Slashdot Mirror

Most clients already include web seeding as defined by
http://www.getright.com/seedtorrent.html

Direct links to the metalinks (As Seen on /.) - these list all the mirrors, checksums, and other info and are used by download apps.

To use them, try DownThemAll! (Firefox extension), aria2 (cross platform, command line), KGet (in KDE4), Speed Download (OS X), GetRight (Windows), Retriever (cross platform, Java) or about 15 other download programs.

http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-alternate-amd64.metalink
http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-alternate-i386.metalink
http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-desktop-amd64.metalink
http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.metalink

It pays to think outside the box, even if that box isn't particularly big to begin with.

This ruling is only about the trademark law involved with linking competitor products to a specific brand name. Like having ads for Acme Tissues triggered by kleenex.com, or ads for Bland Cola triggered at pepsi.com.

This ruling has absolutely nothing to do with the legality of adware in general, or with software being installed without the user's permission. Assuming WhenU was deliberately installed by the user, this ruling clarifies that it's acceptable for WhenU to show ads for other contact places, triggered by 1-800 Contacts's site.

Also, remember that not all adware is malicious and sneaky. Some people actually think highly of Opera. GetRight was one of the first adware programs I knew of. Broadcast TV and radio are "adware" even.

I know this will sound completely nuts to most of you, but even the "evil adware" programs aren't always unwanted. A friend was cleaning up a customer's PC for them. He told them that they had Gator on it, and he was going to remove it because of the bad stuff it did. "But how will I remember all my passwords?" Yes, someone actually used Gator on purpose. I can't say whether or not they specifically installed it, or if it came as a "value added bonus" with some other program. But for that user, it really did add value. Along these same lines, it's very possible that someone could actually want WhenU's software on their PC, letting them know of all the great deals they could be getting.

I also agree. I lost my key to GetRight about a year ago, and within a few hours of me requesting some way to recover my key to reinstall it on my new computer, a professional, friendly email was waiting in my inbox with the necessary key. I find it pretty funny that a SMALL company would actually have such trouble keeping track of their customers, especially the business ones!

I used GetRight to download it.

Is it just me or the download manager feels clunky? On top of that it is a resource hog.

I wish there was an option for reverting to .7 type downloads (a separate window for each download) until the DM is less resource intensive and more visually appealing.

Maybe the problem is that I'm used to GetRight as a download manager (a comercial one, one of the best in my opinion) and I don't stand anything worse. Check it out here: www.getright.com

As far as desktop apps go, I can only discuss Windows apps, since I don't use X at all. Linux = command line as far as I'm concerned.

• Windows Only
• AVG - Antivirus, free if you don't live in Europe.
• Spybot - Antispyware, freeware.
• Winamp - Nice for playing those mp3 collections.
• Kazaa Lite - Nice for getting those mp3 collections. For the legal-minded, substitute a good cd ripping program (I don't know of a good free one, I use a pay app).
• MAME - Bring back the memories.
• Trillian - Save them from the AIM/MSN/ICQ mix and match hell.

• Cross Platform
• Tight VNC - Install it so you can remote-admin their computer easily when they screw it up.
• Mozilla - Either Moz itself or one of it's 'light' siblings Firebird and Thunderbird for email and web browsing.

• Shareware Worth Trying

• Audiograbber: It's free to try, easy to rip with, and only $20 to register.
• GetRight - Assists in downloading all those patches and apps.

Getright communicates with the company's servers to insure that the copy isnt pirited. When you connect to the internet, it checks the key and if it is pirated, disables the key. It also disables you from entering a key for another 24 hours.

FileMirrors is a great substitute for google in this case. It gets updated automatically by people downloading things with GetRight (which I also recommend).

There are 'download assistants' for HTTP and FTP that are pretty nice. The ones I am familiar with for Windows aren't freeware, though. Check out Getright.

I just wish I had the bandwith to download anything larger than MP3s. As it is, with only one phone line and a (rather crappy) 56k connection, I have a hard time waiting for MP3s to finish dling.

When using slow connections or just downloading a large batch of files, I use a download manager called GetRight for windows. It can be configured to download a batch of files, with such features as download scheduling (eg, have it dialup and download every night from 12am to 5am), bandwidth throttling, and pause/resume capability.

I've downloaded gigs over a 56k modem using this app with no hand-holding. Simply, it takes care of business.

Well, one could argue that an irresponsible Macintosh coder could code "File: Quit" to do just about anything, just as a Windows (or a coder for some other desktop environment) coder may link the event activated by clicking [x] to just about anything he or she chooses.

Responsible coders keep the continuity, but on a Mac, File : Quit is more difficult to abuse because of it's lingual nature. On GetRight, a download manager, they decided to draw a button of their own, rather than break continuity, [. ], it causes the download dialog to be displayed as a system tray icon. Again, responsible coders know what users expect.

In most instant messengers I've tried, however, the minimize button causes the program to be sent to the system tray. It's not an official part of the Windows standard, but it's used a lot, and although I would rather more programs behave like GetRight, I have come to expect this from messaging apps.

MusicCity's Morpheous and the others based on the same core software (Kazaa, etc.) can all download one file from more than one machine at once. After a file is queued for download, right click it and select "Find more locations..." or something of that sort, and it will start downloading it from as many different servers as it can find. I don't know about any other P2P services, but I imagine at least some of the others can do the same, especially considering the capability to do that has been in software like GetRight for many years now.

GetRight uses multiple sites to download from and then pieces them back together.

http://www.getright.com

(or GetRight under Windows)

Just save the playlist as a .M3U file, open it in vi (or Notepad if on Win) and get that URL. Feed it to wget (or GetRight) ... :)

I don't see this as a particularly bad idea, since it gives the customer a choice of how much to pay based on how much he/she thinks the product is worth. The usual method to make more money is to raise prices. However, in Mandrake's case, they're keeping the prices the same, but accepting donations - this means that the people who think Mandrake is worth $75 can give a donation to pay that much, while those who think it's worth whatever the retail price is don't have to.

In addition, there are many people who buy a boxed version of RedHat or Mandrake instead of downloading the ISO to "support the company." If you already downloaded the ISO, why waste paper, plastic, and manufacturing costs for a boxed copy you don't need, just to support the company, when you could just donate the money and support the company directly? Or buying a tshirt to support the company; why buy a tshirt if I'm never going to wear it and don't want it? Why not donate the $15 the tshirt costs directly to the company instead?

There's a few other companies using this sort of method, such as GetRight as well, and many are doing it at the request of customers who thought the product was worth much more than what they paid for it.

So really I don't think there's any problem with it. People already donate to companies, but it's in the form of buying stuff you don't need (tshirts, boxed software, mousepads, mugs, etc.) solely for the purpose of supporting the company. I'd argue that that's 90% a donation anyway, so just going the whole way and making it a donation explicitly isn't really a problem.

enforce a "speed limit" when you're surfing and downloading at the same time. (Screensaver turns off the limit.)

automatically search FTP archives for alternate sites

download the same file from multiple sites (first half from site A, 2nd half from B)

allow each file to have a priority -- d/l short files first if you want, or

pause/continue for each file

I've been using it for maybe a year, and actually bought a copy -- $20 (shareware). If you use Winders, this software is essential. I just wish someone would write a version for Linux!

http://www.gozilla.com/

http://getright.com/

They won't speed up the download but it can resume if interrupted and uses mirrors.