[ solved ] Download Manager problem - jDownloader_d4x

[wedgetail]

As I am having some intermittent internet speed problems, presently I am having another look at what is going on. Seems to be a mixture of my making, the ISP and having a marginal exchange connection because of distance.  Quite interesting.

Generally I can live with my problems but when I want to download an ISO it can be a problem as the length of time is likely to take me into peak time if I want to do it in one go. I have peak time quota of 15 GB and off peak 120 GB

The off-peak period is presently is 02:00 to 14:00, so when my connection is good I can download ISOs etc in the morning, roughly 1 hour per CD ISO, if I get up in good time but just recently the prediction was 5 hours plus, something is then wrong.

Decided I have to look at a download manager which can be scheduled.  Quite arbitrarily I picked on jDownloader and seeing it was in Synaptic, why not give it a try.

Well installation was easy, but when starting it seems to go beserk with no warning downloading, no explanation just straight into a download that seems to want to go for a a very long time.

I realise it is doing an update after having startet a few times and forced shut it.  Have worked out there is a script and looking at the possibility of stopping the update, this however seems to a bit strange having to do that.

Starting in konsole I have caught some beginning lines:

[root@localhost gert]# /usr/share/JDownloader/jd.sh
JD Installation found: No valid JDownloader.jar exist!
Start JD-Updater
JAR
00s.004 - FINEST [jd.utils.JDUtilities(getJDClassLoader)] -> Create Classloader: for: /root/.jd
00s.010 - FINEST [jd.JDClassLoader(<init>)] -> rootDir:/root/.jd
/root/.jd
 file:/root/.jd/jd
00s.093 - FINER [jd.config.DatabaseConnector(<init>)] -> Loading database
00s.093 - FINER [jd.config.DatabaseConnector(checkDatabaseHeader)] -> Checking database
/root/.jd/config/WEBUPDATE.cfg (No such file or directory)
{BRANCHINUSE=last09, PLAF=null, SERVERLIST=[http://update0.jdownloader.org/branches/last09/ (-1%), http://update1.jdownloader.org/branches/last09/ (-1%), http://update3.jdownloader.org/branches/last09/ (-1%), http://update4.jdownloader.org/branches/last09/ (-1%), http://update4ex.jdownloader.org/branches/last09/ (-1%)], BRANCH=null}

/root/.jd/config/PACKAGEMANAGER.cfg (No such file or directory)
{}

Starting...
Current Date:Thu Jan 10 16:05:16 EST 2013

Start Webupdate
Update Downloadmirrors

I feel suitably out of my depths any enlightenment on the problem out of curiosity is very well come.  

[agmg]

JDownloader is a download manager mainly used for downloading from file sharing sites (Rapidshare, Easybytez etc). It has many plugins for those sites that will allow it to login (if you have premium account), enter a captcha (if required) and have it restart the router to get a new IP so to continue downloading beyond the limits that some of those sites apply (never tried that). It can also manage http or ftp downloads quite well.

First time you run the program after installation, it will perform a (very) large update of those plugins.
With my connection (about 7Mbps) it takes about 10 minutes.

Did you let it finish this initial update? I think you should, as it only takes that much time only on the first run. Consequent updates (if required) will be much much faster (it will only update a couple of plugins).

[wedgetail]

agmg
Know nothing about those names or what their purpose.  

No I did not let it finish. I am too curious so have set it going again. Now it is updating at a "splintering" rate of estimated 4 kB/s a real eyeopener, this is what KNemo is showing. Fascinating to watch when I normally can go steady at 320 kB/s.  

Update is too slow and takes too much time?

Download latest Version at \http://jdownloader.org/download

This is what I see in the top pane, the lower pane is hurtling away with info.  

[agmg]

This message shows every time I make a new install of JDownloader. It's normal
As I said, it's not really an update to the program itself but to the plugins it contains.
Be patient and let it finish. Check if you have problems after the update is over.

[rogaven]

JDownloader is a download manager mainly used for downloading from file sharing sites

JDownloader is a free, open-source download management tool with a huge community of developers that makes downloading as easy and fast as it should be. Users can start, stop or pause downloads, set bandwith limitations, auto-extract archives and much more. It's an easy-to-extend framework that can save hours of your valuable time every day!

you can use it to download from file sharing sites
but it also works perfectly for direct downloads

@wedgetail
why do you use jdownloader as root?

[agmg]

you can use it to download from file sharing sites
but it also works perfectly for direct downloads

Yes, I know 

It can also manage http or ftp downloads quite well.

[wedgetail]

rogaven
Well I don't actually run it as root.  This was an accidental start in root konsole that I used to copy the result in my post.  I did notice that it was from root but did not expect anybody to spot this, well done.  

In the root konsole I had just carried out updatedb and used locate jd.sh then I wanted to copy /usr/share/JDownloader/jd.sh into 'empty' command line so I could put nano in front to open the file.

Unfortunately when I copied I also got the CR and when pasted, the line "took off". The resulting lines before I got it stopped seemed very appropriate to be used in the post.

At present I run it from PC Menu, which is as user not root.

agmg
I started and was patient and the only item of note, I did not want the program to imbed itself in Firefox. Seemed to avoid this.

General
Well I am not sure how long the update took, I walked away and did other things.  When I came back an hour later it was done.  I must however have misunderstood something.  I was hoping I could schedule the time in the future for the download to start unattended but I don't see any option for that.

