Comments on How To Run USDownloader On Ubuntu Server 8.10

Hi,

 and thanks for pointing me to JDownloader.org. I would never have know of it's existence were it not for the comments-field of this article. Great stuff :)

"the best"?!?!...those are big words. Compare to jDownloader http://jdownloader.org/home which is platform-independent Java and supports 90 file sharing hosts.

Well, thanks for the howto. I got some points which stop me from even trying that tool: - The site is Russian only, I unfortunately can't even read a single word - Howtoforge is a site for Linux howtos and tutorials, so why should I install IE, Windows Scripting Host, Wine etc. to run a windows only tool? I'd rather take Torrentflux or Torrentflux-b4rt which runs natively on Linux - "To run the best in automati? file share downloading" is not very objective

Why not use native application like JDownloader

http://jdownloader.org/

Really big words for the title, I have to admit. But it is my conclusion from my experience using this kind of software.

 I have a PentiumII box running ubuntu server 9.04, with just 256Mb of RAM. A really old (exactly14 years old) piece of hardware you can say. But she's been racked on a shelf at my room, serving stuff for years (after several system upgrades and reinstallations). I only power it down to open the case once in several monthes to celan some dust off it. It has only a keyboard and ethernet connection. I access it over ssh (I can't remember the last time I attached a monitor to it. I don't know if the graphics card even works).

If I try to use jdownloader, it is useless. Jdownloader does not offer a CLI, nor web interface. Only way to use it is through a vnc connection (purposeless waste of resources). And moreover, it runs over java, more purposeless waste of resources (ok, you can argue that comparing java to wine, but it is not the same in the end).

 If I try to use other cli-centered and very new software, for the purpose it works. But these are very reduced in functionalities. Will get the stuff downloaded for you, yes. Even break captchas, if you want (hope it isn't illegal in your country). But again, no web interface, nor easy handling of batch downloads. You end up writing your own scripts, or altering the software code (most of them are perl or bash scripts) to get what you need, and I find it very unpractical to my current needs (though I've learn a lot this way).

USDownloader was the difference. I can install it without graphic stuff. It will run over wine very very smoothly, even on old hardware. Xvfb is not cpu-hungry. And I can configure the software directly editing just ONE file or even from within its native web interface. Something unthinkable to achieve with jdownloader because it stores configuration in a binary format inside java classes files. I can add, remove, pause, or start, downloads with a click from everywhere just using a web browser over the Internet. It is exactly the thing I was needing.

 I know, it is closed source, its documentation and support forums are in russian, and most people do not trust russians' software (even a russian friend of mine). You can even say that running windows software over wine, having native linux (java is not native though) code out there, is a waste. Well if it works for me, on the described box, I'd find really hard to believe it won't work on ANY current desktop computer, no matter how low-end it might be.

Well, to finish, this is not a troll post. I don't have the intention to start flame wars. I just had the need to put these thoughts toghether and expalin the result of my own experience.

 Thank you ais77 for the grat work on this guide! :)

 PS: Some time ago I used your guide, without asking, as the baseline for writing a guide (adding a couple of things) on my blog in spanish (sorry for that, I'm planning an english version soon).

 PS2: Some packaged distributions (my comment is long enough yet as to explain this) of USDownloader need mono to run some .net code. I added on my guide the way to do it quietly, since it is not contemplated among winetrick options. The change would be the following:

 Change:

 try $WINE "$WINETRICKS_CACHE"/mono-2.2-gtksharp-2.12.7-win32-5.exe

 For:

 try $WINE "$WINETRICKS_CACHE"/mono-2.2-gtksharp-2.12.7-win32-5.exe /SP- /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES

 Was hard to find, but it is covered here: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=450347