Ensisoft releases Newsflash Plus 3.3.1

[ensisoft]

Hello,

Newsflash Plus 3.3.0b5 has been released with some major improvements. Please do note that it is a beta version so there are some rough edges. Any feedback is appreciated.

Also note that this is a completely free release for both platforms Windows and Linux.

http://www.ensisoft.com

I hope you enjoy using Newsflash Plus as much as I enjoy developing it. :naughty:

[zot]

Great news. It's always nice to get communication from a developer. There's nothing like releasing free software to stand out from the pack and to build up a userbase. :)

As I said in another post, Newsflash's lack of fill-server support is what keeps me from using it, as just about all other modern clients support fill-servers (and it's bailed me out plenty of times). A lot of people just use a single provider (and complain about incompletes), but I preach the gospel of blockaccount fillservers. Hopefully it's on the list as a future feature.

[maphongbax]

I thought it was only free for linux. Do you intend to keep the program free permanently ?

[ensisoft]

I thought it was only free for linux. Do you intend to keep the program free permanently ?

Yes.

[stillwaiting]

Hello Sami ,have been testing it for couple days now and


1.Amazing what a man with a coding skill can do

2.Sami,you got the only good free program that handles headers,very good indeed!
even altbinz can not do that because he dont have the skills.

3.change name to sami the headerbinzer,name newsflash plus is not my cup of tea
was name newsflash taken(irony) flash is fast but with a plus does it go faster than speed of light
yes, im ranting but you got a great program so,why not a better name.

couple points i want to make, its was first very confusing how to manage headers.
and also to limit the header downloading is in %,but now when i got hang of it i like it.

using words like flush,expunge,boost,prefer secure,yield,clone is also little bit confusing.

use of search/newsnab,open nbz tabs must be better explained.
(search shows only old files)

here is faster par: http://paulhoule.com/phpar2/index.php or
http://www.chuchusoft.com/par2_tbb/download.html


reqs:

a start button before pause

a button go to downloads folder

when adding a server: enable disable server and max conn per server

RSS-feed import,(if this is done there is no other programs that is better out there!)

adding search by https://www.nzbindex.com/ and https://www.binsearch.info/


bugs: it doesent del dl rars and pars?

help - protocol c not supported

[ensisoft]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Most people just don't bother to provide any feedback and as a single developer without the resources to do usability studies etc. so developing end user friendly software is difficult.

@zot - Yes server priorization is on the list potentially, just got few things to sort out. I.e. it's easy to get it working for NZB based downloading (RSS feed/Search/NZB files) but for headers it is trickier. Anyway it won't make the coming 3.3.0 release.

@stillwaiting - Thanks for the phpar2 link.


RSS-feed import,(if this is done there is no other programs that is better out there!)

Can you clarify what RSS feed are you referring to and what does importing mean in this context?


it doesent del dl rars and pars?

Yep, although this is more like an unimplemented feature though. Easy enough to do with the embedded python.


help - protocol c not supported

Sorry, can you clarify what does this mean?


Thanks guys!

br,
ensi

[zot]

@zot - Yes server priorization is on the list potentially, just got few things to sort out. I.e. it's easy to get it working for NZB based downloading (RSS feed/Search/NZB files) but for headers it is trickier.
Then to speed up implementation, I'd suggest prioritising servers ONLY for NZB downloading (and falling back to a single server for headers). I think that header-originated downloads will tend be much less in need of fillservers because many people -like myself- only use headers for smaller files like MP3s. And without compressed headers (as it seems Newsflash doesn't support header compression) a person would be crazy to try to download headers in large groups like a.b.dvd.

The big files (most probably downloaded by NZB anyway) when incomplete can take an extremely long time to par-fix on an old PC -- even longer than to re-download over again from another server. That's one reason why I think fillserver support is a lot more important for NZB downloads than for header downloads.

[stillwaiting]

You truly have taken a big task to code a usefull usenet client by yourself ,once again kudos for that

Zot,you are spot on, i do like a client that can dl headers and also uses a search indexing sites to create and import nzbs.

you should see how Unzbin client(http://www.unzbin.com/) handles custom rss-feeds from search engines like nzbindex.com or binsearch.info
exmpel:http://rss.binsearch.net/rss.php?max=50&g=alt.binaries.tv it also have a auto-download feature.

about rars and pars: yes,there should be auto delete box for those files

bug: when i click on help? firefox popup (Firefox doesn't know how to open this address,
because the protocol (c) isn't associated with any program).

[ensisoft]

Hello all,

I have released Newsflash Plus 3.3.0b6 (yes beta6). This version will be quite close to the final release which will come in sync with the first Newznab release. This version includes some 20 odd fixes and a few small enhancements.

@stillwaiting
I've added a script for deleting all .par2 and .rar files after successful repair. One can now enable/disable this feature in settings. Also I've fixed the help bug you reported. Thanks for reporting.

About Usenet indexing and searching. I am not going support search for different sites with each one of them having different APIs and response feeds (such as binsearch.info, nzbmatrix.org, nzbs.org etc) because this would be too tedious.
What I am going to support however is the FREE INDEXING SERVICE called Newznab (www.newznab.com). However please do note that the currently Newznab is still under development and the first official release is coming out soonish. So hopefully in the future sites running Newznab will provide enough searching potential to cater for most needs. Additionally the Newznab WEB API is well documented and provides a simple API even for all clients to use (afaik Sickbeard is doing integration).

For other searching purposes and automation it's easy to have Newsflash Plus watch a group of folders for .nzb files and then just save the .nzb files in those folders with the browser etc. and have the application pick them up for downloading on the background.


Thank you all.

- ensi

[c0ld]

newznab is going to be awesome. hopefully we'll have more niche community run indexing sites.

[UseNetLover]

Hey envisoft, could your company develop a version of Mac Snow Leopard PLEASE? Thanks

[sassan]

Thank you for making this client, it's great.

But one thing I'm missing is grouping of the download, similar to alt.binz

Either way, thanks :)

[MultiForce]

Loving it so far. Tried a few others but always went back to Alt.Binz mostly because they had issues when downloading large collections.

