How to use download mirror data

[docjerry]

How or what does one do with the data provided on the download mirror sites to initiate a download? Example:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

cdc0e9181d9dd2f2fc71aa9c59391001c46afa3e *KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFFncLhN5jj11fjcIcRAgQeAJ42rJVpHZDuaZD8p/5jRD1f5TK/qgCfWM+F
eEw0xzD8sO2OYqJbo/L8dbQ=
=3poo
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

I tried cutting and pasting various sections into the browser address bar, especially, KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso , without success. How is this properly done? (without bittorrent)

Thank you!

[Harry Kuhman]

Please see answer #7 (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/User:Harry_Kuhman).

[Harry Kuhman]

Thanks for fixing the subject line.

MD5 and SHA1 are both tools that can be used to confirm a good download (something that I would highly recommend doing before burning a disc if you choose to use a mirror rather than the self checking torrent system, I personally had about 50% bad downloads from the Knoppix mirrors although I never to my knowledge had any other bad downloads on FTP or HTTP sites). A program computes a checksum/hash of the file and a comparison against the published data will reveal any errors that may have occured during download. Note that obviously a comparison against a mirror's published MD5 or SHA1 will not tell you if anyone monkeyed with the file on the mirror, as if they did they would have likely changed the checksums to make the files look good. I think SHA1 may be more complex than md5 but either test is valid and completely reliable for determining if the ISO file is good. There is absolutely no need to do both a md5 test and a SHA1 test. I personally use the MD5 test, but the choice of which to use can be determined by which tools you have or use most. For more details see answer #1 (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/User:Harry_Kuhman) (which talks about the md5 test and offers some free programs to do the calculation for you).

[docjerry]

Thank you for your response. Perhaps after I have completed a download I will be able to implement the suggestions you have given me. I'm sorry, but I am not even at step one. My query must be the lowest possible level of under standing. I want to download but I don't know how! All I have ever done in the past is click a DOWNLOAD button and the rest was automatic. I do not know what to do with the following data to start a download.


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

cdc0e9181d9dd2f2fc71aa9c59391001c46afa3e *KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFFncLhN5jj11fjcIcRAgQeAJ42rJVpHZDuaZD8p/5jRD1f5TK/qgCfWM+F
eEw0xzD8sO2OYqJbo/L8dbQ=
=3poo
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

That is reason for this post. I intend to use the University of Florida mirror site, so hopefully it is safe. I would like to initiate an FTP transfer, but again, as mentioned above, I do not know how to use, or what to do with the info provided by the University of Florida, as copied above, to cause a download to occur.
Thank you

[Harry Kuhman]

Well, there are download links on the various mirrors and the ISO can be had that way, but I strongly suggest that even if it takes you a few minutes to download and install a Bittorrent client (and configure a router, hopefully you have one for safe Internet access), you'll still get done downloading a lot faster that way. Details are in the answer #1 link that I posted before. Or don't be afraid to use Google to search for details. You could have answered your sha1 question faster with a Google search than waiting for a response here; and it will give you all the information you need to install and configure a Bittorrent client.

[docjerry]

Thanks for trying Harry. My question is probably so basic, so simple, so beginner and so obvious to you that it is a given that I know it, but I don't. Per my perception, there are no apparent download links. At least nothing I know how to use. The following is the end of the trail of knoppix CD downloads. Example:

Index of ftp://ftp.cise.ufl.edu/pub/mirrors/knoppix/

Up to higher level directory
Name Size Last Modified
DVD 7/22/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX-CHANGELOG.txt 39 KB 1/5/2007 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso 714448 KB 12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso.md5 1 KB 12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso.md5.asc 1 KB 12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso.sha1 1 KB 12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso.sha1.asc 1 KB 12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso 713064 KB 1/4/2007 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.md5 1 KB 1/4/2007 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.md5.asc 1 KB 1/5/2007 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.sha1 1 KB 1/4/2007 12:00:00 AM
File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.sha1.asc 1 KB 1/5/2007 12:00:00 AM
File:README 1 KB 8/18/2005 12:00:00 AM
contrib 8/28/2005 12:00:00 AM
docs 6/8/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:knoppix-cheatcodes.txt 10 KB 6/2/2006 12:00:00 AM
knoppix-cover 8/28/2005 12:00:00 AM
knoppix-customize 8/28/2005 12:00:00 AM
knoppix-vortrag-als2000 8/28/2005 12:00:00 AM
md5-old 12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:packages.txt 124 KB 1/5/2007 12:00:00 AM
qemu-0.8.1 6/2/2006 12:00:00 AM
File:qemu-0.8.1-windows-README.txt 1 KB 6


