About Octopus
What is Octopus

If you have ever tried downloading any large file from the internet, you surely must have come across a situation where you downloaded a file to something like 85% and the connection breaks, forcing you to restart the download at 0%. Else, if you are one of the lucky few who has never come across this situation and have tried downloading a big file of approximately 15MB, you surely would have thought "Is there someway I can increase the speed of data transfer?". Downloading files from the internet can be a very frustrating experience if the connection to the server keeps breaking and due to slow transfer speed.

Octopus is a multi-threaded download manager, which resumes interrupted downloads and enables you to open simultaneous connections to download programs and files from the Internet. For example: You need a 10MB file. You could use five concurrent connections to the server. The 1st thread will begin to work from the 1st byte and continue till the 2,000,000 bytes were read. The 2nd one will read data from 2,000,001 to 4,000,000 bytes etc. The last (5th) will read from 8,000,001 to 10,000,000 bytes. Each thread saves the data in a separate file, which are re-assembled after all the threads have been successfully downloaded.

The multi-threaded feature in Octopus increases data transfer speed upto 10 times more than simple download and its resume download capability automatically re-starts a broken connection from where it was interrupted. Octopus includes a data integrity system, which compares the last bytes of downloaded file to the remote file and retrieves any missing part.


License Agreement
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR ADSOFTWARE

IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY

This License Agreement is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and Aureate Media Corporation ("Aureate Media") for use of the AdSoftware System, which includes computer software and may include associated media, printed materials, and "online" or electronic documentation ("SOFTWARE PRODUCT, this software"). "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" also includes, and this Agreement also governs, any later release or update of the AdSoftware System which Aureate Media makes generally available without additional charge of licenses or your release or the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, and any copy of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT made in accordance with this Agreement. By downloading, installing, copying, or otherwise using the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, you agree to be bound by the terms of this License Agreement. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS LINCENSE AGREEMENT, ABORT THE INSTALLATION AND REMOVE THIS AND RELATED SOFTWARE FROM YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM IMMEDIATELY.

The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties.

This SOFTWARE PRODUCT is "advertiser supported software," meaning that some or all of the costs associated with the development and distribution of this SOFTWARE PRODUCT is recuperated through the use of advertisements displayed in the software product.  These advertisements are delivered via the Internet and will be downloaded from the servers of Aureate Media or their subcontractors, partners, or other authorized parties.  By using this software, you agree that you understand that this software will connect to the Internet UBIQUITOUSLY to download advertisement and/or to provide software updates.  You also accept responsibility for any network usage costs or any other costs incurred by using this software.

All title and copyrights in and to the SOFTWARE PRODUCT (including but not limited to any images, documentation, media, online documentation, text, and "web integration" incorporated into the SOFTWARE PRODUCT), the accompanying printed materials, and any copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT are owned by Aureate Media or its authorized agents. As a licensee, you own the media on which the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is recorded, but Aureate Media and all Third Party Suppliers retain title and ownership to the SOFTWARE PRODUCT recorded on the media and all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein. This license is not a sale of the software or any copy. Except as may be required under applicable law, you agree not to alter, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, in whole or in part, whether for error correction or otherwise. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by copyright laws and international treaty provisions.

You agree not to alter, remove or obscure any copyright notices or other proprietary notices on and in the software.

LIMITED WARRANTY

NO WARRANTIES.  - Aureate Media  EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY for the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT and any related documentation is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties or merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. The entire risk

arising out of use or performance of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT remains with you.

NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES. In no event shall Aureate Media or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use this SOFTWARE PRODUCT, EVEN IF AUREATE MEDIA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.


How to Install/Remove

Installation

          1. Download the Octopus installation package.

          2. Extract all files from the package into a temporary directory

             using your archiver, such as WinZip.

          3. On Windows NT systems, login with Administrator privileges.

          4. EXIT ALL RUNNING PROGRAMS.

          3. Run SETUP.EXE and follow the instructions.

          4. Now it is safe to delete the installation files. You may want

             to preserve the zipped package in case you need to re-install

             Octopus later.