Addition: 
From a list of linux download mangers that I found on the net

http://linuxappfinder.com/internetandnetworking/downloadmanagers

I have found that D4x is in synaptic, have downloaded and installed. Will be testing this out tomorrow. 

[pags]

Not sure how comfortable you are at the command line...have you considered wget with the "-c" option, and at or cron (I would suggest at, as it is geared to one-offs, where cron is more for recurring)?

[wedgetail]

pags
Funny you should mention it. I have gotten to think "what is this wget I have seen it mentioned numerous times...."  and "perhaps I should look at  cron again ..."  ( but not yet going for that)

So yes I am comfortable enough in cli, in this case I am still exploring downloaders as they have not really had my interest but my latest internet speed problems got me interested enough to start updating my knowledge. 

[wedgetail]

Before my off-peak time download ran out I managed to try and run d4x a download manager found in Synaptic. This program to me seems very flexible and I am not familiar with it yet.

My test file was a KDE ISO from one of the local aarnet mirror which I know lets me run around 160 kB/s. Dropped the link into the program which immediately got going.  Looking at Traffic Plotter in KNemo I had a nice big peak and thought well looks great and was about to walk off when I noticed the peak was at 20 kB/s (20 kilo Bytes per second) and I was expecting 8 times more.  Well I did not leave my chair,  

I assumed one of the speed limits were in action, unfortunately for me it was the unlimited button. I tried the two other settings and they responded with low and medium speeds under the unlimited.  

Have SEARCHed Forum but not much on d4x problems.  

At this stage any help most welcome  

Addition:
https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/4636
here is the same problem as mine, reported in 2006, no indication if it was solved. So it may not be me that is causing it.   

[wedgetail]

The d4x is put on hold as it will only run at low speed for me.  Would be interested to hear if anybody is running it successfully at high speed?

Two things has happened, jDownloader is running right now doing a test where I scheduled the start of the download and I have changed mirror for the time being.

This is allowing me to run at sustained 320 kB/s which I am quite happy with as it brings an ISO download down around the 1 hour.  During this period my speed variations should be minimal.

jDownloader
This is not a program that "sits" right with me but with perseverance and time I think I may be happy enough with what I need it for. The things that struck me:

1.. Initial start is a very sparse window, which just wants to get going doing an update of some time.  I was not comfortable as there was little explanation why this should happen. I followed the advice to let it finish an update, after which the the windows became more "normal".

2.. It took me some time realising that there was a scheduling window, but it is not visible by default and I thought it belonged to "premium" offer, where you pay.  

3.. Have taken me some time to figure out how to get a link into the right place for a download.  

4.. Started trying to come to grips with the Knowledgebase offered on the developers website.  Where I eventually found very clear instructions on how to install and the options to choose. To my surprise I found that I had done the right thing.

http://jdownloader.org/knowledge/wiki/basics/tutorials/beginners_guide

Takes a little bit of digging to get here, but worth it.
 
For a beginner I find it requires some extra effort not to drop it because of complexity.  Interesting to see how it goes.  

[francesco bat]

The d4x is put on hold as it will only run at low speed for me.  Would be interested to hear if anybody is running it successfully at high speed?

Two things has happened, jDownloader is running right now doing a test where I scheduled the start of the download and I have changed mirror for the time being.

This is allowing me to run at sustained 320 kB/s which I am quite happy with as it brings an ISO download down around the 1 hour.  During this period my speed variations should be minimal.

jDownloader
This is not a program that "sits" right with me but with perseverance and time I think I may be happy enough with what I need it for. The things that struck me:

1.. Initial start is a very sparse window, which just wants to get going doing an update of some time.  I was not comfortable as there was little explanation why this should happen. I followed the advice to let it finish an update, after which the the windows became more "normal".

2.. It took me some time realising that there was a scheduling window, but it is not visible by default and I thought it belonged to "premium" offer, where you pay.   

3.. Have taken me some time to figure out how to get a link into the right place for a download. 

4.. Started trying to come to grips with the Knowledgebase offered on the developers website.  Where I eventually found very clear instructions on how to install and the options to choose. To my surprise I found that I had done the right thing.
 
For a beginner I find it requires some extra effort not to drop it because of complexity.  Interesting to see how it goes. 

D4X for high speed you must go in:
Options/limits/number of parts to split file
and you set 8 (someone set 10 and other too, but i think that greater than 8 it could get problems).
Bye
Francesco bat

[wedgetail]

francesco bat
Thanks for information, I found the "split" value was indeed set to 0, I have set it to 8 and this increases my limit to 130 kB/s which is not too bad almost acceptable.  I checked with jDownloader at the same mirror and I get 330 kB/s which is consistent with the max settings given to my router.  By the way jDownloader only uses two streams, not sure if this can be called file splitting.  I think this server will allow you two streams but I don't know.

I experimented with higher values but made no difference. I also found under Options > Properties > Maximum active downloads = 8 I have changed this to 16 but did not make any difference to top speed either.

I checked d4x in System Monitor but it only seems to run 1 stream.  

Have not yet tested the Scheduling.

[wedgetail]

My interest has vaned a bit because I have figured out that by pulling all phones out and changing to the Australien mirror at "internode" I get good speed at 300 kByte/s this suits me as less than an hour for liveCD on average.  I can live with that.

I will mark the topic as solved.