I click on the current link in english: File:KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.sha1.asc

and the next thing I see is:




"---BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

cdc0e9181d9dd2f2fc71aa9c59391001c46afa3e *KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFFncLhN5jj11fjcIcRAgQeAJ42rJVpHZDuaZD8p/5jRD1f5TK/qgCfWM+F
eEw0xzD8sO2OYqJbo/L8dbQ=
=3poo
-----END PGP SIGNATURE----- "

This is the end of the trail! There is nothing more to click on. Is this the download link? How does it work?

What does one do with this information? Where in this is a download link? What part of this is a download link? And how do I get the download to work? For instance, is "KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso" the link. If so, does it go in the browser address bar as is? Or someplace else? Or is there an http://? Or something else?
BTW, I've spent hours with Google, and got lots of good info about Linux, etc, but nothing about how to use this particular mirror site info to create this particular download.

Thank you

[Harry Kuhman]

OK, some basics: I urge you to not use the mirrors. Install a Bittorrent client and download that way. Faster and much more reliable. Really.

But to try to address what you are asking about the site that you are looking at, you should understand that there are two types of mirrors, some try to download by http links on web pages. Others are FTP based. I haven't used a knoppix mirror in years (and as I mentioned had very poor results when I did). But back then I could open an FTP mirror in a browser and download the files just by clicking on them. Most files, that is, as text files will display rather than download (you have to right click and use SAVE AS to download text files). I expect that's still the case, but I can't confirm that for you. Here's why:

Since I last used the Knoppix mirrors, I've downloaded and installed the FireFTP extension for Firefox. It's an FTP client that integrates into the browser and gives better control over FTP sites. (I still use FTP for some things, but not for Knoppix downloads). Since I have FireFTP installed, I can't see the site in my browser as you do, I see an FTP client. I could download the Knoppix ISO and the other files with that, but it would be extremely foolish to do that, so I'm not going to do that and I'm not going to walk you through the steps that I would use to get the files that way.

I hope that help explain why things look a little different. You're looking at an FTP site. I don't know (or frankly, care) which browser you are using, but most browsers are written to let you download files from FTP sites fine. But it really is better to do it by Bittorrent when downloading Knoppix.

Clearly you are not a regular Bittorrent user or you would just get the files that way. But just because you have not used it before is no reason to gloss over it and keep going back to the mirrors. You seem to be here because you an interest in getting an exposure to Linux. You want to learn new things. Let me suggest that it will be well worth your time and effort to download a Bittorrent client and install it. There should be plenty of details in the downloading FAQ. Don't be afraid to try it.

[docjerry]

I used bittorrent to download Knoppix DVD,~4.14 GB. Took >14 hours! with a 1.5 MBPS download speed DSL connection.
Later I downloaded FireFTP into Firefox (my default browser) and, as you stated, the FTP client steps in and offers to download. Without FireFTP Firefox didn't do that. Thats why I was in mystery at why there was nothing to click on. However, I now see I most likely could have used the info on that final page to put "ftp:// KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso " into the Firefox address bar to start an FTP download, which is the answer to my initial question. (I didn't know about 'ftp://' at that time) But I didn't do that because I have the DVD now. I may later to create a CD to use on an older computer without a DVD reader, just to see how fast the 700MB file for CD will download with FireFTP.
Yes, I am interested in learning new things. I'm particularly tired of Windows. Not that its such a bad system, as I am not not that sophisticated, to really know all about that, but because I seem to spend more time fooling with anti virus, anti spyware, anti malware, anti rootkit scans, their software and their updates, removing unnecessary startup processes, windows updates, MSoffice updates, cleaning up unnecessary processes in the task manager, sudden crashes and slowdowns, restarts, disk checks, defrags, and on and on, that I barely have time to get to use my computer for anything fun or productive. It's mostly diagnosis, maintenance and repair. I'm hoping something like ubuntu will minimize all that and make computers more fun. Knoppix is my first toe in the water.
Thanks for your help

[Harry Kuhman]

