, sub-subdirectories... make it complicated, make it simple...
you can use the html editor at the geocities filemanager to create webpages, or you can transload webpages to your webspace and change them or use parts of the page in your own pages...
you can use your webspace account for alot...
RELEVANT BOOKMARKS
now that you know how it is all done, the only thing you need is to bookmark the sites you have been using so you can always get to them again...
Special note for DreamPassport Premier users
ok, so, you have done this a couple of times and you have your browser set to save cookies to your VMU, yet, when you go to transloader.com, it does not remember your info...
very annoying...
well, here is how to fix that...
make sure the box for the url is EMPTY and hit the button beneath the box...
then, enter your ftp info and click the "fishes" to save the info to vmu...
now, whenever you come to the site, it should have your info already typed in for you...
RELEVANT BOOKMARKS
now that you know how it is all done, the only thing you need is to bookmark the sites you have been using so you can always get to them again...
Relevant Links to Bookmark
these are all the links you will want to bookmark and keep handy in order to do all the things you learned in this guide...
click on one, bookmark it, then come back to this page and hit the next one on the list until you have them all bookmarked...
GeoCities Canada File Manager
the Anonymous Japanese VMU File Uploader
(where you went to upload the pic... this is the only site on the web that you can use to transfer files from your vmu to your webspace...)
Transloader.com
Webspace/File Manipulation Interactive Walkthrough at the DCBG Archive
(you can bookmark it, if you like, in case you ever want to review what it covers...)
The Dreamcast Browsers Group
the birth place of this project, where you can post about this guide, report bugs, ask questions, beg for future installments covering more advanced things you can do, etc....
