Acquisition actually downloads files - LimeWire just "Requeries"
 

Last night I downloaded Acquisition 0.72 and requested download of the same two dozen files that I've been attempting to download using LimeWire 2.8.x for the past month.

With LimeWire, the best I'd been able to achieve was a very few minutes of "Waiting...busy" followed by endless "Requery." Just about nothing breaks the Requery loop except exiting LimeWire and relaunching.

With Acquisition I did a single search, found the 24 files and immediately started downloading five of them. Overnight one file completed (50MB); four got half way before their hosts went offline (a total of 250MB out of 500MB). A sixth file started downloading when I made a second search and is now half way through (25MB out of 50MB).

Will some one explain to me what's going on here -- Acquisition is based on the LimeWire engine!

It's important to note that I experienced some problems with Acquisition: first, something very similar to the Can't Move to Library bug occurred prventing two files from starting download.. Second, the first file downloaded proved to be corrupted. (I'm assuming for now that this is the host's fault, not Acquition's.) And, most serious, no uploads! That means if we all were to migrate to Acquisition, there'd be no files to share!

[On and average night while I leave LimeWire "Requerying" away on the download side, about a dozen hosts attempt to upload files from me. Many (not on LimeWire 2.8.x) succeed. The fact that I didn't see a single upload attempt on Acquisition indicates a major fault in that application.]

Comments?

Janet

Acquisition is the LimeWire core with a native (faster, less memory using) GUI. If you prefer Acquisition that's just fine, but under the hood (more or less) the same program is running.

Trap_Jaw, I don't prefer Acquisition. The LimeWire GUI is nicer. But, that's the point.

If LimeWire and Acquisition are essentially the same, why is it the LimeWire 2.8.x gets hung in "Requery" loops and NEVER downloads any file larger than a couple of MBs, while Acquisition 0.72 starts downloading immediately and continues until the file completes and/or the host goes offline.

I've downloaded nothing but a few short MP3s (totalling maybe 10MB) in the last month using 2.8.5 and 2.8.6. But, last night with Acquisition 0.72, I downloaded over 400MB!! Both programs were working off the same file list from the same hosts!

Makes no sense.

I repeat what I've been saying for weeks. LimeWire is broken and needs to be fixed!!!

Janet

Hey there, sounds like you had an opportunity to delve deeper into this.

Do you think it's possible you've modified some of your sharing settings in sys prefs?

Although I do not seem to get the same level of upload activity with Acq as I do with LW, it does work on my system, granted I turn off the firewall for best results.

Also, if you haven't been there yet, Acq has a good interactive forum that the author actively participates in.

http://www.sciforums.com/f72/s/

Additionally, I can now attest to the Requery Loop you describe, and the Unable to Move to Library symptom, which I had not previously experienced.

Acquisition gets updated regularly, the guy is always fixing something. Too bad he's not part of the LW team, together I bet they could put out a killer app.

Hope you get it working better.

Clueless,

I changed the Shared folder location and unchecked 'remove on complete' for both Acquisition and LimeWire. Otherwise, I'm using the default preferences.

Janet

Sorry, I was not clear. I meant the System Preferences for File Sharing. I had read that some users had the same trouble due to changes they had made there.

PS. I don't trust the LW preferences, so I might be suspicious if you have made changes to them.
For instance, I set my upload preferences to 1 per customer at a time, and a maximum of 5 uploads and slots.
Right now, I am looking at 8 active uploads.

Clueless,

I'd never even been inside the File Sharing part of Systems Preferences until you mentioned it.

Mine is strictly a stand-alone computer . . . no firewall . . . File Sharing preferences at default.

Janet

setup i-mac dv 400mhz G3, 320 meg ram OS9.1 limewire 2.8.5



ahhh somebody has noticed

right here goes
2nd from last and last upodate i started to get upload probs
ie they are on and off lot
but downloads have started to do it now

thought it was my firewall so i started to play with the port settings through the firewalland at present use port 6348 as the listening port in limewire
people now upload better but still a bit patchy

thing is i don't want to turn my personal firewall off for obvious reasons

i have also unticked the box for disable ultrapeer capabilities as i was having a hard time connecting to more than 2 hosts,now back to nearly normal

there is a general stability problem in limewire somewhere but i'll keep trying
or it could be a conspiracy of ISP's : )

don't have much choice unfotunately

Janet,
As I recall, the internal OS firewall is off by default upon installation. And as you haven't adjusted any of the other sharing subsets within that preference pane, I don't think that the problem lies in there.
Well, worth a look, anyway.

