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KGet makes use of the KDE Drag and Drop protocol. This means that you can drag and drop files from the kfm window onto KGet or dock window. Then you choose directory and filename, under which you want to save it.
You can open transfer from menu or by keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-o or Ctrl-v. Ctrl-v is especially useful if you use WWW Browser which does not support KDE drag and drop protocol, i.e Netscape or QtMozilla. Use Netscape feature "Copy location to clipboard", then use Ctrl-v in kget ( or press a toolbar button). KGet will open a dialog with pasted URL, which you can edit.
KGet supports resuming, which is a feature supported by ftp servers. If you download some big file and after 75% of download connection error occurs, you do not have to start all over again, but simply register this transfer again and it will continue in the place where it stopped ( kget will append to an existing file and not overwrite it ). See also Try Later feature.
However, this feature works only for ftp transfers.
KGet supports queueing. Queueing means that you can set maximum number of simultaneously opened transfers and kget tries to keep this number.
This doesn't mean that you cannot drag more files into kget then this number !
KGet keeps record of all desired transfers and opens them when needed. Use queuing when you have bad connection to Internet or slow modem like me :-)
It is useful also when you do not want to take all bandwidth you can, but rather download file after file.
Use this feature if you have problems with connecting to server or slow connection and want to download files later. When any connection error occurs while trying to connect to server, you will get information about type of error and then you can decide whether to cancel transfer or try it later ( only if prompt mode is on ! ) If you choose try later, transfer will stay on the list and later you can press resume button to start download. This way you do not have to next time open again WWW browser and look for the file that you were downloading in order to finish the download.
When you have to quit kget and there are still some files on the list ( running, stopped, queued or try-later transfers ) , you will be asked if you want to save this list. If you do so, next time you run kget these transfers will automatically start ( even resume, if you had already download something and it is a ftp transfer ). Be careful, because files created by http transfer will be overwritten without asking !
At any time you can set transfer for try later by pressing right button on it and selecting Try later from RMB menu.
When prompt mode is on, kget will ask you for each transfer that you start whether you want to rename it and where you want to save a file. This is normal operation mode.
If you are downloading many files, this is somehow inconvenient. Now you can turn off prompting with a new button. KGet will put pasted or dropped transfer into the same directory that you have used for last transfer.
If some error occurs while starting transfer ( can't connect etc. ) and prompt mode is off, kget will set transfer for try-later without asking. This is very useful, if you drag many files into kget and leave to do some other work. Kget will download files and when it can't connect, it will continue without asking. Otherwise kget would wait for you to confirm each error and couldn't start other transfers.
Use this feature together with setting disconnect mode. Drag files into kget, turn off prompt mode, turn on disconnect mode and leave. Kget will do its job and when there are no transfers left ( or only try-later ones ), it will turn off PPP.
Main part of kget window is listbox, where all transfers get registered. Each transfer is represented by filename under which it is saved. Source URL can be displayed on statusbar by clicking on selected transfer.
In order to do any operation on registered transfer, this has to be selected by clicking on it with left mouse button. Use middle mouse button to unselect it. Use double-click to paste source URL of transfer into clipboard. This is useful if you have registered transfer and want to download something with similar name ( double-click on transfer, press paste button and edit the name in the window).
Pressing right mouse button on transfer opens a menu with some operations. You can move transfer to the end or beginning of the list or set transfer as try-later. You can f.e. select a transfer that is running very slowly, stop it by pressing stop button and move it to the end of the list. If you had set the number of queued files to 1, this file will start download as the last one. This is also a simple way of organizing transfers on the list.
Toolbar contains buttons for all operations which can be applied on selected transfer. Not all are enabled at all times. For example you cannot stop http transfer ( only delete ).
You can stop already started transfer by clicking on stop button, resume stopped transfer with resume button. Resuming works only for ftp URL's.
Use delete button to delete selected transfer.
There is also special toolbar button for docking. This has exactly same function as clicking on docking button on kpanel. You may find useful not having to move mouse onto the kpanel when you need to dock window.
Another special button is a prompt mode button. It is a toggle - you can turn on/off prompt mode.
An useful button for dialup users is disconnect mode toggle button. If the button is pressed, after all transfers are finished, kget will disconnect from internet by using specified command. Preset is command "killall pppd", which is suitable for PPP users. You can specify the command in settings/transfer dialog.
In this dialog you can set various options like proxy server, whether use queuing and show speed for PPP Link.
Proxy - This is the same as in kfm. You can set proxy for ftp and http.
Queueing - Enabled / disabled . Set maximum number of simultaneously opened transfers.
Show speed for PPP link - If you use modem and PPP for connecting to Internet, you can watch current receive rate on status bar. You can set an update interval in seconds and also a number of PPP link.
Disconnect command - Dialup users can specify here a command for disconnecting from internet. Preset is "killall pppd" for PPP users.
Directory buttons - Set here most commonly used directories in which you download your files. Then in save dialog you can simply press buttons numbered 1..4 for quick access to these directories.
Font - Use font dialog to set your favourite font for listbox.
Sound - This dialog lets you set your favourite sounds for two special events - when the transfer is finished and when all transfers are finished. This way you do not have to watch the kget window ( you can leave it docked into panel, so that it does not take any place on the screen ) and kget will notify you when transfers are finished. If you cannot use sound - leave this option disabled. KGet comes with two default sounds for these events.
In order to use sound you have to start kaudioserver first. It comes with KDE distribution and should be already in startkde script.
KGet honors the following key bindings.
Ctrl-o
Open a new transferCtrl-v
Paste in URL for transferCtrl-q
Exit program.
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