i'm trying to download the xubuntu image, but any large files I attempt to download freeze somewhere before finishing, be it at 9 MB or 90 MB or 170... apparently random. They just stop... 90 MB transferring at 200 kbps... and 90 MB never changes. After a few attempts, the download page itself will not open at all until I reboot. Is this something my University is doing to keep me from downloading? I tried booting to a liveCD and the same problem occured once, I didn't test it further.

Why don't you try wget? Even if you are booted off the network, you can continue (-c) the download from where you left off. To see if your bandwidth is being throttled, you can try unplugging the ethernet for a while, and replugging it. Try even bringing the interface down and up.

thanks, I'm trying it as I type, no problems yet as of 3% (doesn't mean anything yet). I tried in Seamonkey and on a LiveCD, and the same problem occured, so I don't think it's a firefox thing. I'm sticking to my theory that the university allows so much bandwidth per session.

try using torrents, i had the same sort of problem. with torrents you can usually start downloading where you left off.

if your uni only allows so much bandwith per session try using a download manager that allows you to stop and resume downloading. use retriever 1.02

resuming downloads is what osor reccomended, I think. Torrents are already blocked by the university. I used wget to 'successfully' download the .iso in all its 666.3 MB, burned to DVD+RW, and got the initial screen when I booted to it. However, when I selected "start xubuntu", It said it couldn't find the kernel. It would be helpful if anyone knows that this is a problem with DVD+RW and I should go find a CD to burn. In the meantime, i'm going to try downloading it again, perhaps the 5 or 6 resumes I had to do corrupted the file.

Did you check the md5sum of the iso from a reliable source?
Maybe you need to write your DVD+RW at a slower speed (why not use CD-R?). After you're finished burning, try extracting the iso from the media. Then compare it to the image you burned (i.e., with md5sum) to make sure they're the same.

actually, I don't have any CD-Rs. I just took a trip to the store and picked up a CD-RW, I thought CD-R would be better to keep it simple, but if the .iso is bad I'd like to be able to try it again. I'll try md5sum. Does anyone have experience booting from CD-RW? I'd be interested to know if it's even possible.

I have had CD-RW's which could be booted and those that couldn't be booted. I found that my CD-RWs have a much better chance of working if I (a) use slow burning speed and (b) burn the same image multiple times.