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View Full Version : What/Where and How to Download Stuff - Tell Your Friends ;-)


obvious
21-07-2003, 22:27
The Art of Downloading

So you've got broadband and want to know what it can do for you. Chances are you've got a 150K,512K,600K or 1024Kbps service which means that you have access to a lot of stuff on the internet that would have taken an age to get hold of on a dial up connection. But what is this 'stuff' and where can you get it? Well in a nutshell if someone has a need for it and it's technically possible to transmit over the internet, chances are it's out there just waiting to be downloaded. Some of this 'stuff' is illegal so you have to be careful about what you decide to download. Generally speaking you should never download anything that is copyrighted unless you already own a legitimate copy and are downloading for backup purposes. Also, care should be taken when downloading 'adult' material as the law is a minefield in this area. But enough of the usual disclaimers and onto the good stuff.

What

Audio,video,text,graphics and software can all be downloaded. Old, new and even 'unreleased' material is at your fingertips. Whether it's the latest Shawaddywaddy CD, an old favourite game, Rocky IX, or even a new operating system (to replace that scratched disc) it's out there somewhere.

Where/How

Peer to Peer (P2P) Filesharing
Material from all of the above categories can be downloaded and/or shared using a number of programs. Some are more popular than others and have a wider selection of material. Another thing to consider is whehter these programs will force advertising on you or 'phone home' to report on your downloading habits. Personally I use Kazaa K++ edition available from http://65.60.32.140/~rndnut/index.html but remember that internet addresses like these are subject to change so Google is your friend. For any of the programs mentioned here, a simple search at www.google.co.uk should help you find the most recent versions. Typically, once your filesharing program is up and running, simply typing in what you're after in the search box is all that is required to get the ball rolling.

Newsgroups
Newsgroups are perhaps the single most underutilised facility for downloading (and uploading) stuff from the internet. Historically shrouded in mystery, they are to put it frankly, a doddle to use and the 'binary newsgroups' contain an ever changing selection of stuff to download (see the 'What' section). To use the binary newsgroups, you will need access to a binary newsreading program (which will make life a whole lot easier) and also have access to 1 or more news servers. Your ISP may run it's own news server as part of the service you are paying for. Typically these ISP run news servers are called something like 'news.ispname.com'. Some ISPs offer multiple addresses that can be used to acces the news servers. For example, with ntl, 'news' can be downloaded from any of the following servers:-

news.ntlworld.com
news.cable.ntlworld.com
newscache.cable.ntlworld.com
news.tesco.net (yep you can access these from an ntl account)
news.virgin.net
news.cache.ntlworld.com
news.cache.cable.ntlworld.com

There are also many pay news servers that offer greater retention,completion,coverage(extra news groups),reliability and speed. Once again, google can provide a list of these.

When it comes to choosing a binary news downloading program, it's a matter of taste. Try NewsBin from www.newsbin.com or Xnews from http://xnews.newsguy.com
Setting up a binary newsreader is a matter of installing it, specifying what news server(s) you want to use then downloading a list of newsgroups before choosing a newsgroup and downloading all the headers to choose what you want to download. There are web sites dedicated to listing items that have been posted to news servers such as www.newzbin.com but once again there are alternatives. You can if you want, choose to manually browse the 'headers' on any given newsgroup and pick and choose what you want to download rather than relying on a news reporting site.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Using a suitable program (e.g. FlashFXP from www.flashfxp.com ), you can connect to an ftp site and download whatever takes your fancy. Some ftp sites are completely free while others require that you upload stuff before you are allowed to download. Finding ftp sites and stuff to download from them is pretty straightforward on an entry level. Do a Google search for 'fxp board' and you'll find a list of forums dedicated to providing up to date links to ftp sites and their contents. Alternatively, head on over to www.ftpsearchengines.com which does exactly what it says on the tin.

What Next
After you've downloaded your file(s) you may find that they are compressed and/or have been split into chunks for ease of downloading. If so, you'll need a program to reassemble the completed files. A program like WinRAR (http://www.rarsoft.com/rar_archiver.htm) or WinZip or WinAce will decompress and reconstitute the file(s) you've downloaded. To cover the possibility of a file containing errors, recovery data is often posted along with the file(s) in question. This recovery data can be used to reconstruct any part of the file that was damaged during download. Popular recovery formats include PAR and QuickPAR and programs to use these recovery records can be downloaded from http://www.fluidstudios.com/fsraid.html and http://www.pbclements.co.uk/ among other places.

If the resultant files are CD images then you can burn them to a blank disc with a suitable program (e.g. Nero Burning ROM - http://www.ahead.de/en/index.html#root ). If you haven't got a CD burner, you can still use these CD images by using a 'virtual cd' program like 'Daemon Tools' ( www.daemon-tools.com or http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cdr_software/cdr_tools/daemon_tools.cfm ). Programs like this allow you to 'mount' CD Images onto a virtual CD (or DVD) ROM Drive and run the contents as if they were burned to a real CD which is nice.

Mark W
21-07-2003, 23:17
groovy info obvious :tu:

Ramrod
21-07-2003, 23:19
Informative and interesting. Thank you for that:) .

Tricky
21-07-2003, 23:27
Again informative as Ramrod states, possibly worth a quick review of this thread also:
http://www.nthellworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1161&highlight=riaa

obvious
22-07-2003, 01:05
Cheers guys :D

I've been thinking hard for a while now about whether to start a new mini campaign to inform (ntl in particular) users how to make the most of their broadband connections. It's a controversial idea I guess as I'm sure ntl wouldn't like too many of their customers to get into newsgroups, p2p and ftp. Also, valid concerns could be raised by gamers and the like about their pings going to pot if a lot more people are utilising their connections more fully. I'm just testing the water here before ramping up the "how to get the most from broadband" info campaign.

Of course if ntl would just lose the cap perhaps I'd stfu and go away.

obvious
26-07-2003, 02:15
I've just registered www.dlfaq.co.uk and pointed it at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paulhanlon

Should be up in a day or two. :D