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Newsgroup 'leeching' software

M

MacCobbler

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 17, 2007
25
0
Hi

I've very recently come from a PC background where I used to use Grabit to download files from Newsgroups - what is the best newsgroup leecher for the Mac?
 
MacCobbler said:
Hi

I've very recently come from a PC background where I used to use Grabit to download files from Newsgroups - what is the best newsgroup leecher for the Mac?
Click to expand...

Not going to get any answers here since those types of applications are essentially used only to download pirated software.
 
you want nzbdrop for the closest equivalent to grabit.

unison will not make multiple connections to download one file (only multiple files), though i emailed them about that and they're supposedly adding it in the next version.
 
Trepex said:
Not going to get any answers here since those types of applications are essentially used only to download pirated software.
Click to expand...

So that is all USNET is anymore? No, there is still usful stuff left.
What I used to do when I was a USNET user was to simply ran a
usnet server on my computer. usnet is a peer to peer network and
anyone can joint. Then the groups I wanted were automatically
loaded onto my computer. I just ran the server 24x7. It
collected news and when I wanted to read it, it was fast

The server is called "nntpd" and it is not hard to set up.
I'm nttpd ships with OS X Server. but it is a free
open source program that you can get from
 
Having come from the same background recently, I have been using HellaNZB to download my newsgroup files (mainly TV shows that I can't get in NZ, pirated-software-naysayers...).

There's a great tutorial here that details how to install it. Personally, I'd ignore the SABnzbd recommendation at the top of the page, as I found it to be much slower than HellaNZB during use. Also, the install may seem over-complex compared to a single app, but I have tried nearly all of the main ones (iGrabIt, NZBDrop) and this is by far the best.

One excellent tool to also install is HellaWorld, a web interface to HellaNZB. Download MAMP, make this the default site and you have a nice, web-based UI for managing your downloads. It even has drag-and-drop reordering, which is very handy!

I have a number of other newsgroup related links available here, in case you're interested!

Cheers,
cell
 
cell-gfx said:
Having come from the same background recently, I have been using HellaNZB to download my newsgroup files (mainly TV shows that I can't get in NZ, pirated-software-naysayers...).

There's a great tutorial here that details how to install it. Personally, I'd ignore the SABnzbd recommendation at the top of the page, as I found it to be much slower than HellaNZB during use. Also, the install may seem over-complex compared to a single app, but I have tried nearly all of the main ones (iGrabIt, NZBDrop) and this is by far the best.

One excellent tool to also install is HellaWorld, a web interface to HellaNZB. Download MAMP, make this the default site and you have a nice, web-based UI for managing your downloads. It even has drag-and-drop reordering, which is very handy!

I have a number of other newsgroup related links available here, in case you're interested!

Cheers,
cell
Click to expand...

why use hellanzb over nzbdrop?
 
shinji said:
why use hellanzb over nzbdrop?
Click to expand...

Shinji,

As I said above, I tried NZBDrop as part of my testing, but for some reason, never got higher than 100KB/s download from the NewsHosting.com servers. I had the same problem with GrabNews and the other tools I tried. The only tool that still achieves the 600KB/s speed I am accustomed to is HellaNZB.

I will admit that I never tested my network setup or checked that my ISP wasn't hobbling me in some way, but as each app is connecting using the same protocol to the same server on the same ports, I assumed in each case of slowdown that it was the software at fault.

In order to check it wasn't anything to do with the hosting server, I stopped NZBDrop while running at 100KB/s and started HellaNZB a few seconds later. That resulted in 600KB/s instantly, so it was also clearly not the host that was the problem.

My advice would be to try both on your setup and go with whichever you find easiest. Personally, I find leaving HellaNZB running in iTerm and monitoring my NZB directory works best. That way, I can either save NZBs from NZBMatrix or ones generated from NZBIndex to that directory and they auto-start downloading, PAR check (downloading additional PARs where needed), decompress and save the final result to my target directory.

Hope this helps!
cell
 
cell-gfx said:
Shinji,

As I said above, I tried NZBDrop as part of my testing, but for some reason, never got higher than 100KB/s download from the NewsHosting.com servers. I had the same problem with GrabNews and the other tools I tried. The only tool that still achieves the 600KB/s speed I am accustomed to is HellaNZB.

I will admit that I never tested my network setup or checked that my ISP wasn't hobbling me in some way, but as each app is connecting using the same protocol to the same server on the same ports, I assumed in each case of slowdown that it was the software at fault.

In order to check it wasn't anything to do with the hosting server, I stopped NZBDrop while running at 100KB/s and started HellaNZB a few seconds later. That resulted in 600KB/s instantly, so it was also clearly not the host that was the problem.

My advice would be to try both on your setup and go with whichever you find easiest. Personally, I find leaving HellaNZB running in iTerm and monitoring my NZB directory works best. That way, I can either save NZBs from NZBMatrix or ones generated from NZBIndex to that directory and they auto-start downloading, PAR check (downloading additional PARs where needed), decompress and save the final result to my target directory.

Hope this helps!
cell
Click to expand...

Strange...I use Giganews and haven't had that problem. I've only used Unison and NZBDrop though, mostly because HellaNZB seems unusually clunky for such a simple app. I just open the nzb in NZBDrop, it downloads and auto-queue's the pars, and I can open the rar or whatever format in theunarchiver in one click.
 