ETA on files are nice but I would want to see ETA on the total., or at least on each release/"NZB".
Is it possible to get it to show all the files under the NZB name in the downloads window so you can show/hide the list of file names (like Alt.Binz)? It's a bit hard to see what release is finished etc.
ETA/speed on taskbar would be nice.

"Yield", "Clone", "Delete Connection" and "Flush" does what?

It doesn't seem to automatically sort after date or whatever when you refresh RSS, you have to click on date to get it to sort it (yeah I'm lazy).

A really dark theme would be nice (good old terminal green on black maybe:P) ;)

[ensisoft]

Hi guys,

@UseNetLover - Yes I could develop a Mac version... except that I don't have a mac :( So no Mac version right now. Sorry.

@sassan - Thanks :)

@MultiForce - Thanks, that's a second request for grouping of the downloads into releases. I quite like this idea.. I have to chew on it for a while to figure out how to do it but yeah it's definitely doable.


"Yield", "Clone", "Delete Connection" and "Flush" does what? These are probably a little bit unintuitive concepts for the users, which is bad desing on my behalf. It's just very difficult to translate concepts that are obvious to you for users. Anyway here's a quick recap:

Yield = Request the currently selected connection to be given a new download to work on. If there are downloads with higher priority they are considered before normal priority ones.
Clone = Create a new connection based on selected existing connection, basically "duplicate"
Delete connection = well... delete's a connection, removes a connection, disconnects a single connection. Don't know how to explain it :)
Flush = This is a bit bad and only involves headers. If you're downloading headers and you don't want to wait for the whole process to finish you can just "flush" them onto the disk. So you can start browsing while letting the process to continue.

Please, if you have suggestions how to formulate the concepts better on the UI I'm all ears. (And if everything else fails.. there's always the help file ;))


It doesn't seem to automatically sort after date or whatever when you refresh RSS, you have to click on date to get it to sort it (yeah I'm lazy). Yep, this is an unimplemented feature. I'm lazy too ;)


A really dark theme would be niceUnfortunately the theme engines come preinstalled with the toolkit (Qt)... maybe in the future.

[zot]

Since I've destroyed a few hard drives downloading, a disk caching feature is something I welcome in a client. For instance, Unzbin has a simple MB memory-cache amount setting, and Usenet Explorer has an option to store and decode articles completely in memory and so only write out the finished rar file to disk.

Basically, anything to keep the hard drive from constantly thrashing as it downloads. (some of the older newsreaders and P2P clients would thrash drives even downloading at dialup speed, and so wear out hard disks with only a few GB downloaded, at least in my experience)


I would agree that Altbinz has a nice download page layout, with all the stats and groupings laid out in an easy-to-read manner.

For header layout, I liked the way that NewsReactor grouped its headers into rars and then grouped all rars in a release into a single title. Simple but effective.

[ensisoft]

Since I've destroyed a few hard drives downloading, a disk caching feature is something I welcome in a client. For instance, Unzbin has a simple MB memory-cache amount setting, and Usenet Explorer has an option to store and decode articles completely in memory and so only write out the finished rar file to disk.


Newsflash has a setting for setting max file size for in memory decoding. When a binary is decoded in memory all the data is kept in memory untill it's complete and is then written to disk in one go.

[zot]

Excellent. I guess I completely missed the "Treshold" setting :)

Will future versions come with an uninstaller? Does NewsFlash create any Windows registry keys or install files anywhere other than its installation directory?

Also, it's not a major issue for me, but it would be nice to be able to change the download order of files. (Sometimes a release contains files named in such a way that both CD1 and CD2 will get downloaded at the same time, instead of completing CD1 before starting CD2)

One more small point..... It seems that the number of connections remains constant across every server in Newsflash. It can take me 4x or 5x as many connections to max out my line using the UE server as it does the US server. If I'm using the free ISP usenet server, I'm only allowed 2 connections, and if I request more than that, the download will sometimes hang up and stall, saying that I've exceeded the connection limit. (this is why I always stop short of using the maximum number of allowable connections on any server: the server will punish me thinking I'm too greedy) Also, I've discovered that old files often need more server connections than recent material, for reasons I've never quite understood. My favorite feature of (old versions of) Grabit was the fact that I could change the number of connections on the fly, just by checking or unchecking a series of boxes on the front page -- and this feature I used quite often.

A possible easy workaround to Newsflash's connection issue might be to install several installations of Newsflash: one copy for connecting to the ISP server, one copy for the pay-server, etc. -- if Newsflash supports multiple installations.

That's all I can think of for now. NewsFlash is looking very good.

[ensisoft]

Excellent. I guess I completely missed the "Treshold" setting :)

Will future versions come with an uninstaller? Does NewsFlash create any Windows registry keys or install files anywhere other than its installation directory?

I hope I have the time and motivation to create a proper installer one day. So yeah, uninstaller is on the todo list. Just don't know when. And no, the application creates no registry entries whatsoever. In fact the readme.txt contains directions how to *completely* remove the application (just delete 2 folders). Sorry for the inconvenience.



Also, it's not a major issue for me, but it would be nice to be able to change the download order of files. (Sometimes a release contains files named in such a way that both CD1 and CD2 will get downloaded at the same time, instead of completing CD1 before starting CD2)


You should be able to do this... Downloads tab contains up/down/bottom/top buttons for moving selected tasks in the queue.



One more small point..... It seems that the number of connections remains constant across every server in Newsflash. It can take me 4x or 5x as many connections to max out my line using the UE server as it does the US server. If I'm using the free ISP usenet server, I'm only allowed 2 connections, and if I request more than that, the download will sometimes hang up and stall, saying that I've exceeded the connection limit. (this is why I always stop short of using the maximum number of allowable connections on any server: the server will punish me thinking I'm too greedy) Also, I've discovered that old files often need more server connections than recent material, for reasons I've never quite understood. My favorite feature of (old versions of) Grabit was the fact that I could change the number of connections on the fly, just by checking or unchecking a series of boxes on the front page -- and this feature I used quite often.

A possible easy workaround to Newsflash's connection issue might be to install several installations of Newsflash: one copy for connecting to the ISP server, one copy for the pay-server, etc. -- if Newsflash supports multiple installations.

That's all I can think of for now. NewsFlash is looking very good.