I used bittorrent to download Knoppix DVD,~4.14 GB. Took >14 hours! with a 1.5 MBPS download speed DSL connection.
The speed depends on many things. Obviously your network connection and how your ISP connects to the rest of the world are big factors. And configuring your router/firewall so that inbound torrent requests are properly routed and honored is extremely important, as BitTorrent is designed to deliberately slow down if people don't configure their system to share the segments that they have already downloaded while they are downloading the rest. Over 14 hours may seem high, but remember that this is a file over 4 gig in size. Back when I did use the mirrors, I sometimes took longer than that to get the 700 meg CD version on a 1.5 DSL connection. I remember getting estimates of over 24 hours to download a CD version from a mirror, and sometimes shopping many mirrors before I could find one that would download the CD version as quickly as you got the DVD version. And even then the ISO ended up corrupted about half of the time! Now I've managed to download the DVD version in about 2 hours (with a 6 gig DSL connection). I have a friend who works at a university with a very high speed pipe, and he managed to download one of the 5.x DVD versions on the day it was released (fewer seeders and more demand) in under 30 minutes! Sure, try FTP if you want for the 5.1.1 CD version. Be sure to check that md5 or sha1 though, as FTP downloads can be subject to frequent problems.


... as you stated, the FTP client steps in and offers to download. Without FireFTP Firefox didn't do that. Thats why I was in mystery at why there was nothing to click on. However, I now see I most likely could have used the info on that final page to put "ftp:// KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso " into the Firefox address bar....
You shouldn't have to do that. Most browsers do indeed give you a link that you can download directly. In fact, I just dusted off an old machine with an older version of Firefox in it and no FireFTP, and that's what happens for me. I used the same URL that you gave above. A page opens labeled Index of ftp://ftp.cise.ufl.edu/pub/mirrors/knoppix/ . Down the left side of the page are a number of different blue links, when I click on the one (about 3 down) marked KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso a dialog box opens saying "Opening KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso " and giving me the option to save it to disk. You should be able to see a copy of the screen that I see that will allow me to download the ISO file with no cut-and-paste operations here (http://img223.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ftpyt3.jpg). Maybe there is less support being put in some newer browsers for FTP sites, but I've never seen a browser that wouldn't do this (except when I had FireFTP installed). I would like to have seen your system when it wasn't doing this, but now that you have FireFTP installed it will get involved in opening FTP sites, and I doubt that there is any merit in removing FireFTP just to see how your system was giving you problems.

[docjerry]

I did do a speed test at 'speedtest.qwest.net' that indicated my speed at that moment was 1147 MBPS, which is within the normal range for me of 1500+ to 1000. Wouldn't that take into account any firewall issues? The only firewall on this computer is from the router, and I'm told they are pretty good. I did notice that uploads were occurring during my download, although by the time I shut down my computer only about 1.5 gigs had been uploaded vs 4.14 gigs downloaded. I didn't see anything in the Bittorrent FAQ's about configuring router firewalls. That seems like a whole new area of expertise!
Sometimes I think we live in a perpetual Twilight Zone. I report my experience as accurately as I can, but it is unrepeatable by others. Go figure????? Anyway, I'm better off for this forum experience and I thank you for your knowledge, experience and willingness to help and share. I will be printing out your responses, as I expect there is a lot in there that I will be able use again and again.
docjerry

[Harry Kuhman]

.... The only firewall on this computer is from the router, and I'm told they are pretty good. I did notice that uploads were occurring during my download, although by the time I shut down my computer only about 1.5 gigs had been uploaded vs 4.14 gigs downloaded. I didn't see anything in the Bittorrent FAQ's about configuring router firewalls. That seems like a whole new area of expertise!
Wow, I had assumed that you had indeed configured your router (both because I had tried to stress how important it was previously and because I didn't expect that you would get the file in anywhere near 14 hours without configuring the router. I guess you got lucky, most likely because there are currently so many more seeders compared to downloaders. But you'll want to configure it for best performance and certainly if you try to download other things or if you try to get a newer version of Knoppix that has fewer seeders or more downloaders. I'm not going to write up a whole tutorial on this subject, there are plenty already. You just need to forward the ports that you will use to get to the proper computer on the local side of the network. I suggest that you do a Google search on the terms bittorrent router configure and read a few of the things that float to the top. I'll try to answer questions if needed.