2) Its slowly appearing on ABStar wars.... Parts 1-8 just completed and only around 150 to go !!!!
3) for those who have NO understanding of newsgroups and how they work.....
Okay, basically... (I am going with the assumption you know NOTHING about ANY of this.
Please don;t be offended if you read something and think, "Well, DUH!, Obviously !!!" ;' ) )
Anyway...
Some ISPs (don't know about the US, but in the UK virtually ALL of them) have access to things called Newsgroups.
If you imagine them as a sort of email INBOX but one that can be accessed by everyone who can get it. But not have access to everyone else.
Its like a huge mailbox. everyone can see in, everyone can get everything in there, but no-one can *see* anyone else.
For instance...
I am with Virgin Media.
Virgin media has newsgroup access on the server, news.virginmedia.com
There ARE free NG (newsgroup) servers out there, but not too many have access to BINARY NGs and thats the important bit...
A BINARY NG is basically a place where people post multi part *emails* which can be stitched together (your newsreader program does that) to make either whole files or multi part zips or rars.
(ZIPS and RARS are compression programs that chop large files into small pieces and also make the overall size a little smaller. They are created and (more importantly) EXTRACTED by programs like Winzip and Winrar
(I again assume you are running a PC and not a Mac)
Anyway...
In order to access the NGS, apart from a server that carries them and that servers news address (as above) you need a NEWSREADER program.
Now, Outlook Express CAN do this, but it is not very good for binary groups. it is GREAT for text only groups (which are the majority) but text groups are dying a death. The binary groups however are flourishing! There are binary groups for ALL occasions, from star wars stuff, to teletubbies to the hardest porn you can imagine. (not that you'd want to see that of course!!!)
So, best way to access.
Find out if your ISP gives NG access.
Then find out if it has BINARY NG access.
You may need to email them to find this out cos it is quite difficult to just *find*. (I only found out about Virgin Medias other (ie BETTER) newserver by accident, in this forum funnily enough!)
If they do have access great (if not... see the end of this, but read this first...)
So, you have a newserver address (usually ISPNAME.news(server).net or similar.
You then need a NEWSREADER program.
There are LOADS of these, but you really need one that handles binaries.
I use a program called NEWSLEECHER. (avaialable in the usual places, torrents etc)
all you do is add the server details and connect.
The first thing to do is download your ISPs server list. (Virgin has over 75,000)
Then in the programs search list type "binar" (not binary or binaries cos that'll limit your search!) That will show you every binary group there is on the server.
You subscribe to the group (Free, no hassle, just click it and it adds to a list.)
You then ask the program to fetch the headers list and what it will then do is run though the groups you are subbed to and show what has been posted on it.
EG
alt.binaries.starwars
subscribe to it.
fetch the headers.
after the load up you will see lots of items, with what LOOK like the same name but with a post number that increases. In ady's case it would look something like...
ATTN: Adywan PAL STAR WARS REVISITED proper DVD5 001.rar 1/85
ATTN: Adywan PAL STAR WARS REVISITED proper DVD5 002.rar 2/85
ATTN: Adywan PAL STAR WARS REVISITED proper DVD5 003.rar 3/85
etc...
This shows the name of the full file and how many parts there are in total.
(There are also things called PAR files... I'll explain these later)
So...
You have to set up your program to tell it where to PUT the files you are going to download. HINT: make this a hard drive with a LOT of space on it. You'll fill it up very quickly, so make sure your CD/DVD burner is in good nick !!!!)
You see what you want.
You tell the program to download it.
You wait.
As this is a DIRECT connection to your ISP these come in at virtually your top download speed. This is only ONE reason why its better than torrents!
Also, there is ALWAYS a community of people quick to say if anything uploaded is virus'ed... But unless you are checking out warez groups, these are VERY rare in NGS. (But still.. always check!) Even the warez groups are okay if you see who the regular posters are and there are no virus reports.
One warning. Every group (well.. a lot) have their fair share of trolls and total morons. But they are easy to ignore.
Once you have downloaded your files you then run Winzip or Winrar to extract them and.. thats it!!
Now..
PAR files.
A PAR set is used by a program called QUICKPAR.
What this is, is a safety net.
Sometime in NGs (or LOTS depending on your server!) the posts will have small bits missing. The PAR (or PARity) files check the list and repair the missing bits!
This will 999 times out of 1000 fix any problems with a download. Only fails if the original post is VERY badly broken. (Or the PAR set is too small)
Even if the newsreader is showing the post as complete it is always best to download at least the FIRST PAR file which will run the check. If it needs repaired you just download more of the PAR set.
Now... if you DON'T have access to NGs through your ISP.
There ARE pay servers.. Giganews being one of the best known.
This is exactly what it says on the tin... A pay subscription NG server.
You pay them so much a month, they allow you access to their NGs.
(These are known as PREMIER NG servers) these usually have access to virtually every NG there is and have a VERY long retention time. (Virgin allows access to binaries for about 7 days, after which they fall off the server).
Giganews can hold them for many many weeks. (Maybe months, I'm not sure.)
I've never had to use a premium server, but I have heard VERY good things about them.
If I was SERIOUS about my downloading then I'd probably use one. But if I can't get something on my own server I just think, "Oh well... it'll show up again!" ;' ))
Now.. this may all SEEM very daunting.
But once your up and running you'll lose all thoughts of ever leaving the house. There is SO much OUT THERE !!! ;' )
Any questions.. let me know!
Cheers