Yep, right now the maximum connections per server is a global setting, but I'm planning on moving this to be per server instead.

Right now however you can manually create/remove connections per each server on the Downloads tab. Simply select a connection and either Clone or Delete it. Cloning creates a new connection to the same server with the same properties (credentials/SSL etc) and Deleting removes a connection. HTH.

Thanks for the input. :)

[Cabalo]

I was just poking around on newsflash and knowing it's the work of only one coder, it's a pretty impressive software. What I like the most is being able to search through headers and manually update groups and search through their headers.
It makes me nostalgic. See, I started on newsgroups way before the NZB was invented, and it was always a nice feeling browsing through the groups and checking what's new.

Good job indeed, and please keep going.

[zot]

MAJOR BUG! - automatic deletion of paused or "incomplete" downloads

I hope this 'deletion bug' only applies to par files, which happened to be my case. I think the only situation in which software should ever be allowed to automatically delete downloaded files might be *optionally* upon successful par-repair and unrar of the finished files. (even if a download is properly judged as being "unrepairable" just means I need to download the missing parts from another source) I had just paused the download and I did not even complete the download and Newsflash deleted all the files that had already downloaded. (I will turn this thing off in the scripts page and do my own par checking and unraring - and suggest that other users consider also disabling those functions for now)

http://i33.tinypic.com/2pyqr6b.jpg

Are these logs written to a file? I couldn't find any log files, so I had to post a screenshot instead. I had several other suggestions to make, but for now I think this problem is of the highest priority.

[ensisoft]

MAJOR BUG! - automatic deletion of paused or "incomplete" downloads

I hope this 'deletion bug' only applies to par files, which happened to be my case. I think the only situation in which software should ever be allowed to automatically delete downloaded files might be *optionally* upon successful par-repair and unrar of the finished files. (even if a download is properly judged as being "unrepairable" just means I need to download the missing parts from another source) I had just paused the download and I did not even complete the download and Newsflash deleted all the files that had already downloaded. (I will turn this thing off in the scripts page and do my own par checking and unraring - and suggest that other users consider also disabling those functions for now)

Are these logs written to a file? I couldn't find any log files, so I had to post a screenshot instead. I had several other suggestions to make, but for now I think this problem is of the highest priority.

Hi,

yep deleting any par/rar files should only be done after a successful repair.

Can you provide me steps to replicate the problem and I'll fix asap. Btw you can report this through the built-in feedback system. Thanks for reporting and sorry for the inconvenience.

-ensi

[zot]

No need to apologise, that's part of being a beta-tester or early adopter. :) Believe me, I've had much worse things happen in the past, like having critical system files irreversibly overwritten by an application's installation sequence. (That's why I greatly prefer to try out software offered as a zip file instead of an installation package.)

I also think there would be a lot more user response if there was a public discussion forum for talking about Newsflash and reporting bugs. I always try to see if other people have already discussed an issue before starting a new topic. With sending a email or PM directly to the developer, there's no way to know if the same problem has already been reported a hundred times before.

But back on topic...........

As for the deletion bug: I had paused the downloading files, but because I did not see the PAR2 files (since they were out of sight below the edge of the window in the download pane) I did not pause the pars and they continued to download. Only the pars were downloaded, not any other files (which were all paused). Once the pars downloaded, Newsflash performed a parity check (on the non-existent files), reported a failure, and then deleted all the par files. :(


That brings up another point: pausing and resuming a download

If I need to suddenly pause all downloads and close all connections, Newsflash requires a series of mouse-clicks and scroll actions to accomplish this. In recent years it seems it's become a kind of universal standard on various P2P and NZB clients to have a "kill switch" on the upper left corner of the GUI - where Newsflash's existing "pause" button sits. But Newsflash's "pause" button only pauses the previously highlighted file/rar being downloaded --not the entire set- so then the next file in the queue will automatically start downloading when the current one is paused. It's a very convenient feature to have a button to open and close all connections to the server in one click - and many other applications do this.

So I'd like to suggest a one-click "kill-all-connections" -switch/"resume-all connections" -switch. Similar to Emule and Altbinz.


A tiny issue:
Newsflash's default port setting for "Secure Server (SSL)" is 443, rather than the standard SSL port 563.

[baskinghobo]

hmmm interesting. i prefer sabnzbd+ though.

[Duron]

Newznab is what Newsflash Plus (http://filesharingtalk.com/threads/421129-Ensisoft-releases-Newsflash-Plus-3.3.0-beta-5) uses.

http://www.ensisoft.com/index.php

Can you explain this please? I thought newznab is supposed to be a web based service not in a newsreader?

[ensisoft]

Newznab is what Newsflash Plus (http://filesharingtalk.com/threads/421129-Ensisoft-releases-Newsflash-Plus-3.3.0-beta-5) uses.

http://www.ensisoft.com/index.php

Can you explain this please? I thought newznab is supposed to be a web based service not in a newsreader?

Newznab is a server side service. It is a a set of automated scripts to build a NZB index using headers. But it also it comes with a web frontend so you can easily run it as a web site similar to nzbs.org. But on top of that it specifies an external API for for applications doing searches against the index over HTTP. In other words Newsflash can run searches against Newznab indexing sites. The search performs on the server, search response comes back to the application which displays it. When an item is being downloaded the NZB content is also fetched from the server.

[ensisoft]

No need to apologise, that's part of being a beta-tester or early adopter. :) Believe me, I've had much worse things happen in the past, like having critical system files irreversibly overwritten by an application's installation sequence. (That's why I greatly prefer to try out software offered as a zip file instead of an installation package.)



Those who know me personally know how much I rant about crappy software. IMHO there's no excuse for it. But software is a difficult undertaking and bugs happen. :(



I also think there would be a lot more user response if there was a public discussion forum for talking about Newsflash and reporting bugs. I always try to see if other people have already discussed an issue before starting a new topic. With sending a email or PM directly to the developer, there's no way to know if the same problem has already been reported a hundred times before.


That's a very nice approach. :) However I think that for a lot of people posting and issue on a forum that requires registration etc. requires too many steps. I know I'm quilty of this. So therefore using an email or the built-in feedback system is ok with me.

