There has been recent discussion on another thread about down loading large files on a dial up internet connection.
I down load large files such as distribution iso's with a dial up connection. My reason for doing so can explained by my Scotish ancestry and reluctance to pay over the odds to the asdl telecommuncations monopoly for a third world level of service. I take advantage of the stability of Linux to connect during the night starting the down load before going to bed and stopping the down load after awakening.[1] I used to use an isa modem which used to never drop the connection, I now use one of Dick Smiths HAM modems which while OK does not have the stickability of the isa modem. The key application in this method is wget, a command line down loader. Because of the relatively slow speed of dial up and the large size of iso files the down load has to span several nights. This presents no problem for wget as it is able to resume the down load if it is given the -c or --continue option. I have never had wget corrupt a down load even after starting and stopping it several times. If you are in the final phase of a multi session down load which is likely to finish in the wee small hours, you may get the modem to hang up when finished by formatting your command as follows; wget -c <url to file>; kppp -k Obviously you have to be using kppp as your dial up application Cheers Ross Drummond [1] Twas the night before upgrade and all through the house not creature was stirring not even a mouse just the lights on the modem twinkling
