6 replies to this topic

[abezors]

Hi all,

I'm running a Leopard server as a general home server: file sharing, VNC, Time Machine and occasionally Xgrid.

I want to use it as a download box as well, eg queue Rapidshare/torrents on it and let them finish without tying up my main Mac waiting for them to complete. It's easy enough to VNC to the server and start a download going. However, I was wondering if there is a way to send download "jobs" from any computer on the network to the server?

I'm not talking about Download Linked File As > browsing to the server HDD. But a script or even application that can be used to "catch" download links and send them to the server to start.  

Indeed, if it had a pop-up dialog box asking which Mac to download on that would be helpful... Or even, any files over say 50mb are automatically sent to the server, and small downloads continue on the computer that is currently browsing. Those features might be asking too much though.


Any ideas? I've used Folx and Jdownloader before, so if there's a download manager that could be set up in a client/server role that could be feasible also.

[twonine]

The absolute best method I've found is using Watch Folders and Dropbox together.

Dropbox is an app that creates an automatically synced folder on your computers, so that if you change a file in one location, it updates it instantly in all other locations.

I use it with Transmission for torrents. I set my home machine's Transmission Watch Folder to watch the Dropbox folder, and then on any other machine I can drop the .torrent file in the Dropbox folder and Transmission at home will instantly pick it up and start downloading.

I use Dropbox with Transmission for torrents and SABnzbd for newsgroups. I'm not sure about Rapidshare, since I hate it with an undying passion  

[abezors]

twonine, on Oct 14 2009, 11:46 PM, said:

The absolute best method I've found is using Watch Folders and Dropbox together.

Ahh, I will have to look at that - it sounds like a winning combination, thanks!

I'll have a look if I can get any other download managers to use a similar idea to a .torrent, like maybe dropping a file URL in the synched folder.

[broken]

twonine, on Oct 14 2009, 06:46 PM, said:

The absolute best method I've found is using Watch Folders and Dropbox together.

Dropbox is an app that creates an automatically synced folder on your computers, so that if you change a file in one location, it updates it instantly in all other locations.

I use it with Transmission for torrents. I set my home machine's Transmission Watch Folder to watch the Dropbox folder, and then on any other machine I can drop the .torrent file in the Dropbox folder and Transmission at home will instantly pick it up and start downloading.

I use Dropbox with Transmission for torrents and SABnzbd for newsgroups. I'm not sure about Rapidshare, since I hate it with an undying passion  

I use a very similar system myself, except I don't use DropBox. I have on my server a shared out watch folder that both Transmission and SABnzbd watch.  In my case I have an alias on my main machines desktop that points to that watch folder. Then I just drag and drop a nzb or torrent into that folder and their respective apps grab and process them.

Could always create an Automator workflow to handle that as well. Hmmm... might need to do that some time.

Lots of creative ways to handle this.

[abezors]

broken, on Oct 16 2009, 02:22 AM, said:

I use a very similar system myself, except I don't use DropBox....

Could always create an Automator workflow to handle that as well. Hmmm... might need to do that some time.

I see, very useful thank you Yes, Automator is one thing that has hundreds of uses but I've never got round to figuring it out, well that and Applescript (or is it the same thing..?). I used to write simple scripts or programs a couple of years ago so I might try and come up with some sorta script or workflow.

Many thanks for your ideas  

[Embio]

what about the transmission web interface?

[abezors]

Embio, on Oct 19 2009, 08:52 AM, said:

what about the transmission web interface?

Yes, I've thought about using it - though I'd prefer some integration with Finder really. I may look into it, but I'm looking for drag-and-drop functionality (dropping a URL link or something into a shared network folder, for example).

These days I rarely use torrents though, so HTTP downloads are the main priority (eg Rapidshare, MegaUpload etc).

Now I had a feeling some torrent client could actually process web downloads as well, can't remember which. Perhaps it was a download manager that could also handle torrents... If I can use one app to handle all download requests that would be useful.