Re: [PLUG] robust download

[Art Alexion <art.alexion@verizon.net>]

Paul L. Snyder wrote:

> Quoting Bill Patterson <patterson@computer.org>:
>
>  
>
> > For the last umpteen times I have attempted to download an .iso image my 
> > downloads have stalled, whether in Linux or in Windows.  Does anyone 
> > know a good, robust downloader that will restart when a connection goes bad.
> >    
>
> wget -c http://site/file.iso
>
> Should attempt to resume download of file.iso, assuming there is a
> file.iso in the current directory.  The failed download does not have
> to be started by wget for the resume to work.  It is quite robust.  
>
> You can achieve similar results with curl's '-C' switch.
>
> Take a look at Prozilla and ProzGUI (http://prozilla.genesys.ro/).
> Prozilla was a bit testy when dealing with firewalls when I last
> looked at it; I'm not sure if that's changed.  I haven't played with
> any recent versions.  Prozilla can handle multiple, simultaneous
> connections, similar to the way that GetRight for Windows can segment
> files for downloading from different servers.  Note that trying to
> open six connections to the same server in an attempt to speed your
> download is extremely antisocial.
>
> There's also downman, which I have never tried.
> http://downman.sourceforge.net/
>
>
>  
I've had lots of luck with Downloader for X 
(http://www.krasu.ru/soft/chuchelo/) (obviously a gui app).  It works 
well with dial up where you need it most.  It has one of those drag and 
drop things that stay on top, and allow you to drag links from your 
browser and drop them into the downloader.

One of the things I like about it is that all of its features seem to 
work regardless of the window manager, and with or without a desktop 
environment like, kde or gnome.  I have used it with KDE, WindowMaker, 
and mostly use it with Fluxbox, with browsers konqueror and mozilla.  I 
have not tried to use it with links. 

What I like about it vs. wget for touchy downloads is that the partial 
download and its information persist through voluntary and involuntary 
shutdowns. 

My only criticism with version 2.03, is that I often have to use the 
kill command to really shut it down (plus the command to start it is 
"nt" which is not very intuitive for a program that calls itself d4x.

In windows I like leechget.  The author and maintainer of ad-aware 
(freeware spyware detection and removal) did a review of windows 
download managers, and recommended it as the most full featured free 
download program that contains no spyware features (which he claims 
reside in getright).  http://www.leechget.net

--

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art Alexion
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