New preview of Classic 68k Mac utility - standalone HTTP file downloader

[aperezbios]

Thanks!

I was using 0.99.3b previously. One of the files I tested with was 'http://old.macintosh.garden/games/POP1-151.sit'. I can download it using Netscape Navigator, but the downloader fails (it says connecting, then connected, then downloads a couple of Kb, then says 'Failed to get: /games/POP1-151.sit").

It seems that the new version broke the downloading completely. When using a known-good link (works with 0.99.3b in-situ) the "Download"-button changes to "Stop" but the status stays at "Idle" and nothing else happens. I am also still getting the error message appearing partly outside the display in 0.99.5b.

Thanks for the report. When I download the above URL in a browser, it works, but when I fetch it with wget, it fails with "403 Forbidden", so they may be doing some user-agent whitelisting on the server side. We'll figure it out.

[ashwood]$ wget --save-headers --output-document - http://old.macintosh.garden/games/POP1-151.sit
--2021-09-06 09:12:42-- http://old.macintosh.garden/games/POP1-151.sit
Resolving old.macintosh.garden (old.macintosh.garden)... 2606:4700:20::ac43:49ca, 2606:4700:20::681a:b38, 2606:4700:20::681a:a38, ...
Connecting to old.macintosh.garden (old.macintosh.garden)|2606:4700:20::ac43:49ca|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 403 Forbidden
2021-09-06 09:12:42 ERROR 403: Forbidden.

 

[aperezbios]

I was using 0.99.3b previously. One of the files I tested with was 'http://old.macintosh.garden/games/POP1-151.sit'. I can download it using Netscape Navigator, but the downloader fails (it says connecting, then connected, then downloads a couple of Kb, then says 'Failed to get: /games/POP1-151.sit").

It seems that the new version broke the downloading completely. When using a known-good link (works with 0.99.3b in-situ) the "Download"-button changes to "Stop" but the status stays at "Idle" and nothing else happens. I am also still getting the error message appearing partly outside the display in 0.99.5b.

@MindWalker Try with this version: GetDownClassic-0.99.6b.sit The HTTP redirects are now _properly_ followed, and there's a proper user agent, which fixes downloading of the game URL mentioned above.

 

[aperezbios]

@MindWalker Try with this version: GetDownClassic-0.99.6b.sit The HTTP redirects are now _properly_ followed, and there's a proper user agent, which fixes downloading of the game URL mentioned above.

@MindWalker 0.99.6b has been superseded by 0.99.7b, which can be downloaded here: GetDownClassic-0.99.7b.sit

New in this version:

• An Application Icon
• The Preferences dialog box has been re-sized and now fits properly at 640x480
• HTTP return code
• Configurable User Agent string

 

[MindWalker]

Thanks!

Testing with the 0.99.7b:

• The new preference page looks great
• Preferences / 'Automatic decoding' and 'Default Download Folder' -options are greyed out and cannot be set (was already like this in previous versions, didn't notice earlier)
• Pressing Download causes immediate 'Connection failed' on all links (working with 0.99.3b)
• When the download fails, the button stays in 'Stop'-mode and new download cannot be started (program needs to be closed)
• It still has the same icon as before (square with hand holding a pen). EDIT: Oh now I see it, the purple arrow which shows up in the Application menu on the top-right corner

 

[aperezbios]

Thanks!

Testing with the 0.99.7b:

• The new preference page looks great
• Preferences / 'Automatic decoding' and 'Default Download Folder' -options are greyed out and cannot be set (was already like this in previous versions, didn't notice earlier)

These are, at present, unimplemented features.

• Pressing Download causes immediate 'Connection failed' on all links (working with 0.99.3b)
• When the download fails, the button stays in 'Stop'-mode and new download cannot be started (program needs to be closed)
• It still has the same icon as before (square with hand holding a pen). EDIT: Oh now I see it, the purple arrow which shows up in the Application menu on the top-right corner

@MindWalker, thanks for the report. That's odd. The downloads work fine both for myself and for other people with this same version, so I'll need more information about your environment to attempt to replicate the behavior. Which version of System are you using? Which machine are you testing with? How much RAM do you have free? Are you using MacTCP or OpenTransport?

 

[MindWalker]

Your customer service is faster than that of many companies

These are, at present, unimplemented features.

Ok, that explains it then

Which version of System are you using? Which machine are you testing with? How much RAM do you have free? Are you using MacTCP or OpenTransport?

I am using a Macintosh IIcx with 20MB of RAM, running System 7.1. Nothing else running, so there is about 17MB free. I am using MacTCP (as it was recommended for lower-end machines): version 2.06 + Patch to 2.1.

Strangely the 0.99.7b is now either A) 'press download -> stays idle' or B) 'press download -> 'connection failed' immediately'.

Also for some reason now that I rebooted the machine, the program now shows the new icon in Finder.

0.99.3b works every time.

 

[aperezbios]

I am using a Macintosh IIcx with 20MB of RAM, running System 7.1. Nothing else running, so there is about 17MB free. I am using MacTCP (as it was recommended for lower-end machines): version 2.06 + Patch to 2.1.

Strangely the 0.99.7b is now either A) 'press download -> stays idle' or B) 'press download -> 'connection failed' immediately'.

Also for some reason now that I rebooted the machine, the program now shows the new icon in Finder.

0.99.3b works every time.

@MindWalker Thanks for the report. Can you confirm you have the Thread Manager extension installed and loaded? The developer has tested this successfully on their IIfx running System 7.1, and it works fine there, using MacTCP. If you can figure out the version of Thread Manager (there are a least two, that I know of), that would be helpful. It's required for systems running anything below 7.5.0, as stated in the original post.

It would also be handy to know which extensions you have loading, simply for the sake of comparison.

 

[aperezbios]

@MindWalker , we've been able to reproduce the bug in another hardware environment. From my contract developer, "It's dying trying to do a DNS lookup and all the threads are blocked, but I'm not sure where the deadlock is"

So, for now, it's a "known issue" and we will get to the bottom of it eventually, but it's a potential black hole for time, so we'll revisit it later. On another note, I'd personally consider running OT 1.1.2 on any 7.1 machine with that much ram (24MB).

Finally, I'd like to invite everyone to join the conversation over at the new/follow-up thread about GetDown, which I started since the app now has a name, and it's impossible to edit old posts. I encourage anyone who is interested to continue the discussion over there.