How can I connect to and download files from an FTP server?

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You can browse and download ftp servers pretty easily using firefox. For example, the following FTP server (an Australian mirror for Fedora) should be browseable using firefox:

ftp://mirror.optus.net/fedora/linux/

Alternatively, you can connect to an FTP server using Files (the GNOME file browser, aka nautilus). Connecting using nautilus is especially handy when you need to authenticate with the FTP server (i.e. The server requires a username & password)

To do this,

1. Open Files

2. From the menu up near the Activities overview, select Connect to Server

3. In the connect to server dialog, enter in the address of the FTP server you want to connect to. In this example, we are going with the same ftp://mirror.optus.net/fedora/linux/

4. In the next dialog, enter in your username and password for the server (if you have one). In this case, we can connect anonymously.

1. Once connected, an entry for the server should appear in the left hand pane, under "Network". Click on it, and you should be able to browse the ftp server.