Downloading slower on OS X...

[yvovandoorn]

I love my Mac and have been using it faithfully for two weeks.

However usenet downloading seems a lot slower on a Mac then on a Windows PC.

I have 4 connections set up either via iGrabNews or Unison and it can only download up to 280kbps

Same server, program called Newsleecher via a Windows PC with 4 connections and I am downloading 460kbps.

Where do I have to look to improve my speed.

 

[JzzTrump22]

It could be the source you are using to download from. Sometimes it's the servers that get bogged down, not you download capability.

 

[lenn0x]

Actually I concur Its not the OS, its the software. The biggest difference over Newsleecher (I own it) and Unison that ive seen is pretty obvious. Unison downloads with 4 connections but the way Newsleecher works is that it will use 4 connections at a time to download 1 file, thus increasing the speeds, it pulls more. I think in the future Unison will adapt this technique. I could be wrong and if anyone really knows for sure the differences let me know From what I've read I've just heard that Newsleecher uses their own technique in grabbing the data faster, using the whole connection.

 

[Makosuke]

I've never had speed issues downloading from Giganews on OSX--I can generally max out my connection using Thoth (great older client, sadly no longer available).

I have noticed that it sometimes takes a couple of simultaneous download connections to actually max out my connection, and I suppose if the program you're using on the PC has some way of aggregating these connections to speed the download of a single file then it might look faster than Unison. If you get a couple of simultaneous downloads going, it should be about the same combined speed.

If not, you could blame the lack of good binary-centric usenet programs on the Mac (currently there's basically Hogwasher and Unison, now that Thoth is gone), but it's not likely an OS-specific issue.

 

[Undecided]

Found this thread via a google search. I had the same experience.

Crank Unison up to 10 simultaneous downloads. I think newsleecher will attack the same usenet post with the four connections, but unison will only use one connection per post.

So, if you crank unison up to 10 then you should get speedy downloads, because it will be downloading 10 posts at once.

As I write this, I'm thinking bits are bits, so it shouldn't matter which approach is used. But, for whatever reason, it does.