Just a basic poll, I am curious about how ppl feel about downloading ISOs and other large Linux software packages.

I am opening a website that will provide reviews to Linux software and distributions that are FREE and OPEN SOURCE. It also will provide releases of ISOs via Bittorrent (very very fast effective way to release software and spread it very quickly) and various links to software on P2P protocols.

I want to do this so:
1] It removes burden from software developers, so they can focus time, cost, and effort on the actual software itself

2] People can more efficiently get the software they want quickly and efficiently.

3] People can realize you can supply software and make efficient use of P2P networks without breaking any laws

I couldn't choose any of your selections since I use only 56k modem.
However, as long as I could get what I wanted overnight without any problems, so everything was ready in the morning, I wouldn't care.

for me it depends on my free time. Some distros (like Knoppix and Mandrake) I crave to download 'em as soon as they are announced (I did that with Mdk 9.1) but usually I end up waiting til I have time to actually do something with them.

Still using 56k dail-up so downloading full ISO sets is not really an option. However I did D/L my first Linux distro (Vector Linux 1.8) about 150Mb in size and it took about 18-20 hours so now I buy my distro's from Cheapbytes or Linux Central. Sounds like good idea.


Bubba169

Anyone know of Jigdo? Debian users out there probably do. Its fast, easier on the servers, and you can resume if you want to stop it. I think more distros should use this valuable tool.

I don't mind waiting. I usually wait until the softwares been out at least 2 weeks so that it's a little easier to get. Of course, if it's something I'm PAYING for (like a Mandrake club member), THEN I'd expect to be able to get it quickly when it was first released. But I haven't, and I doubt I ever will. Guess it depends on how good 9.1 is whenever I DO get around to downloading. No hurry...

I wish you could redirect a download to a third party (like Kinko's) who had a fast connection. Then for a small fee you could just stop by and pick-up a CD copy from them, or they could mail it to you. A fast connection is not in the cards for me and time soon.

I've got 115kb/s and I use it to download ISOs (not very often) and large packages like KDE, GNOME etc (quite often). It may take the many hours, but that's what I use wget for...

When slack 9 and mandrake 9.1 came out all the servers were packed. I just got a download manager and set it to split the iso into 4 sections (this actually makes it a little faster) and scheduled it to download very late at night and left my computer on. This works fine for me, getting 130kbs on DSL.

What download manager did you get?

well there goes that server...

We got 3Gbit of aggregated bandwidth at the office (yeah, with a "G")

So, it's not a problem

I'm using an app for windows, i know, i know. If you have a windows partition you can try star downloader (free!) or mass downloader(30 day trial). I did find this for linux, haven't tried it yet but it looks good http://freshmeat.net/projects/caitoo/?topic_id=57%2C150 The mass downloader has a neat tool so I can adjust the speed to a max of 5kbs. This is handy when my family complains I hog all the bandwith. I can set the speed low so no one notices it but I can still get 18mb an hour. It better than 0 mb an hour and I can let the connection loose later when no one else is on the net