Re: Downloading files

["Michael M." <mcubed slashmail org>]

On Sun, 2007-05-27 at 18:36 +0200, Reinout van Schouwen wrote:
> Hello Luis,
> 
> Op zaterdag 26-05-2007 om 12:04 uur [tijdzone +0200], schreef Luis
> Figueras:
> 
> > Congratulations for your work. 
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> > I download a lot of files, most of them are pdf format, from the
> > opencourseware webpages like that of MIT. I would like to use an
> > extension like DownThemAll for Firefox
> > ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201).
> 
> If it is really important for you, I would advise to simply use Firefox
> + downthemall for this purpose. Developer manpower is scarce, so don't
> count on an Epiphany extension for this soon, unless you write it
> yourself or find someone to do it for you ;)
> 
> However, there is a GNOME-based download manager called GWget that may
> help you out a bit: http://www.gnome.org/projects/gwget/


FWIW, I installed gwget (which looks quite nice) in Arch Linux and
enabled the extension in Epiphany.  Thereafter, Epiphany wouldn't start.
I had to go to GNOME's configuration editor and remove the extension
from Epiphany's configuration.  Then I purged gwget.  Sigh.  Another day
in Linuxland.  I suppose I could try it with Firefox and the Fireget
extension for gwget.

I also use Debian Lenny.  There, gwget is currently uninstallable.  I'll
have to wait until Lenny catches up to Sid's GNOME to try it out.  (I
don't want to run Sid!)

Epiphany's own download manager is simple but mostly does what I need.
I wanted to try gwget mainly because it can limit the bandwidth of
downloads.  When I'm downloading a large file, my bandwidth gets choked,
websites load noticeably slower, Evolution takes longer to respond (I
use a remote IMAP server), and so on.  I'm not sure if there's another
way to accomplish this.

I don't really need the features of DownThemAll myself, but I do wish
there was a download manager that could split a download into chunks.  I
have an Easynews subscription.  When using Easynews's http interface for
binary downloading, they strongly recommend splitting a large download
into smaller pieces to avoid corruption via ISP caching servers.  Of
course the recommended download managers that can do this are
Windows-only.


-- 
Michael M. ++ Portland, OR ++ USA
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions
of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to
dream." --S. Jackson