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Introduction

"aria2fe" (the "fe" stands for "FrontEnd") is a graphical user interface (GUI) for the command line (CLI) based program aria2. aria2fe was designed and constructed using C++/Qt for the GNU Unix/Posix/Linux platform.

Essentially, the purpose of aria2fe is to construct the aria2 command line syntax and arguments from a point and click environment and to launch aria2 via xterm. Download progress monitoring is done through xterm acting as a console for aria2fe. In fact, once aria2 has been started, aria2fe can be closed which will free up the system resources (physical memory) allocated to it. xterm will continue its role as console until the download is complete.

Depending upon the type of download being done the command line for aria2 can become quite long and complex. Given that, the chance for errors (typos and incorrect arguments) increases dramatically. aria2fe diminishes the chance for errors by delivering a syntactically correct command line each and every time. Furthermore, the ability to "visualize" the command line being constructed aids the user in argument selection. Additionally, command line configurations can be saved to a "conf" file and reloaded for future use. There is no limit to the number of conf files a user may have at any one given time and a browse dialog expedites the finding and loading process for saved configurations.

aria2 is a high-speed download utility with resuming and segmented downloading. Supported protocols are HTTP/HTTPS/FTP and BitTorrent. It also supports Metalink version 3.0. As of 0.10.0 aria2 supports chunk checksums in Metalink. It validates chunk checksums while downloading files like BitTorrents. This provides a safer and more reliable download experience. It is being actively developed by Tatsuhiro Tsujikawa.

The aria2 Project page is located here. Binary packages are available on a variety of platforms and distros.

The aria2 Project download page at SourceForge.net is located here.

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License

Copyright (C) 2007, Mike Wells

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

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Features

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Requirements

  1. This program installed in your path.
  2. aria2 binary installed in your path.
  3. xterm binary installed in your path.
  4. If aria2fe fails to launch, check your permissions and lib dependencies.

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Screenshots

View all 6 screenshots here.

Note the speed of 1376KB/sec. (nearly 1.4MB/sec.) in the Console screenshot with a cable connection for a Metalink D/L!

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Documentation

All of the aria2fe documentation can be found in the /doc directory after unpacking the tarball. The rough draft documentation is still "under construction". Even so, please take a few moments to read the README, CHANGES, INSTALL and USAGE docs so that you can become familiar with aria2fe and its operation. Additionally, aria2 Help is available via the aria2fe Help Menu (Alt+H then Alt+R) and of course the "man" page associated with it.

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Download/Install

Download and unpack the tarball to your home directory (make a copy of the tarball "just in case"). The README file can be found in the parent directory and the rest of the documentation in the /doc directory. Additionally, the binary is located in the /bin directory and the source files are in /src.

Download @ sf.net    3.7MB (Unix flavor only)

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Version/Revisions

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Feedback

Feedback is appreciated; good, bad or indifferent. Please submit Feedback here.

If there are features you would to see added to aria2fe or features that could be improved, submit your requests via Feedback (above). Please be specific in your requests as well as describing the benefits to all users that will be gained if your request was to be included in aria2fe.

For the first few months post initial release I will be gathering information on which features/options/arguments should remain or be placed on the Main Window and which of them should be moved off to intermediate dialogs. This will result in a program that strives to fit the end user's needs as best possible. Your "vote" counts so please let me know which options/arguments you use most frequently.

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Donate

Although this is "free" software, all costs involved in supporting this project are directly born by me. If you find this program useful and would like to contribute towards its continuing development as well as offset site hosting, domain name, and other related costs, please consider making a small donation via PayPal (Account: mike_wells@cox.net). Doing so will place you on a priority mailing list for bug fixes, updates and future releases.

It goes without saying that a donation is certainly appreciated and I will personally thank you then, and in advance as well! You can donate here.

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Contact

Bugs, questions, comments or derogatory remarks should be addressed via the Tracker/Forum navbar links here. Elsewise you can email the author directly at aria2fe@cox.net.