Thread Panel

[jabalsad]

Hi,

I'm not entirely sure whether this is classified as a bug or just the intention of the developer but anyway...

The thread panel that displays all the server connections and status of each thread can only display up to 99 threads. Why is this? What if I have 100+ threads running? Are those threads actually running in the background but just not displayed in the panel or how?

Well i'd appreciate any feedback, and thanks for a great client.

[davidq666]

how come u have 100+ threads? to my knowledge giganews and some other allows 20 connections. haven't seen any provider allowing more so would have to have more than 5 accounts... seem quite odd and expensive too

[EyeBaller]

Hahaha.. people come up with the craziest stuff....

[noons]

There is no reason one would need more then 20 threads right now. Your supposed to use the minimum amount of threads needed to utilize your entire connection and anything more could actually slow your downloads down. alt.binz can handle 99 threads, but even that is an absurd amount. I highly recommend cutting your threads down to 10 see if you max your connection if you do lower it till 9. I can fully utilize a 30 mb connection with 10 threads. With a 10mbit connection i usually only need 6. 

[jabalsad]

Heh, it does sound absurd- I know

Its a requirement of the circumstance I'm in. Our news server only provides about 2KB/s - 4KB/s per thread, sometimes even less. Sadly I can't move to to another news server either, our options in .za are kind of limited.

But I'll understand if alt.binz was not intended to do that, I'll see which other clients are available. So far the only real reliable one other than alt.binz is GrabIt but the features are really lacking.

[davidq666]

Za? South Africa?
just out of curiosity:

What's the name of this strange provider?
and why you can't change usenet provider?

[Rdl]

Heh, it does sound absurd- I know

Its a requirement of the circumstance I'm in. Our news server only provides about 2KB/s - 4KB/s per thread, sometimes even less. Sadly I can't move to to another news server either, our options in .za are kind of limited.

But I'll understand if alt.binz was not intended to do that, I'll see which other clients are available. So far the only real reliable one other than alt.binz is GrabIt but the features are really lacking.

99 connection was just some limit I've set. That limit could have been set way higher

[noons]

Why cant you just use a better provider. Could always use ssl connection for any type of filtering they may have.

[jabalsad]

Ok then let me explain myself even more clearly.

In .za we have three main Service Providers and then lots of sub providers which each actually just sell bandwidth of the main providers. Two of the main providers have Usenet servers which allow binaries and obviously you need to be a subscriber to that provider to use its usenet server. International bandwidth is way too expensive for downloading large content as you pay per GB, so which forces you to resort to the use of local bandwidth as efficiently as possible. Unless I move to another country, i will not be able to just switch Usenet servers: I am forced to use a local server, and both my choices are equally unattractive.

Anyway, I don't really *require* the use of more than 99 threads. On my adsl line, i manage to download at about 150KB/s to 200KB/s odd running 99 threads which is quite acceptable. I was only playing around to see if I can actually max out the speed of my line. Or there might be times when I want to get something downloaded as fast as possible, but its no biggie.

Thanks for the help

[jabalsad]

Za? South Africa?
just out of curiosity:

What's the name of this strange provider?
and why you can't change usenet provider?

Oh they are called Internet Solutions. The other provider is called South African Internet Exchange (SAIX). The third provider is UUNET (Verizon) but they dont allow binaries.

[davidq666]

...Two of the main providers have Usenet servers which allow binaries and obviously you need to be a subscriber to that provider to use its usenet server. International bandwidth is way too expensive for downloading large content as you pay per GB, so which forces you to resort to the use of local bandwidth as efficiently as possible...

So Your ISP is charging you by GB if the traffic comes from international usenet-servers?

If not so you could freely choose any usenet provider you wish. In Germany for example i don't know of any ISP who still carries binaries that would be worth your while, thats why over here everybody using binary usenet has a second provider just for usenet wether the providers servers are located in the Netherlands or USA doesn't realy matter...

much liked as only usenet-providers are:

for example:

flat:

-iusenet (cheap flatrate without speed cap 110 days retention) 9,95 $ (with ssl) http://www.iusenet.com/
-giganews (expensive flatrate without speed cap but 200 day retention) 24,95 $ (without ssl) 29,95 $ (with ssl) http://www.giganews.com

with 4 Mbit-speedlimit (120 day retention): 4,50 € (with ssl) http://www.gebruikhet.net/

[Hecks]

As he said, all international traffic is charged at extortionate rates.  Sounds like there's a market for a local usenet provider in SA who can make savings on volume supply and pass these on to customers, or at least set them up with a decently powered server or two.  2-4 kb per thread is stone-age stuff.  Maybe a not-for-proft cooperative or something would inject a bit of competiton where it's needed.

[jabalsad]

Well at the very least, they do cache articles depending on how often that article is requested. Should you be downloading a cached article, the speeds are always maxing out your ADSL line. The problem comes in when requesting uncached articles :/