If your not already aware, most FTP client come with a “more” command to allow text and data to be displayed a page at a time. This allows you to display text files inline, and alleviates the need to download the file and fire up a viewer:
$ ftp ftp.veritas.com
Name (ftp.veritas.com:matty): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.
Password:
230 Logged in anonymously.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp>cd pub
250 "/pub" is new cwd.
ftp>cd /pub/products
250 "/pub/products" is new cwd.
ftp> get sf.4.0.sol.list |more
local: |more remote: sf.4.0.sol.list
227 Entering Passive Mode (143,127,12,46,219,207)
150 Data connection accepted from 198.185.0.144:53603; transfer
starting for sf.4.0.sol.list (3310 bytes).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
VERITAS Storage Foundation 4.0 for Solaris
Old Name: Foundation Suite
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Storage Foundation 4.0 for Solaris download files:
sf.4.0.sol.tar.gz 397228323 bytes Storage Foundation
sts.docCD.4.0.sol.tar.gz 248766169 bytes Documentation CD
After downloading to Solaris, verify the checksum of each file.
# cksum sf.4.0.sol.tar.gz
2051927958 397228323 sf.4.0.sol.tar.gz
[ ... ]
I have found this super useful over the years.