But yeah.. I started a forum which you can find here http://www.ensisoft.com/forum It will probably always remain empty cause getting some discussion would require some actual users hahaha :) Let me know if you want to move the discussion over there.



But back on topic...........

As for the deletion bug: I had paused the downloading files, but because I did not see the PAR2 files (since they were out of sight below the edge of the window in the download pane) I did not pause the pars and they continued to download. Only the pars were downloaded, not any other files (which were all paused). Once the pars downloaded, Newsflash performed a parity check (on the non-existent files), reported a failure, and then deleted all the par files. :(


FIXED in the next release! Thanks for reporting that was nasty.



That brings up another point: pausing and resuming a download

If I need to suddenly pause all downloads and close all connections, Newsflash requires a series of mouse-clicks and scroll actions to accomplish this. In recent years it seems it's become a kind of universal standard on various P2P and NZB clients to have a "kill switch" on the upper left corner of the GUI - where Newsflash's existing "pause" button sits. But Newsflash's "pause" button only pauses the previously highlighted file/rar being downloaded --not the entire set- so then the next file in the queue will automatically start downloading when the current one is paused. It's a very convenient feature to have a button to open and close all connections to the server in one click - and many other applications do this.

So I'd like to suggest a one-click "kill-all-connections" -switch/"resume-all connections" -switch. Similar to Emule and Altbinz.

A tiny issue:
Newsflash's default port setting for "Secure Server (SSL)" is 443, rather than the standard SSL port 563.

Hmm.. I guess that makes sense in some volatile circumstances like leeching at work :) As for pausing... Ctrl+A to select all and then click Pause (or hit Ctrl+P)

Anyway.. new version coming this weekend. Stay tuned.

Thanks for the input as always.

-ensi

[ensisoft]

Hello, I've released 3.3.0b7 with a bunch of fixes and some small new features.

Fixes include the par/rar file deletion bug pointed out by zot and RSS sorting bug pointed out by MultiForce.

Other changes include, Connect/Kill switch logic in the connection button, connection # is per server instead of being global, Newznab account creation/registration and some other shit which I now cant remember.

Thanks guys.

-ensi

[MultiForce]

Hello, I've released 3.3.0b7 with a bunch of fixes and some small new features.

Fixes include the par/rar file deletion bug pointed out by zot and RSS sorting bug pointed out by MultiForce.

Other changes include, Connect/Kill switch logic in the connection button, connection # is per server instead of being global, Newznab account creation/registration and some other shit which I now cant remember.

Thanks guys.

-ensi

Downloaded now so going to test right away.

I have some issues though (the previous version that is):
[18:20:51:214] critical error:connection timeout
[18:20:51:214] thread exiting now!

I have no idea why it is disconnecting as everything else is fine. Iv'e also had Alt.Binz up and running at the same time to see if it disconnects and it doesn't.
Sometimes it disconnects only a few of the connections that is in use.

The biggest problem with this is that it doesn't make any new connections when a new NZB file is loaded so the program just sits there all day with a bunch of connections not working till I'm home from work and give it a kick in the nuts. I guess that it doesn't use more connections than you specify in options even though half/all of them are dead?

[ensisoft]

Downloaded now so going to test right away.

I have some issues though (the previous version that is):
[18:20:51:214] critical error:connection timeout
[18:20:51:214] thread exiting now!

I have no idea why it is disconnecting as everything else is fine. Iv'e also had Alt.Binz up and running at the same time to see if it disconnects and it doesn't.
Sometimes it disconnects only a few of the connections that is in use.

The biggest problem with this is that it doesn't make any new connections when a new NZB file is loaded so the program just sits there all day with a bunch of connections not working till I'm home from work and give it a kick in the nuts. I guess that it doesn't use more connections than you specify in options even though half/all of them are dead?

Hmm.. correct it's not spawning more connections even though some are dead. Not sure if it should. You could classify this as a kind of a bug.

However I'm more interested in why the connections are dying. Can you send me a full log for a single connection when it b0rks so I can have a look. (You can send it through the Feedback/Report bug tool as a attachment)

Thanks for reporting.

-ensi

[MultiForce]

I'm going to send the logs (next time that is).

I still need the program to retry/reconnect on disconnects whatever the reason for the disconnects is (external, internal, whatever) though so I'll be happy if you add such an option ;)

[ensisoft]

I'm going to send the logs (next time that is).

I still need the program to retry/reconnect on disconnects whatever the reason for the disconnects is (external, internal, whatever) though so I'll be happy if you add such an option ;)

One thing that I just remembered.. do you have that silly "Keep connections alive" option checked in the settings?

[MultiForce]

I'm going to send the logs (next time that is).

I still need the program to retry/reconnect on disconnects whatever the reason for the disconnects is (external, internal, whatever) though so I'll be happy if you add such an option ;)

One thing that I just remembered.. do you have that silly "Keep connections alive" option checked in the settings?

I HAD but I unchecked that box after I wrote the post yesterday and so far there haven't been any disconnects yet.

The connections are still there after download is finished so that option doesn't do what I thought :P

[MultiForce]

It seems that it doesn't disconnect anymore so I guess the problem is solved :)

I'm kinda starting to like that newznab thingy too.

[ensisoft]

It seems that it doesn't disconnect anymore so I guess the problem is solved :)

I'm kinda starting to like that newznab thingy too.

If you don't mind.. please replicate the problem and send me a complete connection log so I can give a shot at figuring out what's the problem. :)

[MultiForce]

It seems that it doesn't disconnect anymore so I guess the problem is solved :)

I'm kinda starting to like that newznab thingy too.

If you don't mind.. please replicate the problem and send me a complete connection log so I can give a shot at figuring out what's the problem. :)

I'll get to it in a couple of days.