We can hope that the .6 was an emergency stop gap measure to stem the tide until they can work on the other problems.

for Clueless - update on Acquisition
 

Clueless,

I've been running Acquisition 0.72 for several days now and I owe you an update:

1. downloads continue at a great pace (enjoying Beethoven's 9th à la Acquisition as I type this), BUT 2 of 3 avi files I downloaded were either corrupted or are not actually avi. No way of knowing if Acquisition or the host is responsible -- normally I'd download the same file with LimeWire as a check, except you know all about the problems I'm having with LimeWire. I haven't found a chat option in Acquisition, so I can't contact the host and ask.

2. other gnutella users have managed to connect to me for upload, but not half the number that connect when I'm running LimeWire AND all but one or two of these failed to complete.

3. the bug similar to Can't move to Library occurs when some files attempt to restart downloading after disconnect. Not every time and not every download.

Will keep you posted.

And, yes, Trap_Jaw, in spite of all this, I'd still prefer to use LimeWire.

Janet

Hi Janet:

Yep, a fair assessment. For me, I have trouble telling if uploads are completing because of the mystery chunk stats and no progress metering (the display bug).

I also see a lot of 'transer interrupted' messages, many of which had made it through the qeue and were active uploads.

And the time the program will run before crashing is unpredictable. Sometimes it will run for a couple of hours, sometimes for 2 days. It's a doo doo shoot when I wake up the monitor in the morning, will I see the monitoring window, or the unexpected quit dialog box.

On a positive note, I have been able to filter some of the spam hosts, who tend to own large ip blocks and multiple servers. Slowly I am gathering ips and blocking them.

I turn off chatting, it is of no interest to me. I prefer the 'browse host' feature ala Napster.
You are fortunate to be outside the US in respect to upcoming attempts by Microsoft and the RIAA to put more pressure on the networks. Best to use whatever means now to gather all of your favorite music.

part 2:

re Acquisition .072, I like the fact that it doesn't use the Chunky Soup download method. Also, I had left 'pending' downloads in it last time I quit the app. Today, when I opened it, after connecting, it did its querying thing, and reported that the hosts were offline. Plain and simple. No need to wonder if it is waiting for something to happen. Host is offline, period. Thank you, I can deal with that information.

On many levels, I like the fact that it is more intuitive in its interface than LW.

The negative for me. I frequently get crash logs telling me that java has crashed. Then uploads are gone, and soon afterwards, uploading starts again. So, that's a problem. I guess java must restart on its own after one of these crashes, because I did nothing to initiate its restart.
It just happened again now, and yes, the uploads go with it.
I'll have to investigate this further.

Bottom line, as we have been saying for awhile now, is that we need the return of the good aspects of LimeWire in addition to whatever improvements they have in mind. And for the company to be more 'user friendly' with us customers. Example, can anyone tell me where on the LW website or elsewhere that I can go to learn what they are working on, how it is coming, when will we see it, troubleshooting, etc?
Went to Limewire.com and found following examples:

Example: check the features area, here is the highlighted text:
"LimeWire New Features 2.7.3 - (Release date: 10.29.02)"

Hello, it is 2003. Not user friendly, not intuitive, not up to date.


Another example, taken from the site: Growth potential of Gnutella, or Gnutella's Future:

"Furthermore, as of 2/20/01, the network continues to grow at a pace of approximately 7% per day. "

Great, news that is 2 years old.

Under "recent improvements"

"March 2, 2001"

No need to go further with that one.

Hard to understand why no one there can take the time to bring the site up to date. It's not that hard to do, as anyone who has created a website knows.

I'd like to spend a day at the LW headquarters, to get a glimpse of what goes on there, so I could have a better understanding. Maybe I am being too harsh with them, but that is because it just doesn't seem like everything is Kosher in LWLand.

Part 3:

Figured out what is happening with the Java crashes and Acquisition. If you are using Java version 1.3.1, you will get the java crash. There is a preview version 1.4.1 available through the Apple Developer Connection, but it is still a beta.

I'm not comfortable doing that, and I have read that version 10.2.4 of the OS is due sometime this week or very soon. I'll wait to see if the java engine is updated too.

Requery Sent, Waiting...
 

Jannuss: I am having the same problem ever since I Upgraded to v.2.8.6.
You say that Acquisition can help. Where can I download this from?

downloading Acquisition 0.74
 

The Acquision homepage is

http://www.xlife.org/

I usually prefer to download most software from version tracker (saves having to search for the individual web pages of each package)

http://versiontracker.com/

Janet