Website, semi-broken torrent links

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Arioch
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:48 am

Website, semi-broken torrent links

#1 Post by Arioch » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:06 am

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

When i click on the torrent link, web-site reports that file is ZIP (you can see it in any tool showing HTTP negotiations, be it telnet, something like ReGet or LiveHeaders).

This makes my browser ignore the download and save torrent file as ZIP instead of downloading the very Zip. However after renaming file to torrent and reopening it from disk - it downloads ok, but it is not convenient :-)


PS: Since you advertise 7-zip - why don't you publish in 7z format ? modern archivers can unpack it, and it (looking at the EXE size) is to be smaller than ZIP.
EXE file without some ISO burner within perhaps is not enough to be called installer and hence have not more value than any other archive.
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Victor Chew
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#2 Post by Victor Chew » Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:00 am

Anyone else has this problem? I tried both Firefox and IE on my machine (WinXP SP2) and could reproduce it.

The EXE format is actually self-extracting 7-Zip (that contains the ISO image). It is not an installer. I chose self-extracting EXE instead of .7z because not everybody has 7-Zip (or equivalent) installed.

That way, if someone has 7-Zip or similar on another platform, he will still be able to extract the file. But a less-technical user who doesn't have 7-Zip installed will benefit from the smaller self-extracting EXE size too.
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Constance
Posts: 338
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2005 1:21 am
Location: France

#3 Post by Constance » Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:35 am

Well, I'm wondering how pertinent it is to let non-technical users use this boot CD ...
Hammerite Compendium of Precepts, Regimens and Rules of Conduct, Vol. 113 :
A stroke of thy chisel, once made, canst be undone, but a stroke thou dost not make from fear is a worse flaw.
Be not cautious - be correct.
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Arioch
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:48 am

#4 Post by Arioch » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:14 am

IE and default Mozilla override HTTP RFC and ignore file type claimed by server.
Opera strictly follows HTTP RFC and respects file type reported by server - which is misleading this time.
It is twice pity, since Opera can download from BitTorrent - if only server is configured following HTTP and MIME file types RFCs.
Known not about 4th major browser - Safari+Konqueror.

7zip is now supported in all modern archivers, from WinRar to Power Archiver.
Less technical experienced user will not download zip or 7z - it will confuse him even with ZIP built into XP - he will rather download ISO, and then crash his head thinking what to do with it.

Installer, if must be, must really be "run and forget" tool, instaling (in this context - burning) Ultimate Boot CD to system.
Otherwise, less experienced user will - turst me - open that ISO file in that very WinZIP/WinRAR/7-ZIP/ISO-Buster and "extract file to...", then he will burn that very files to usual default project in Nero Express and will crash his head tryign to boot from "ultimate unbootable CD"
He would never think ISO is somehow related to burning, he will hardly look at its icon (even will he - it would be made in same style with other archives, his multi-format archiver will support), user will just click onto it, open it into so archiver and treat it the same way as zip/7z/whatever - extract files from it to burn it to CD.


That, leaving aside what will less experienced user do with with its system, using this CD with all its tools :-)
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Victor Chew
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#5 Post by Victor Chew » Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:13 am

I think I have fixed this by adding the appropriate MIME type to .htaccess on the server.

Please let me know if you continue to hit any problems with Opera.
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Arioch
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Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:48 am

#6 Post by Arioch » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:57 am

Ok, this time Opera started downloading .exe just as any other file. Confirmed.

BTW, would "average Joe" be afraid of words such as "client" ?
Maybe re-phrase its with simplier words?
Something like...

"These are BitTorrent links. File can be downloaded with BT-enabled browser like Opera or opened in BT-enabled download manager like as uTorrent."

I think words like "link", "download", "downloader","open" are easier than "torrent file", "client", "plug"..

However, if we do count for Average Joe, trying to use such an behind-the-hood tools :-)
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Victor Chew
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#7 Post by Victor Chew » Sat Jul 14, 2007 4:05 am

Thanks for the suggestion. I will change the description for the BT links as you have suggested.
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