Uninstallation

          1. Doubleclick the Add/Remove Programs icon in the

             Windows Control Panel.

          2. Select Octopus in the list of installed programs

             and click the Add/Remove button. Follow the

             instructions.


Feedback
Homepage & Feedback

Homepage

If you want to get latest information about Octopus, please visit the Octopus Homepage on the web at the address below. You can also download the latest version of Octopus at the below web sites:

http://members.xoom.com/Moskalyuk/Octopus

http://members.tripod.com/Moskalyuk/octopus

Feedback

Please send any bug report, suggestion, question and comment to the author at the following address.

e-mail: mak@sybase.rspd.net

Copyright by Moskalyuk Alexander (1998-99)


Configuration Options

The Octopus program starts with a task list, which is empty the first time after installation. To configure Octopus for your download tasks, click the Options button. This will open a window with four tabs.

General Settings

When you split a download task in Octopus, it creates separate files for each split number. For instance, a 5MB download which is split into 5 threads would create five separate files of 1MB each. After completing the download task, Octopus concatenates (joins) these separate files automatically, although you have the option of also deleting the separate files which were created or leaving them as it is. The General tab gives these options.

Proxy Settings

Octopus has full support for both HTTP and FTP proxy servers. To configure Octopus for proxy settings, click the Proxy tab in Options. This opens up the following window (see image below). Add the proxy address and the port number in the address bars. If your proxy requires password, check the Proxy authorization box and add your ID and password in the appropriate boxes.

Authorization

Some web servers require authorization before allowing users access to their files. Octopus provides support for adding user ID and password to these sites, which is included in the Authorization tab.

Passive FTP

To enable passive transfer mode for FTP connections, click the Special tab.


Starting Download Tasks

Adding URL

To add a URL simply click on the Add icon on the top left corner, next to the cross sign. This will pop-open a window as below.

If you copied the URL from Netscape, Internet Explorer or any other browser, the link would appear in the URL bar. However, you can also add a URL manually to start a download task. By default Octopus saves the download task in the Octopus folder. Although this can be changed by clicking the browse button in the Save as bar, which sets the new location for downloading files.

Starting Download Tasks

In Octopus, a single download task can be split into many smaller tasks, which can be run concurrently. For instance, to download a 10MB file, the task can be split into 10 smaller parts of 1MB each. This opens up 10 separate connections (threads) for the download task. To split a download task into smaller tasks, move the arrow bar in the Threads count to the desired number and check Autostart in the Add/Edit job window. Then move the arrow bar in the Number of attempts also to a comfortable number to ensure that an interrupted download is able to complete before it is timed out. Clicking the OK button after making these changes would start the download task in Octopus.

The Octopus console provides full support to view the status of a download task and the time required to complete it. Octopus allows you to start more than one task and also to queue another one below the running task, which is automatically executed after the completion of the preceding task. If you have more than one download task which are not running, Octopus enables you to move them up or down in the queue. This allows you to set priority for your download tasks.

Viewing Log

To view a log of the download task, click the log tab. This shows details of the remote server from which the file is being downloaded, the server name, date when the file was modified etc.

Stopping/Resuming a Task

Download tasks can be stopped by clicking the Stop icon. To resume the task, click the Runner icon to the left of the stop button. When you resume an interrupted task, Octopus detects the files saved from the previous session and opens a confirmation window. If you answer Yes and the remote server from which the file is being downloaded supports resume download, Octopus will resume your download from the point where it was stopped. However, if the remote server does not support resume download, Octopus will have to start the connection again.

Warnings/Caution!

•	A download task in Octopus can be resumed if it was interrupted or completed unsuccessfully. However, in this case you must use the same URL, destination file name and number of threads.

•	Do not open the destination files while downloading is in progress.

•	You may restart some thread but take care that the attempts are not exhausted.

Verifying Completed Task

After Octopus completes its download session, it shows a green check mark next to the URL and the Console window indicates 100% against each thread. If you checked the "delete file after concatenation" box in the General tab of the Options window, Octopus joins each of the downloaded file and creates one single file from it. The individual files are automatically deleted. This completes the download session.