Wow! A mind reader too! Thanks! Looking forward to hearing about those techniques.
Randy

Just curious, Chienworks, how did you get MIME types fixed? I just set up a little server site myself, but when you download an MPEG, for instance, it arrives as HTP/text, and then the user has to into Properties > Opens with > Change and select Windows Media Player, and then it'll work.

When you explain it, please bear in mind that I'm not really quite sure what I'm doing, and I'm kind of amazed I got it somehow working in the first place, so use simple words as if you were talking to a five-year-old.

Congrats on your nice site.

p_l, what web server software/OS are you using? I'm running Apache under RedHat Linux, and there's a file /etc/mime.types that contains a mapping of filename extensions to what sort of data the file contains. This information is sent to the user's browser when accessing the file so that the browser knows what to do with it. Normally this file contains most of the common multimedia types already, but i had to add the Microsoft specific types (.asf .wma .wmv, etc.). I'm not sure where this file is under pws/IIS/Windows, but if you search for files that contain "mime" in the file name you should be able to find it pretty easily. Maybe all you have to do is go into Explorer, View, Folder Options, File Types and set it up there. You'll probably have to reboot to get the changes to take place.

I'll list the audio/video types that are in my server's file. Note that these are paired as type/extension, but under Windows i believe they are extension/type.

audio/basic       au snd
audio/midi       mid midi kar
audio/mpeg       mpga mp2 mp3
audio/x-ms-wma       wma
audio/x-ms-wax       wax
audio/x-aiff       aif aiff aifc
audio/x-pn-realaudio       ram rm
audio/x-realaudio       ra
audio/x-wav       wav
video/mpeg       mpeg mpg mpe
video/quicktime       qt mov
video/x-msvideo       avi
video/x-sgi-movie       movie
video/x-ms-asf       asf asx
video/x-ms-wmv       wmv
video/x-ms-wvx       wvx
video/x-ms-wm       wm
video/x-ms-wmx       wmx

Thanks, Chienworks! I finally solved the problem. I'm using a cheap (free), but good little server program called BRS WebWeaver on an old computer running W98. Under Configure Server>MIME, all the usual MIME types are there, but the default type was automatically set to HTP/text. I simply cleared that box, and it started working. My little site isn't nearly as nice as yours, since unlike me you actually seem to know what you're doing, but now mine at least gets the job done. Thanks again for your help.

p_l, don't give me too much credit; i do a lot of good guessing! ;)
Hey, can we see what you're doing on your site? Or is it not for public consumption?

It's family stuff, so of little public interest, but it does allow me to share videos with relatives all over the world, no matter what the file size. It's a good alternative to streaming sites if I want to share good quality productions with people who don't have DSL or cable. They just right-click, save-target-as and download. I recommend this type of set-up for others who might want to do the same thing.

p_l and Kelly, (or anyone)... I'm interested in making a web site of my own also. I have not looked into it much, is there a big learning curve?

It seems to get $pendy when you need more storage.

p_l, are you using that computer as your own server, so you don't have to worry about storage, if so, does that mean it is always connected to the 'net?

Thanks, Jon

I don't use my main computer for this. For my little server site, I'm using a really low-end P1, 64Mb ram, 6.4Gb HD, but with a high-speed internet connection that always stays on. And yes, that one of the points; my only storage limit is my hard drive.

If your main concern is hassle-free high speed access to your site and you don't have an enormous amount of content, then farming your hosting out to a commercial outfit is a good idea. I know several people using NTT/Verio and they are very pleased with it. For $99 a month you can have a virtual server and they'll take care of most of the setup and management for you. You'll be on an OC-12 backbone (VERY fast), have no worries, but be limited to about 400MB of space.

If you feel like being a little more adventurous, need more space, and aren't worried too much about speed, getting your own server is a good option. I pay $99 a month for an 896Kbps connection from the local ISP. Actually that's a surprisingly good deal. You might have to search around a lot to find that. But you can probably find a good server-grade connection for under $300 from your local cable company or under $150 with DSL. The server itself is my old 350MHz computer that was left over after a recent upgrade. It has 30GB of drive space and 256MB RAM. I've installed RedHat Linux and the Apache web server software on it. These are both free and very powerful, customizable, and relatively secure if you know what you're doing, but not necessarily for the faint-of-heart. You could also run most any version of Windows 95 or higher and use Microsoft's Personal Web Server (also included free with Windows). This is very easy to set up; basically you share a directory and place files in it.

Beware that PWS has just about no security features at all and it's vulnerable to almost every virus and worm out there. I've seen hackers break into a Windows/PWS system in less than 10 seconds even through a firewall. With a little care, Linux can be made near invulnerable.

Hi Chienworks, I wanted to look at the shared videos website, but when I click on the link, the page is not available. Do you have a new address?
Thanks

Yup Chieny. What's up Doc?

I posted "Projects Under Contruction" thread to get us all more Project orientatred and to see the thoughts and logic of others when constructing a creative initiative.

Grazie

NelMichel: Sorry about that. It should be accessible now. My ISP has rearranged all the equipment because of some consolidations and the router wasn't getting enough air circulation. It's been overheating a lot lately. We think we've finally got it taken care of now ... new fans, updated components, and even a few new security patches. Hopefully we'll stay online for a while now. :)