RAR File Format

Gandalf Parker · #1 December 25th, 2004, 10:31 PM

Quote:

AgentZero said:
Well, I've got broadband, but my ISP uncooly slaps me with a monthly download limit, so anything that makes files smaller is a good thing by me.

Thats why Im quite happy not using any ISP. No download limits, no email limits, no web-space limits, no restricted ports, no filtering. Its abit more headache doing it all yourself but I consider that fun. I guess its like guys who work on their own cars, or make their own furniture.

Suicide Junkie · #2 December 26th, 2004, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
Thats why Im quite happy not using any ISP. No download limits, no email limits, no web-space limits, no restricted ports, no filtering. Its abit more headache doing it all yourself but I consider that fun. I guess its like guys who work on their own cars, or make their own furniture.

How would you start going about doing that and connecting to the net? (Generically in general)

Atrocities · #3 December 26th, 2004, 01:47 AM

AgentZero, do you happen to have Satellite ISP?

Fyron · #4 December 26th, 2004, 01:52 AM

Many nations outside of the US have ISPs that use per month bandwidth caps. This is either due to relatively poor infrastructure (such as in developing nations), or it is combined with much higher per second rates (such as some ISPs in Canada). There are likely some in the US too, with nothing to do with satellite, but with cable or some form of DSL...

Atrocities · #5 December 26th, 2004, 01:53 AM

Its all about the $$$$$$$ and nothing more.

Suicide Junkie · #6 December 26th, 2004, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Atrocities said:
Its all about the $$$$$$$ and nothing more.

Which can work to your advantage if you have competing providers...

Bell got hosed a few years back near here because they tried to put a cap on the DSL. This region is reasonably tech savvy, and everybody went over to cable for its equivalent, no limit service. A few months later the old pricing scheme was back and Bell was making apology calls to try and recover some of their customer base

Gandalf Parker · #7 December 26th, 2004, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Suicide Junkie said:

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
Thats why Im quite happy not using any ISP. No download limits, no email limits, no web-space limits, no restricted ports, no filtering. Its abit more headache doing it all yourself but I consider that fun. I guess its like guys who work on their own cars, or make their own furniture.

How would you start going about doing that and connecting to the net? (Generically in general)

Understand that ISP (Internet Services Providor) is not the same as Internet Connectivity. Most Users are stuck in a horrible situation because they dont realize that the internet is setup so that none of your services HAVE to come from the same source. Often those that do one thing well, suck at the rest, so an all-in-one package usually sucks as soon as you start using more than one of its services.

PacBell (the phone company) does my DSL line. Thats just another phone line and they do that well (the same goes for cable and satellite connections). But their internet services suck. So for most Users I tell them to find some nice local trying-hard internet service to handle the rest (email, web, dns, hosting, etc etc). They usually do better at that and have problems with the connectivity part. You can even take it a step farther and use different companies for each service.

In my case I just grabbed an old computer out of the closet that wouldnt run the latest games anymore, loaded linux on it, and a domain name, and setup all the services I wanted. Now I point my windows email programs there for send and pickup, I put all my web stuff there, I have my own dns server and dont share it much so my browsing and such is much faster. Im up to 6 domains for me and my friends, looks like Im up to about 70 mailboxes, and I host 2 full-time multiplayer worlds. I never have to ask the admin if I can do something on my website or add some feature, nothing I do gets ads attached to it, and one of my favorite things is automated scripts which update the offerings on the sites (such as each day creating 240 randomly generated playing maps for Dominions 2). You would be amazed. You can be 100 times more of an ISP for yourself with a machine that is 1/10th the computer you are using for a desktop now. You can easily run a 300 member ISP on a machine that costs less than $200(american), and 3000 with the computer you tossed in the closet.

But all of this reminds me of my gandfather-in-law who preached to me about how much money I could save if I just learned to do simple car maintenance. My answer to him was "its only worthwhile if you like doing it, otherwise its worthwhile to pay someone else to do it for you". Same here. If it sounds like fun, then go for it. But at least consider that you dont HAVE to use the services that your connector provides.

Suicide Junkie · #8 December 26th, 2004, 11:39 AM

Ok, thats lots more detail that I was hoping for

I don't use my ISP for most of those either.
However, having to go through their connection means that you still get hit with the common pricing and limits they have, if I understand what you're saying.

Aiken · #9 December 26th, 2004, 01:04 PM

I think, RAR is the best proprietary archive format in the windows world (best compression ratio/speed). 7zip has comparable characteristics, but it takes ages to pack large volumes into 7zip archive.

As for interface ... Rar integrates into Total Commander easily, so I always use rar archives as compressed folders. I even don't remember what WinRAR's UI is look like.

Fyron · #10 December 26th, 2004, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
PacBell (the phone company) does my DSL line.

So you are, in fact, using an ISP for what an ISP is used for (other than possibly its DNS servers)... It is rather misleading to tell people that you do not use an ISP when you do. I was thinking you set up your own pipe connecting to the nearest backbone somehow and were actually functioning as your own ISP...