Trepex said:
Not going to get any answers here since those types of applications are essentially used only to download pirated software.
Click to expand...

Answers like this irritate me. Just because a protocol has the ability to be used for downloading pirated software, movies, music, whatever, doesnt mean that it is in any way illegal or bad.
 
Blubbert said:
Answers like this irritate me. Just because a protocol has the ability to be used for downloading pirated software, movies, music, whatever, doesnt mean that it is in any way illegal or bad.
Click to expand...

I'm far more worried as to why he felt it necessary to waste valuable seconds of his life actually replying to this thread. Aren't forums funny ;)

Thank you everyone else for your help. I'm playing with Unison now and speeds seem pretty good - it just feels a bit more clunky compared to Grabit and I'm really missing the search function.

I'll give nzbdrop a try :)
 
MacCobbler said:
Thank you everyone else for your help. I'm playing with Unison now and speeds seem pretty goo
Click to expand...

Out of interest, why are you guys using a usenet reader as opposed to Torrents? I'm downloading TV shows that are not in the UK yet (or at all) and find Torrents to be fine - am I missing out on anything, or is it just down to personal preferrences?

M.
 
For me, there are three main reasons - bandwidth, speed and availability.

In NZ, we have very small download limits, so every MB counts. These limits include uploads, so for any torrents, you can expect to upload 50% of each file's size to other users. That increases your bandwidth use accordingly and can get you to your limit very quickly. Newsgroup servers host the files, so you don't need to upload and therefore save that 50% overhead.

Speed-wise, the best torrent speeds I can get are up to 50KB/s, whereas newsgroups get up to my max of 600KB/s and I am an impatient person! ;)

Finally, availability of torrents is purely down to whoever is seeding the file. There is nothing more annoying than being 99% of the way through a download and all seeders decide to stop seeding. With newsgroups, once the file is posted to a group and it appears on your host's server, it's there for the duration of their retention (usually around 70-100 days). That means you don't have to download something straight away to guarantee getting it.

I've been using newsgroups for over 6 years now, both in the UK and NZ, and I still find them the best way to get hold of those US shows you may never see anywhere else!

Cheers,
cell

P.S. Oh, and I hate the term 'leeching' being used in reference to newsgroup downloaders. It's not like BitTorrent where if you don't upload, you're just using up someone else's upload bandwidth and crippling the distribution network (leeching). You're simply downloading without affecting anyone else adversely (and usually paying for server access too!)
 
markjewiss said:
Out of interest, why are you guys using a usenet reader as opposed to Torrents? I'm downloading TV shows that are not in the UK yet (or at all) and find Torrents to be fine - am I missing out on anything, or is it just down to personal preferrences?

M.
Click to expand...

I concur with cell-gfx. I've never liked Torrents, I personally find them a clunky/irritating way of downloading stuff and they are quite often unpredictably slow.

I think I pay about £4 a month for my newsgroup access and speeds are always pretty much at their maximum.

Still, it does, as always, come down to personal preference ;)

And, Cell-gfx - I agree about the term 'leeching', I only ever use it when searching for progs as it seems one of the only accepted terms!
 
markjewiss said:
Out of interest, why are you guys using a usenet reader as opposed to Torrents? I'm downloading TV shows that are not in the UK yet (or at all) and find Torrents to be fine - am I missing out on anything, or is it just down to personal preferrences?

M.
Click to expand...


It all depends. I use torrents to update my Linux installation and sometimes you can get slowdowns on these. For instance, Gutsy Gibbon has just been released, so traffic on all fronts will be heavy for the next couple of days or so. Usenet seems to be relatively immune to peaks and troughs, depending upon your news provider, so it provides another option for the impatient.

As far as NZB searches are concerned, I find http://binsearch.info to be much better than NZBindex. Good for finding obscure manuals and the like.
 
The usenet is a thousand times better than torrents because a company like Giganews (and probably newshosting too) can max out my cable connection...I never get speeds as fast as I do from Giganews (not on the web and certainly not from torrents). The only downside is you have to pay for it (because ISP usenet access sucks usually, has low retention, and doesn't allow many connections). Not to mention you aren't simultaneously uploading and downloading like you are with torrents...you can separately upload whatever you like, but you aren't sacrificing any speed and you can do it at your leisure if you want to and can.

I use http://www.newzbin.com (also not free but pretty cheap) and binsearch as previously mentioned. Try it- I think Giganews has a free trial.

One other problem...Windows has better usenet apps than OS X does, I'm sorry to say...Newsleecher (with supersearch too) is the main program I miss from Windows. http://www.newsleecher.com/
 
weckart said:
As far as NZB searches are concerned, I find http://binsearch.info to be much better than NZBindex. Good for finding obscure manuals and the like.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll give it a go. I've just installed NZBdrop, and found something to test download speeds with. I've got the nzb file, but nothing seems to be happening - I need to sign up with a service such as Giganews and add the server details into NZBdrop, right?

M.
 
Thanks for all this info on Newsgroups, I would have appreciated it a little while ago... I've heard that they can be blazing fast for information, but I never got into it. Probably because I don't want to fork over money every month.

I think i'll just stick to bittorrent, it seems to get the job done although it can be slow sometimes.
 
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