[ILUG] how not to download a DVD ISO image, a step-by-step guide

[Conor Wynne]

On 27 Jan 2008, at 19:00, Brian Foster wrote:

> how not to download a DVD ISO image,
> in easy steps ....
>
> 0. the Kubunto 7.10 DVD image is c.4.3GiB
>
> 1. if wget(1) reports the size of the download
>    to be only c.300,000,000, it ain't the full
>    image.  ignore ....
>
> 2. if wget only takes 20 minutes at c.240K/s,
>    it ain't the full image  ignore ....
>
> 3. inexplicitably ignore the MD5SUMS file and
>    its contents ....
>
> 4. if it takes a surprisingly short amount of
>    time to burn to a DVD-R, it ain't the full
>    image.  wonder about this, but ignore ....
>
> 5. watch DVD boot into grub, but then repeatedly
>    fail.  creatively curse, verify (using dd(1)
>    and cmp(1)) the DVD was burnt correctly, and
>    start another wget.
>
> 6. step 1, again.
>
> 7. wonder why, after just a few minutes, wget
>    reports a substantial percentage of the image
>    has been downloaded.  THE LIGHT DAWNS ....
>
> 8. more creative cursing, stop the wget, and
>    use FireFox to download instead (carefully
>    checking that it reports the right size and
>    a plausible estimated time) ....
>
> the end.  (I hope.)
> and I hadn't even had a drink yet!

> no small cute fuzzy animals were harmed in the
> making of this mess, albeit a foam rubber penguin
> did bounce off a wall.  now where it'd go to ....?
>
> cheers, an embarrassed
> 	-blf-


I always use curl, example:

$ curl -C - -O http://blahblah/file.iso
It has resume features, and seems to always work, even over https.

I would never use a web browser for such things, files over 4GB tend  
to bork --
a side note, anyone using windows iexplorer -- it does not support  
files of DVD size, so it will always fail.

Conor.