Pricelessware CD: Stage 1 Wrap-up

[Roger Johansson]

Cheers for letting me know )

Downloaded it in 1:15h using 4 threads in Download Express.
125kb/s, no problems at all.

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

I think I'll wait a few day - to let ACF participants have first crack
at the ISO - then revise the CD web page and upload duplicate web pages
to the PL site and the ISO site.

Fwiw: downloaded the ISO just fine. Not burned, but extracted content
and ran the dvdsig app with the dvdsig file from Pricelessware
<http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/dvdsig.md5> - and it checked OK.
Joining you and everyone in thanking Steven and Ben, and thanks to you
of course for (another) job well done

IIRC you said *unlimited* bandwidth - I have a feeling that claim is
about to be put to the test.

Mee too, so I hope other sites will offer to host this file as well.
Having access to a ISO copy online is useful also for people with slow
modem connections at home, given that many will have access to faster
connections at work/school/public library/Internet Cafe/
friends&family/etc. So my guess is there will be more copies
distributed via the online channel than via the "official"
by-mail channels (the volunteer burners). (ps: not to suggest the
latter channel is less important, on the contrary - there are probably
more people without such alternative download options)

Something to consider for the next revision (when ever that will be,
in 6-12 months or so?): In the offline copy of the html (PL) pages on
the CD, for each entry - add below the current web and d/l links:
CD LINK: file:///<subdirectory>/<filename>
then for those app not included
CD LINK: <not included, for reasons see file:://readme.txt>
more work of course, but wold be nice - and if one thinks ahead -
maybe possible to find some way to automate this as much as possible
when generating "offline" pages for the CD next time around?

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[IamMe]

download.......

After the 4th attempt to download the file and having the server time-out on
me I gave up. Be sure to let us know when it gets put onto a reliable
server.

It worked fine for me. The D/L only took just under 30 minutes.

Thanks to Susan, Steven, and all the volunteers!

EH

 

[REM]

"Ceg" <[email protected]> wrote:

The only thing I can see is long distance downloads. I sometimes, not
often, have problems with downloads from the UK or AUS. I'll just give it a
couple days and take another shot at it.

I think that is the right idea. Even though the bandwidth is
"unlimited" over a period of time, there are most likely throttle
limits set that prevent any account from consuming more than a certain
percentage of processor/bandwidth at any given moment.

The two web hosts I've dealt with have throttle limits of 10%. When
mentioned by Langa I experienced this. Hundreds of people were trying
to get on the page at the same time for weeks. Many were successful
and many were not. I suspect something similar has occurred with the
many people with high speed connections hitting Steven's site at about
the same time.

 

[Mark S.]

Steven Burn wrote to alt.comp.freeware on Sun, 11 Apr 2004 05:37:54 +
0100, the following ...

Cheers for letting me know )

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)

Hi Steven,

I've een thinking more about the webpage on your server and the PW2004
ISO image. Susan already has (or soon will have)a Pricelessware CD
webpage on the PW site with a direct link to the ISO. The only
difference is that the name of the server for the page is different.
It's probably unnecessary.

Checking the checksums twice -
It took a few days for this to sink in to my thick skull, so if anyone
else doesn't understand I'll explain. When we run dvdsig.exe on the CD
or on the mounted image we are verifying that the contents of the CD is a
correct (bit for bit) download. When we download the .md5 from the PW
site and cross check it with the CD, we are verifying that this CD is an
authentic PW CD.

Mark S.

 

[Ken B.]

Please excuse my ignorance with this as this is all new to me. I checked
out the contents of the 2004 CD and find it very interesting. How and
where can I download a copy of it and then what do I do with it after I
have downloaded it?

Thanks

Ken

 

[Susan Bugher]

Something to consider for the next revision (when ever that will be,
in 6-12 months or so?):

I think the ideal time to create the next CD is shortly after PL2005
goes on-line. Notifying authors that their programs have been selected
could be combined with the request for permission to include the program
on the PL2005 CD. (Emailing several hundred authors is *very*
time-consuming - each email is different - the addresses are hard to
find etc. etc. etc.)

In the offline copy of the html (PL) pages on

the CD, for each entry - add below the current web and d/l links:
CD LINK: file:///<subdirectory>/<filename>
then for those app not included
CD LINK: <not included, for reasons see file:://readme.txt>
more work of course, but wold be nice - and if one thinks ahead -
maybe possible to find some way to automate this as much as possible
when generating "offline" pages for the CD next time around?

We are trying to hit a moving target. The files keep changing. I felt
like a "one armed paper hangar" - adding programs (when permission was
received from the author), downloading updated programs, updating the
descriptions, creating updated web pages. . . . Each additional bit of
information or additional link is another chance to make a mistake. . .
There are some other problems - many apps have more than one file -
to name just one.

IMO easy navigation is very important - something I want to improve in
the PL2005 CD. I think the CD navigation should be kept it separate from
the contents of the web pages. I had hoped to do more with the autorun
file on this one - a *menu* instead of just starting the readme.txt file
- I just ran out of time. . .

Susan

 

[Mark S.]

Ken B. wrote to alt.comp.freeware on Sun, 11 Apr 2004 10:52:32 -0400, the
following ...

Please excuse my ignorance with this as this is all new to me. I checked
out the contents of the 2004 CD and find it very interesting. How and
where can I download a copy of it and then what do I do with it after I
have downloaded it?

