I need new application -- Universal download manager

[Eugene Gorbunoff]

From: Jan-Erik Larka
Date: 2008/08/02


source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eComStati ... MzNzA2Mw--


Neil:

There have been shemes for downloading around for years. Here's one of the latest: PMDownloader: http://www.eros2.info
Can someone explain what it is for? I've tried a few external downloaders but not one even comes close to being as good as the download built into Firefox. Ten years ago, I used one (AWGET) and it was sort-of useful on dialup because downloads would take hours and the browser wasn't particularly stable.


Jan-Erik Larka

PMDownloader and AWGet should basically do the same thing. I use AWGet by GlassMan as it's very handy to fetch files, is very stable and fetch things as fast as the connection allow, but one has to configure the parameters somewhat to tune it a bit. New homepage structures, blogs and protected sites (cookies and/or passwords or just cross site linking) make it less useful now though.

It would be nice if the community could focus on solving things once and for all and not compete with different themes of the same thing. ->
"Develop the wheel once"

=====And now for something else, almost at least======

Am a long time bittorrent user (several years) on OS/2 and eComStation but have thought about this for a long time...

eros2 also ported one of the available versions of ctorrent.

I'd like to see ONE unified download manager for the whole OS, that one can write plugins for.

Output info about parts downloaded so that GUI apps can show Б√┬Б√┬Б√┬ Б√┬Б√┬ Б√┬ Б√└ Б√┬ etc. Create a folder class for WPS that will show files beeing downloaded, hopefully a combination similar to http://www.xn--lrka-loa.com/progressbar ... sbars.html and
http://www.xn--lrka-loa.com/Progress.html DOS users get horrified when they see what may come from the proposed ideas, as function is the primary objective, not necessary usefulness and how easy it should be to get a fast overview of the situation.

The idea with the download folder is to create a common download manager to attach e.g. a ctorrent plugin as the bittorrent engine, "wget" or "cURL" for http and ftp, "mms" for multimedia streams etc. and the whole system could use that. We'll have to write new plugins as new download techniques emerge, but not whole apps, and have one common way to deal with downloads. We can write rexx scripts to fetch the files using the download manager, software developers won't have to write/port their own versions of download engines etc. but rather use
what others wrote once thus save several man hours in projects that do almost the same. The wps class should be available as a template that
one can tear off, set common download params for and then drag links (unless one set override info on each link/file etc.) and downloadfiles to and it'll take care of the rest.

We'd get a neat, compact, unified, native way to show files if it where a wps folder. I often start and keep more than 10 bittorrents at once,
another as http download but want all the info in one view, preferably as progressbars, but sometimes want more detailed info. Research in the area mention that it's harder and take longer to get an overview with numerical presentation of data than a progressbar, but is less
accurate, provided that accuracy is what the user want. How about the power that the wps offer, not for eye candy, "just because we can" as
in some OSes, but because wps-folders provide the OS/2-eCS way of doing things? It won't hurt if it's useful and reveal ways to be productive.

How about rewriting it somewhat and create a .dll that also would be callable by rexx?! Hey why not ask "all" developers to add rexx calls
to their dll's (within reasonable limits of course)?! The rexx part should be quite easy actually and would make it really useful to many, not to mention how well software for OS would integrate with the rexx scripts.

What do you think?!


Cliff Scott:

I can heartily recommend PMDownloader. It works very well, had adjustable download speeds and lots of options including capturing the clipboard if you desire as well as a plugin. It has a free trial period I believe. I've used it for at least 3 years and it is the best I've seen. It's so much better than the one in FireFox that there's no comparison. The only limitation I have found is that it can't figure out the download system for the eCS BetaZone. I suspect that the author doesn't know about that limitation as he probably would fix it if several of us requested it. I know he has added features that I've requested.

[Eugene Gorbunoff]

Dale Erwin

When I was on a dial-up connection... and even after I got broadband but with a low-speed connection, I reeeeeally enjoyed the resume feature because I was always losing the connection. However, since my speed has been increased (still not nearly as fast as the rest of the world seems to have), I can't remember when was the last time I lost a connection. I don't know what you mean by "archival quality."

I've never tried PMDownloader, but I have used PMDC for quite a long time and while I've never been able to get it to work with the downloads from the ecomstation.com site, it works well with the downloads from Mensys. Not just once, but a few times it has happened that I would download an ISO from Mensys using SeaMonkey and get a corrupted file, even after two or three attempts, then I would use PMDC and get a good one.

------


Felix:

Resumability means your computer can be turned off and yet you've lost nothing when the power comes back on, as the downloader can pick up exactly where it left off. This doesn't mean much to people downloading little stuff, but it can mean plenty for 700M CD isos or 8.5G double layer DVD isos. I guess your UPS battery can always outlast your power company's downtime. None of mine can. When my power goes off for more than a second or two, it usually stays off at least 20 minutes, commonly 90 or more.


> What is archival quality?


It means both:

1-It is the same, provable by an md5sum

2-it looks the same, provable by visual inspection and comparison of both download result and its source's ftp or http listing


IOW, it would be the same as any good backup program would produce, both visually and actually identical. No web browser is capable a visually identical result. That means what you downloaded reports when you downloaded it, not when it was created at the source. When dealing multiple versions of the same file locally and at the source, only that visual non-distinction, or the installation of that download, is capable of telling you which is newer. I usually find installing an older version on top of a newer version quite unacceptable, which means only visual is acceptable.


------------

Neil:

I don't need resumability -- my downloads seem to complete OK. If yours don't then I agree that PMDownloader or similar would be very good.

What is archival quality?

-------------

Felix

> PMDownloader doesn't really do anything I need.

You need neither resumability after broken connections, or archival quality, neither of which any web browser is cabable of providing? I couldn't live without either, much less both.


----------

Neil:

I understand better. I think the author should put something like the above on his website. PMDownloader doesn't really do anything I need.

I might want to try PMUploader, for many of the reasons you gave for PMDownloader.


-----------

Cliff

Really, to get the best picture of all it can do, download it and install it. It doesn't mess with anything and is easily deleted if you don't like it.

Just a few of the key things for me are:
1. Since I'm on dialup one big thing is the ability to control the speed it downloads so I can do other things at the same time.

2. I can set the number of concurrent download streams.

3. You set a default download directory, but also you can specify special directories by file type that will be used unless you override the setting.

4. No need to have open a browser if you have a URL in an email. Just copy the URL to the clipboard and providing the file extension is in your list of ones to capture it will capture it and either immediately start downloading or give you a confirmation dialog with the option to change the download directory, give the downloaded file a different name, enter the URL in the download queue paused, set the speed for that download (can be changed on the fly later) etc.

5. If you're in a browser then either copy the URL to the clipboard or double click on the link and let the plugin grab the link. All the above options in

#4 also apply in this situation.

6. Set timeouts and max retries.

7. Choose what information to display in the download cue display.

8. Full resume functions

9. HTTP or FTP downloads

10. Setup password info for sites (by URL)

Anyway, give it a try and I think you will like it. The author is quite responsive to questions/suggestions.

[Eugene Gorbunoff]

Franklin

You must be very lucky. I've found enough times that a download would be broken by server maintenance or timeouts or broken pipes or just about anything, usually after about 12 hrs diallup download. Then you get to start all over. HSI cuts down that time quite a bit, it's still annoying to lose a connection and have to start over. PMD and WGet just reconnect and continue in the background, notifying you when it's done. Very convenient. You can also keep adding files to it, instead of waiting for one download to finish before starting another.