twanj

KGet in KDE 4.0 supports metalink now.

here's a page devoted to downloading Mandriva w/ metalink: http://www.metalinker.org/samples/mandriva/

Besides being fast, the above metalink also contains info for error recovery - so if you've tried downloading this file via another method and got a checksum error, you can use the metalink to repair it. and if you use it from the beginning, it will automatically repair any errors IF you use aria2 (the most advanced metalink client).

There are new Metalinks for 2008.0 RC2 DVDs at http://www.metalinker.org/samples.html#mandriva

There's a new beta of the DownThemAll! (Firefox extension) available.

This is party wrong, and partly correct.

It's not Firefox the one to blame, it's just that some (= actually the majority of them!) http servers do not allow downloading files larger than 2GB.

For me d4x downloads files larger than 4 GB via http just fine, but if the http server does not support such transfers, there is NOTHING that can be done...

Use an ftp/bittorrent link instead.

Check out:

http://www.kernel.org/faq/#largefiles

Q. I can't download a file with size greater than 2GB, is your website broken?

A. No, kernel.org is not broken your browser however doesn't like large files. Browsers have to make assumptions about what is all going on when you're browsing the web. By and large those assumptions work fine, however 2GB files (in the case of the dvd iso's they can be up to 4GB or bigger) the browser's assumptions fail.

...

Clients that are known to NOT work:

* Mozilla, Firefox, Anything based on Gecko - it assumes a 2GB limit.

Necko - Allow handling of files > 2gig (>2 GB) - Necko is the underlying networking framework for Firefox and this bug is not yet fixed.

True, many http servers don't support files larger than 2 gb. apache didn't even until 2.2/2.0.53.

So yes, you're partly correct :)

so I guess there are at least three limiting factors: local filesystem, client, server.

Here's one for the new release...

http://www.metalinker.org/samples/mandriva...86.iso.metalink

wget is fine for sure, and aria2 is even better... CLI syntax is even simpler than wget:

aria2c ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/linux/distributions/Mandrivalinux/official/iso/2007.1/mandriva-linux-2007-spring-free-dvd-i586.iso

This thing will automatically set download mirrors, and (if you use a metalink) will use both normal http/ftp and p2p to get the file for you.

I use aria2 and it works great. If you use a metalink, aria2 will also be able to repair a download instead of starting over from scratch. Very nice for large ISO downloads. Mandriva metalinks are at http://www.metalinker.org/samples.html#mandriva

I may have to go and get this. Here at work when I try to get the dvd iso it only downloads a file that is 261mb instead of the 4.3gig. Anyone know why that is? And I've tried different mirrors and different distros.

What platform + apps are you using to download on? I wouldn't use Firefox, I don't think it can download files > 2 GB, and almost definitely not > 4 GB. Even if it could, you'd want something more reliable.

aria2 works good for me.

aria2 is an exhellent+idiot proof CLI downloader.

Phex is basically a P2P (*tella) application written in Java, with elementary support for other networks, while wxDownload is a strong candidate for the title of the most frequent segfaulter between all Linux appplications.

HAH! wxDF isn't the most stable app, you're right.

I really like aria2 myself.

Thanks for the Windows screenshot, however you'll find we use Linux here ;)

 

If there is a Linux client for this, please provide it, else you'll find this will fall on dead ears.

sorry man, I edited my post to make it clear that DTA is a Firefox extension that works on any OS. :)

however, it's good to have clients on Windows, because you want people on there to be able to get your ISOs as easy as possible to install them, don't you? for that, there are 9 metalink clients.

here are the other Linux clients: aria2, KGet (KDE4 version), Phex, wxDownload Fast.

DownThemAll! 1.0 Beta (Cross platform Firefox extension) now supports metalink downloads from mirrors and full file checksum verification.

Hi,

I noticed your info/help for ISO downloading. You can use metalinks which list your mirrors and checksums for a file in an XML format used by download programs. aria2 is a really good CLI client, but there are other on Mac and Windows, so anyone can get your ISOs easier. This also contains repair info, so downloads with errors can be fixed.

Here are metalinks for 2 of your ISOs. I can make them for the others, if you're interested in using them.

http://www.metalinker.org/samples.html#mcnlive

Hi,

Has anyone tried metalinks for Mandriva ISO downloads? They can list multiple mirrors & p2p, along with full file checksums like the .md5 or .sha1 files you already have and chunk checksums which allow downloads to be repaired. they're a simple XML format with automated tools for generating them. there's more info on wikipedia.

aria2 is a good CLI client for downloading, and most other download managers on Windows and Mac support it.

If you'd like to try it out, there are a few .metalinks for Mandriva at http://www.metalinker.org/samples.html

The downloads are usually very fast and if the download client uses the chunk checksums they will be error free, which is especially nice for DVD ISOs.