[zot]

-rethinking this-

[cimithan]

Segfault on linux (ArchLinux):

./newsflash.sh
QCoreApplication::postEvent: Unexpected null receiver
QCoreApplication::postEvent: Unexpected null receiver
QCoreApplication::postEvent: Unexpected null receiver
WARNING: Cannot find Mozilla directory containing libgtkembedmoz.so. Some Addins may not be able to function. Please set MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME to your Mozilla directory.
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

newsflash[5626]: segfault at 1ad ip b6afff62 sp bf83aa40 error 4 in libQtCore.so.4.6.3[b69ae000+266000]

[ensisoft]

Segfault on linux (ArchLinux):

./newsflash.sh
QCoreApplication::postEvent: Unexpected null receiver
QCoreApplication::postEvent: Unexpected null receiver
QCoreApplication::postEvent: Unexpected null receiver
WARNING: Cannot find Mozilla directory containing libgtkembedmoz.so. Some Addins may not be able to function. Please set MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME to your Mozilla directory.
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

newsflash[5626]: segfault at 1ad ip b6afff62 sp bf83aa40 error 4 in libQtCore.so.4.6.3[b69ae000+266000]

Binary distribution on Linux is a bitch. Works on 9.04 Ubuntu though. :whistling

[MultiForce]

Now that I used it for some time I have a few things that really needs to be fixed:

Watched folders:

When I download a NZB file into the watched folder and the program tries to read the file before it is finished (FF sets the original file name right away) it makes a file with error_NZBFILENAME.NZB. This doesn't happen in Alt.Binz and it's really annoying when downloading over 1 TB/month and you end up with a bunch of unusable NZB files.

There should be an option to select where it should dump the imported NZB file.

UI:

Group downloads in the downloads window. I get a headache when I have 20+ blu-ray ISO releases in that list and I want to increase priority on something and have to browse through..... yeah you get the idea ;)

The repair tab gives me 2 problems: It's nice as a log, but it fails to show me the status of all the downloaded releases (witch maybe should be shown as in Alt.Binz where it is displayed on the NZB/release it has downloaded) if the releases are big. When the program extracts, and if it fails it just screams and run off and let the folder be a complete mess. The log usually just shows the last release and then I can just delete the partially unpacked stuff myself.
An option to delete crap that are not repairable would be nice, and the program needs to tell you that it failed too.


There should be 2 timers here. One countdown for the total download list and one countdown for each release.

That will be $5/issue fixed in donations as long as the grouping stuff is in (maybe a postcard for Xmas too).

I really like this program because it handles massive downloads so well and I just hate the authentication stuff in Alt.Binz. The newznab thingy is also something I really appreciate.

[executioner]

Looks good, any chance of getting a speed limiter on this please

[zot]

Looks good, any chance of getting a speed limiter on this please

I limit my speed by using fewer connections. ;)

[executioner]

Looks good, any chance of getting a speed limiter on this please

I limit my speed by using fewer connections. ;)

that would work, but I can max my line out using just the one connection.

[zot]

I limit my speed by using fewer connections. ;)
that would work, but I can max my line out using just the one connection.
On both US and EU servers? That would be quite an extraordinary feat! :P

[Cabalo]

I never need more than 3 connections on EU servers to max out my DL speeds.

[ensisoft]

Hello all,

Newsflash Plus 3.3.0 has been released. This is basically the first 3.3.0 non-beta version.

If you're on 3.3.0b7 there's no real need to update since there's only one additional bug fix and it's not visible at user level anyway.

I'm going to start working towards 3.4.0 version which will incorporate some of the requested features. Probably coming up, batch mode download list viewing, additional ETA counters, new Qt version, new and faster par, downloading par2 files only when needed and also possibly server priorization/backup server use and of course a bunch of smaller features. I'll see how it goes :cool:



Now that I used it for some time I have a few things that really needs to be fixed:

Watched folders:


There should be an option to select where it should dump the imported NZB file.

I guess you mean after it's processed and the contents being downloaded?

UI:

Group downloads in the downloads window. I get a headache when I have 20+ blu-ray ISO releases in that list and I want to increase priority on something and have to browse through..... yeah you get the idea ;)

Yea, I can see this. I'm working on the batch viewing mode for this.


The repair tab gives me 2 problems: It's nice as a log, but it fails to show me the status of all the downloaded releases (witch maybe should be shown as in Alt.Binz where it is displayed on the NZB/release it has downloaded) if the releases are big. When the program extracts, and if it fails it just screams and run off and let the folder be a complete mess. The log usually just shows the last release and then I can just delete the partially unpacked stuff myself.
An option to delete crap that are not repairable would be nice, and the program needs to tell you that it failed too.


Guess you're asking for a repair log that shows repair status for each release? The repairs are also logged in the application log.


There should be 2 timers here. One countdown for the total download list and one countdown for each release.



cheers,

-ensi

[MultiForce]

I guess you mean after it's processed and the contents being downloaded?
Yup.



Guess you're asking for a repair log that shows repair status for each release? The repairs are also logged in the application log.
Kind of. It could be as simple as showing me the release name in red txt (or maybe a FBI warning:naughty:) so I know. Then I don't have to read the log unless I need info on the failed download/repair/extract.

[Cabalo]

I have updated the thread's title to reflect the current build.

[ensisoft]

Hello,

I released 3.3.1 version. This fixes a couple of potential nasty crashes.

-ensi

[sassan]

Hi ensisoft, is there now an option to group the downloads similar to a folder?

[MultiForce]

Can we expect a new version anytime soon?

[ensisoft]

Can we expect a new version anytime soon?

Sorry, no.

I'm vacationing over winter in Thailand and don't have much time/motivation for programming this applicaton atm. :ermm:

-ensi

[ensisoft]

.... and we are back in business!


Hi ensisoft, is there now an option to group the downloads similar to a folder?

Can you clarify what you mean with this?

If you download using the RSS feed (which is broken btw cause the authentication API changed) the downloaded stuff will go into a folder of its own. Same with downloads that come through the Search.

[zot]

Hi ensisoft, hope you had a good vacation in Thailand. (The Pirate Bay's Fredrik Neij seems to like the country, considering how long he has been there)

I think what sassan might have meant is having the choice of using the group name as a download folder or not.

as in Newsleecher's settings:

http://www.binaries4all.com/newsleecher/images/configuratie/download.png

[ensisoft]

Hello all!

I've released a new version. I hope you all have been eagergly waiting for it! ;)

Anyway this is a development release 3.4.0b1. It's possible that there are some bugs but there shouldn't be any major clitches otherwise I wouldn't be releasing it.

Whats changed or new?