Thanks

Ken

Hello Ken,

You can download the CD umage here...

http://pliso.it-mate.co.uk/ISO/pw2004.iso

It;s a 525 Meg d/l. If you don't already know, then you can find out
more about it at...
http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/CD2004PL.htm

What can you do with it?
Give it away to friends, family, co-workers and of course use the
software that is on it, all at no charge.

Mark S.

 

[dszady]

Glad to hear it ;o)

Total:273 OK:273 Bad:0 Missing:0
The operation completed successfully. 273 files, 524MB, 1195s

 

[Ken B.]

Thanks I look forward to using it.

Ken

Ken B. wrote to alt.comp.freeware on Sun, 11 Apr 2004 10:52:32 -0400, the
following ...


Hello Ken,

You can download the CD umage here...

http://pliso.it-mate.co.uk/ISO/pw2004.iso

It;s a 525 Meg d/l. If you don't already know, then you can find out
more about it at...
http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/CD2004PL.htm

What can you do with it?
Give it away to friends, family, co-workers and of course use the
software that is on it, all at no charge.

Mark S.

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

Susan Bugher wrote in <[email protected]>:
Something to consider for the next revision (when ever that will be,
in 6-12 months or so?):

I think the ideal time to create the next CD is shortly after PL2005
goes on-line. Notifying authors that their programs have been selected
could be combined with the request for permission to include the program
on the PL2005 CD. [...]

Sounds like a reasonable time-table and approach

In the offline copy of the html (PL) pages on

We are trying to hit a moving target. The files keep changing.

[...]

I know. And you've done a great job in a short time. Just tossing out
an idea or two - for your archive - to look at sometime late next
fall or early winter or so (no need to follow up now .

Here, alternatives to what I suggested above, which should also cover
the "moving target" situation I think. I'm guessing you will
understand just from looking at them, so I am not going to elaborate:

CD LINK: <file:///Programs/FILEUTILITIES/A543/>

(A543:<http://www.pricelessware.org/2004/PL2004FILEUTILITIES.htm#A543>)

or simply:
CD LINK: <file:///Programs/FILEUTILITIES/>

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[John Fitzsimons]

Anyone have a faster connection than myself and want to upload the ISO?
(mine keeps cutting out after saying it's going to take 79 hours to upload
(so much for my broadband)).

Did you get my email ? You need to remove delete from my reply
address.

 

[Steven Burn]

Did you get my email ? You need to remove delete from my reply
address.

Forwarded a copy of my reply ;o) (you'd not mentioned your address being
munged, so I didn't expect it to be \)

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)

 

[Susan Bugher]

Total:273 OK:273 Bad:0 Missing:0
The operation completed successfully. 273 files, 524MB, 1195s

I've revised the CD web page. I added the message that "should" appear
when the first check is complete. It looks as if I need to add a footnote.

The last number (1195s) seems to vary. I ran the check twice on the same
CD and got two different numbers. Dzady's number makes three. . .

Is that the time it takes to run the check? or ________????

Susan

 

[dszady]

I've revised the CD web page. I added the message that "should" appear
when the first check is complete. It looks as if I need to add a footnote.

The last number (1195s) seems to vary. I ran the check twice on the same
CD and got two different numbers. Dzady's number makes three. . .

Is that the time it takes to run the check? or ________????

Susan

Yes. 19 min 55 sec

 

[Susan Bugher]

Just tossing out
an idea or two - for your archive - to look at sometime late next
fall or early winter or so (no need to follow up now .

I appreciate the help - and I like early post mortems. I have considered
linking that way - it would solve *many* of the problems - but I'm still
hoping to find an even better solution.

Susan

 

[Susan Bugher]

Yes. 19 min 55 sec

Thanks Dzady - now I'd better quickly change the web page before someone
panics. . .

Susan

 

[Ant]

snip

It worked fine for me. The D/L only took just under 30 minutes.

Thanks to Susan, Steven, and all the volunteers!

EH

Oh boy, am I feeling jealous!!

Having got 150k cable broadband - i thought it was great, now yeukkkk.

having read about the ISO now being available, I decided to have a go
using star down loader. I finally succeeded after 8.75 HOURS to get
it down, then on checking the result after burning, this is the result
I got.

The data is invalid. Programs\V\Visual Thought\VT14.EXE
The data is invalid. Programs\P\Pegasus Mail\w32-412a.exe
The data is invalid. Programs\A\Aida32\aida32ee_393.exe
Total:273 OK:270 Bad:3 Missing:0
The operation completed successfully. 273 files, 524MB, 450s

Ah well, back to the drawing board, My blank disk and SAE are now in
the post.

Ant

 

[My Name]

Thanks Dzady - now I'd better quickly change the web page
before someone panics. . .

Susan

I copied the CD to the HD.
Replaced the dvdsig.md5 with the one from the PW site.
Replace the dvdsig.exe with the one from the authors' site.
Verify yeilds:
Total:273 OK:273 Bad:0 Missing:0
The operation completed successfully. 273 files, 524MB, 27s
Does this look right/wrong, anyone know?

 

[Trey Hunner]

Steven Burn said the following on 4/10/2004 5:34 AM:

errr oks........ anyone have any freeware that creates iso's without wanting
to burn them aswell?

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

Disclaimer:
I know I'm probably wrong, I just like taking part ;o)

I believe this can be accomplished with DeepBurner actually. Just go to
burn a CD like you normally would but press the "Save ISO" button.