- In headers age is displayed as days to now instead of just a NNTP date
- Age filtering in headers
- Grouping downloads into a "batch" and showing just the batch in the downloads tab.
- nzbs.org RSS feed working again (they changed their authentication mechanism)
- Connections dying on SSL errors, they are respawned now on error
- Pause/resume not working on task that are not visible in the downloads tab window
- Improved(?) ETA estimation, using moving exponential average (huh you say? me too..)
- File size in downloads
- Ability to move processed NZB files to a "dump" location
- Final binary writing on the background (should reduce any UI hickups)
- ... and a bunch of other smaller changes

And whats coming up??

- Revised Repair/Extract log thingy
- Low disk warning
- More IO optimisations
- History component (I can't keep track of all the stuff I've downloaded and I download duplicates.. not good)
- Throttle for limiting the bandwidth usage
- Whole download queue size + ETA
- More fixes...

download from here.. http://www.ensisoft.com scroll down for development version.

Please let me have that feedback either here or then via the Feedback system or using the forum at http://www.ensisoft.com/forum


Thanks

- ensi

[zot]

Looks good. I hope to try this release out thoroughly tomorrow.

I'm hoping that these additional feature requests might get considered in the future:

*support for fill-servers.

*allow setting different number of connections on each server.

*click-to-expand grouping of articles/ into rars/ into complete fileset

*toolbar buttons for "load NZB" and "open download folder" and "open/close all connections"

*a complete uninstaller (that leaves nothing behind).

[ensisoft]

Looks good. I hope to try this release out thoroughly tomorrow.

I'm hoping that these additional feature requests might get considered in the future:

*support for fill-servers.

Maybe


*allow setting different number of connections on each server.

Already possible. Double click the server, just below the name "Maximum connections"


*click-to-expand grouping of articles/ into rars/ into complete fileset

No


*toolbar buttons for "load NZB" and "open download folder" and "open/close all connections"

Already have these


*a complete uninstaller (that leaves nothing behind).

Yes. Hopefully for the next non-beta release.

[ensisoft]

Hello,

a new development version is available 3.4.0b2. This release includes:

- fill server support
- revamped repair log
- enhanced search including music search and item information

The application now carries a small embedded advertisment. I realize this might piss some people off, but hey, bandwidth and hosting is not free. Most people just like to complain about bugs and "lacking features" while not appreciating what has been already done. So if you want to help the development and get rid of the advertisment its only 3€. Shouldn't break anyone's wallet.

Download available here http://www.ensisoft.com

Thank you all.

-ensi

80937
Item information. Useful info for music, tv and movies.

80938
Download queue

[MultiForce]

Tried it now and it looks okay so far.

As you already implied, here comes the questions and the demands :P

I have a problem getting it to download from 2 servers at the same time. It just connects to AW and if I "clone" an idle connection to SN it just doesn't seem to care about it.
Is there a trick, or isn't it possible?
The whole point was to do as in Newsbin so I get 100% bandwidth usage all the time, and it also grabs missing articles from other servers even if it's already using them.

Is it possible to move "Description" etc. around? I find it a bit weird to have it on the right side.

One tiny complaint: It seems to download one file/connection but if there's only a few files left it's wasting time because it doesn't utilize the bandwidth.


Noobs might think the download fails since it "errors" a download because of no sound card :P
80948


I like the way things are going though so keep up the good work.

[ensisoft]

Tried it now and it looks okay so far.


I have a problem getting it to download from 2 servers at the same time. It just connects to AW and if I "clone" an idle connection to SN it just doesn't seem to care about it.
Is there a trick, or isn't it possible?
The whole point was to do as in Newsbin so I get 100% bandwidth usage all the time, and it also grabs missing articles from other servers even if it's already using them.


Sure it's possible. Sounds like you don't have anything to download from that server. The idea is that when you download something you choose the server you want to download from. (This is in the settings). This isn't newsbin after all.




Is it possible to move "Description" etc. around? I find it a bit weird to have it on the right side.


No



One tiny complaint: It seems to download one file/connection but if there's only a few files left it's wasting time because it doesn't utilize the bandwidth.


Yeah that's a limitation of the current design. Better to just download more ;)

[zot]

Looks good, I'll have to try it. Does this version have compressed headers?

How does this adware work, exactly? I don't mind seeing ad banners (most websites have them) but a concern is the underlying software --often classified as malware-- that has historically powered these ads in P2P clients like Kazaa.

I'm sure the reason why so many people get "pissed off" with adware is that wthey've been badly burned in the past. Nasty things like Cydoor and Gator that were very hard to ever remove from an infected PC, and could sabotage a computer permanently. The scores of people who have had to reformat their hard drive and re-install their operating system because invasive adware fµcked it up -- they have every right to be suspicious of adware, don't you think?

Of course not all adware today is malevolent, but memories remain. It might seem an unfair prejudice, but that's why it could be an uphill battle getting some people to ever trust any form of adware again -- at least while their wounds are still fresh. (A shame, really, since adware was a good idea that got badly abused.)






One tiny complaint: It seems to download one file/connection but if there's only a few files left it's wasting time because it doesn't utilize the bandwidth.


Yeah that's a limitation of the current design. Better to just download more ;)
That's also been my suggestion. I greatly prefer to download one file at a time rather than every file simultaneously. Every modern client I know of works this way. It seems that with Newsflash, the only way to sequentially download one file at a time is to limit the server to one single connection.

I can think of many reasons why it can be better to completely download the first file first: to check for passworded files, preview the video, or just listen to the first song in a big collection -- and not waste much bandwidth if the download is ultimately jettisoned.

Is there any advantage to downloading every file simultaneously? I can't think of any.

[ensisoft]

zot,

yeah you might be right. But how many times do you actually stop the download and not download all files? Everything else being equal you spend the same time and bandwidth on downloading complete sets regardless if you're using multiple connections per file or single connection per file?

Anyway there's no easy way to change the current design to something else so I guess Newsflash will continue to stand out from the pack in this regards for better or for worse. :mellow:

[zot]

But how many times do you actually stop the download and not download all files?

If there is more than one copy of something available (and with 3 years retention, there usually is) I sometimes preview several releases before deciding on which is the better version, and therefore worth downloading in full.

Since I don't have a fast connection, I always try to preview a big file before committing to a multi-hour download. Sadly, a very high percentage of popular material is either fake or passworded. Also, it seems like the smaller video file sizes, like 700MB(x1) --which is what I prefer to download -- are much more likely to be fake or contain .exe's inside. The 700 MB sizes are also more likely to be poorly encoded (such as with massive pixelation) and many are barely watchable.

Fortunately there are now search engine sites like Mysterbin (and now Binsearch) that started looking inside rar collections, so it's much easier now to spot many bad files and avoid them entirely. (Newznab tends to index only the better quality releases, but since it misses a lot, it's not much help for finding rare material compared to a true search engine.)



I guess Newsflash will continue to stand out from the pack in this regards for better or for worse.
Only stand out from the newer software. In contrast, most of the older software, (if I recall correctly) also downloaded multiple files simultaneously when they started supporting multiple connections (which was typically limited to only 4 or 8 connections maximum back then)

There are always workarounds to every problem. The 1st-generation binary newsreaders like Grabit also used the "one connection per file" method as Newsflash does. For me, the easy solution would be to use only one server connection until the first rar completes, then after checking and verifying the file, add additional connections before downloading the rest.

Of course, the people with hyper-fast 50/100Mb connections could probably finish downloading an entire collection in less than the time it would take a slowpoke like me to finish only the first rar. So for them, the "one connection per file" limitation might not be a major issue.

There's also probably another psychological factor at work here: as a block account user, every wasted gigabyte costs me money.

[ensisoft]

Hello guys!

Anyone out there still interested in this client? There's a new version out there 3.4.0b3. You can get it from the usual location: http://www.ensisoft.com/download.php

So whats new? Briefly:
- file decoding IO has been optimized so that decoded data chunks are written out to disk straight away whenever possible. (if the correct slot is know)
This reduces the memory footprint a lot.
- Compressed headers, XZVER zlib inflate. Compressed headers are as dodgy as they can be, servers all seem to have slightly different opinions about how to do it. Appears to work against UNS, Astra and xsusenet. Would be glad to get reports about this if it works or not.
- tray extension, tray notifications, hotkey to minimize/restore to/from tray
- nzb command file args

And a bunch of smaller changes.

There's a known issue that if you enable compressed headers, download headers, disable compressed headers and then download headers again it wont work unless you kill the connections in between. This is a bug. Also compressed headers are disabled by default cause they are not 100% reliable (see comments about different servers above), so you'll have to go Server Properties -> Advanced and enable there.

There's been some quiet streches (almost hiatus) with this project but eventually I always seem to come back to it. I have only one goal in mind, to build this the best usenet client for Windows, Linux and eventually MacOS desktop. And it will get there eventually.


As before, thanks for your feedback. And if you like it make a donation. Its only 3€ to and gets you rid of that advertisment ;)

Thanks,

-ensi

edit:

- and no, there's no proper installer yet, or .deb package. Sorry, I rather work on features at this point. If you want to delete the application (and cannot read the readme.txt file) in order to delete the app just go to your installation folder and delete the whole folder. And go to your Documents and Settings\username and delete .newsflash folder (contains your settings).
- and it still uses single connection per download and yes, par2 files do not get special treatment.

[zot]

A subject that has come up recently is that NNTP servers do not always report missing articles accurately or consistently. Will NewsFlash re-check the server at a later time for any missing articles? Also, what about the possibility of a <pre-download> article completion checking function? (like 'NZB Download Checker' -- or Newsbin's latest built-in implementation)



- Compressed headers, XZVER zlib inflate. Compressed headers are as dodgy as they can be, servers all seem to have slightly different opinions about how to do it. Appears to work against UNS, Astra and xsusenet. Would be glad to get reports about this if it works or not.

Maybe newsreader software developers should all get together and compare notes on this topic, since for some reason every NNTP server seems to handle compressed headers differently. Even a *single* company like Highwinds uses a different -and incompatible- front-end for Easynews, UNS, and Newshosting. It seemed that Usenet Explorer, Newsbin Pro, and Newsleecher all needed a lot of code tweaking to make all the different servers work properly. It seems like it would ave been so much easier if everyone had just worked together on the issue of header compression, instead of everyone trying to one-up each other. But then that's how commercial businesses have usually worked.


Just to mention two features that have become popular lately:

1. checking for passworded files
2. streaming video

But since Newsflash is committed to a "one connection per rar file" method, that essentially rules out the possibility of these features. :(

[ensisoft]

Just to mention two features that have become popular lately:

1. checking for passworded files
2. streaming video

But since Newsflash is committed to a "one connection per rar file" method, that essentially rules out the possibility of these features. :(

Umh, why would you say that? That design doesn't rule out these features by any means.

[zot]

Just to mention two features that have become popular lately:

1. checking for passworded files
2. streaming video

But since Newsflash is committed to a "one connection per rar file" method, that essentially rules out the possibility of these features. :(

Umh, why would you say that? That design doesn't rule out these features by any means.
I said "essentially rules out" because although having a "one connection per file" rule would not completely prevent password-checking or video streaming, but why would anyone choose Newsflash for this purpose when there are other newsreaders and NZB downloaders (many which are free) that because they download files sequentially rather than simultaneously as Newsflash does, can perform these functions so much more efficiently?


OK, how about this for a hypothetical situation:

a 10GB BD-rip, consisting of 100 split rar files @ 100MB each, downloading using 50 connections.

In that setup, 50% of the entire download would need to complete before it could be checked for passworded files, or for the video to begin being streamed using Newsflash.

But using any other streaming-capable newsreaders (which will complete the first rar file before starting on the second) only 10% of the file would need to be downloaded.

Of course, if the user downloaded using only one connection, there would be no disadvantage to using Newsflash. But how many people would be able to stream video using only one connection?


Just like I used to do with Grabit, the following setup is probably about the only way that I could see myself using Newsflash:

I would download the first rar file using only one connection, then check it for password and video quality. If it passed the test, I would then download the rest using the maximum required connections.

Otherwise, I'd be wasting a lot of time and bandwidth every time I got a bad/fake release.

[ensisoft]

Umh, why would you say that? That design doesn't rule out these features by any means.
I said "essentially rules out" because although having a "one connection per file" rule would not completely prevent password-checking or video streaming, but why would anyone choose Newsflash for this purpose when there are other newsreaders and NZB downloaders (many which are free) that because they download files sequentially rather than simultaneously as Newsflash does, can perform these functions so much more efficiently?


OK, how about this for a hypothetical situation:

a 10GB BD-rip, consisting of 100 split rar files @ 100MB each, downloading using 50 connections.

In that setup, 50% of the entire download would need to complete before it could be checked for passworded files, or for the video to begin being streamed using Newsflash.

But using any other streaming-capable newsreaders (which will complete the first rar file before starting on the second) only 10% of the file would need to be downloaded.

Of course, if the user downloaded using only one connection, there would be no disadvantage to using Newsflash. But how many people would be able to stream video using only one connection?


Just like I used to do with Grabit, the following setup is probably about the only way that I could see myself using Newsflash:

I would download the first rar file using only one connection, then check it for password and video quality. If it passed the test, I would then download the rest using the maximum required connections.

Otherwise, I'd be wasting a lot of time and bandwidth every time I got a bad/fake release.


uh.. you know you could just download a single .rar (using one connection yes) check it and then resume the entire batch using multiple connections. Obviously would be nice to have it automated but can't have everything right now.

[zot]

and what about streaming video? How could this potentially be done?

As I see it, the Newsflash user would have basically two choices:

1. Use a single connection and suffer with a slow stream rate.
--OR--
2. Use multiple connections and wait until a large percentage of the file is downloaded before streaming can begin.

It's obvious that neither choice is an optimal solution. I think that Newsflash's "one connection per file" setup will seriously hurt the viability of any future video-streaming feature.

[ensisoft]

and what about streaming video? How could this potentially be done?

As I see it, the Newsflash user would have basically two choices:

1. Use a single connection and suffer with a slow stream rate.
--OR--
2. Use multiple connections and wait until a large percentage of the file is downloaded before streaming can begin.

It's obvious that neither choice is an optimal solution. I think that Newsflash's "one connection per file" setup will seriously hurt the viability of any future video-streaming feature.

-- OR --

3. Use multiple connections to download multiple files simultaneusly. Streaming can begin when first file has been downloaded. Only if single connection can donwload a file slower than video is being played back would there be a potential problem.

[Stabber]

I remember finding it hard to uninstall it , i don't recall finding a uninstaller . Not sure what was the problem back then , maybe it was on my end the problem

[ensisoft]

I remember finding it hard to uninstall it , i don't recall finding a uninstaller . Not sure what was the problem back then , maybe it was on my end the problem

yeah unfortunately theres no installer so you just have to delete the installation folder. its in the readme.txt

[ensisoft]

Hi everyone!

Im back and a new version (3.4.0b4) is out, grab it from http://www.ensisoft.com/download.php

This one's got a bunch of cool new features and of course some bug fixes. Quite a bit of stuff has been done under the hood to improve both socket IO and reduce CPU load. (CPU load is still higher than I would like, but Will have to address that more in the future. Quite a bit of the loads from openssl and theres not much I can do abut that for now)

Briefly here's whats new:

- Womble RSS extension for Womble's RSS feed at http://www.newshost.co.za
- throttle (go to settings to setup the desired cap for speed, enable/disable in Downloads tab)
- computer shutdown after all downloads are complete
- batch mode downloading
- optimizations to improve socket IO and reduce CPU load

Bugs fixed:
- uuencode workaround + bug for broken encoders omitting trailing grave accents
- feature test without username/password causing forbidden connections
- nzbs.org RSS interface changes

+ some other minor features and changes

What is "Batch mode"?

Enable batch mode in the Advanced section of your server properties. It will combine NNTP commands as much as possible into bigger batches and thus reduced TCP roundtrips resulting in faster response and improved throughput. If your server is up to the task you should get huge performance boost. Typically with this mode just a SINGLE connection can consume all the bandwidth available at your network!

I would advice anyone trying the batch mode with a single connection at first. Some servers seem to have trouble coming up or sending the data fast fast enough thus resulting in "pumping" in transfer speed. If this bothers you play with the throttle to see what gives you best steady speed.

Enjoy!

-ensi

zot:

I was thinking about the streaming thing or downloading multiple files with several connections. I came to the conclusion that I get least TCP/other scheduling overhead with a single connection. I.e. when the batch mode is working with the server, (on my ADSL) a single connection can take up the whole bandwidth available. I dont really see a reason to use multiple connections per file at this point anymore. Essentially this means that You use a single connection, so you "sequantial" downloading but performance wise you dont need more than that single connection to get max throughput.

[ensisoft]

Hello all,

after a loooong hiatus I'm back. And so is Newsflash Plus. Version 4.0.0 has just been released. (for Windows and Linux as usual)

So whats new? Well.. everything pretty much. :cool:

Among other things.
- completely new account management
- completely new newslist and header engine
- completely new downloading engine
- completely new repair/extract mechanism
- no more python! (yay, its gone!)

and a bunch of other changes.

You can download the latest versions from here

http://www.ensisoft.com/download.php

Thank you all!

- ensi

P.s. new users the application has 1 embedded advertisment and thats all. It's not feature restricted. If you like the application you can show your appreciation by donation and then you will receive a key that will remove the advert. Any sum is accepted. :)

[ensisoft]

For anyone interested the source code is now available at www.github.com/ensisoft/newsflash-plus/ :)

[ensisoft]

Hello all,

New release bumps up to version 4.1.0. More details about the release available here: http://www.ensisoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=215

And binaries available at http://www.ensisoft.com/download.php as usual.

Review of major features.

- Multiple accounts, primaries/fillserver.
- Quota tracking
- Header support
- RSS support for womble/nzbs.org
- Files tracking, tools integration for tools like media players/video players etc.
- Archives tracking with automated par/unrar.
- Built in search, support for Newznab backends.
- Connection/Downloads management, pause/resume, move up/down, SSL, TCP, throttling.
- Support for NZB scanning, downloading/viewing.
- Built in feedback/bug reporting system.
- Support for Linux and Windows
- History / duplicate tracking
- Omdb integration

163980

- ensi