Turbo Download Manager
Turbo Download Manager aims to provide a modern download manager for all major browsers and platforms. The default download manager of browsers is very preliminary and cannot operate on non-reliable INTERNET connections. Turbo Download Manager tries to address all these issues by providing a single UI in all platforms.
Turbo Download Manager for chrome is released under app category. Packaged apps in Google Chrome have local disk read and write access which is required by the extension. However, Packaged apps do not have access to the borwser features such as context menu. The helper extension provides all the missing features in the Firefox version back to the application. By installing the helper, you can monitor your downloads from the toolbar as well as send a new download job to the downloader from webpages.
If you want to download files faster or your INTERNET connection is not reliable then you most likely need a download manager. You can try Turbo Download Manager as an in-browser solution.
Turbo Download Manager is still in development. Please do not use it for your every-day use until the "beta" mark is dropped. Still, we encourage you to use the downloader and please report bugs in the GitHub repo. This add-on is in active development stage.
From version 0.2.2, there are two methods available for introducing mirrors for a job. The first method is during submission of a new job. There is a plus button in the right side of the download link. Press the button multiple times to add multiple mirrors. Once the download begins, Turbo Download Manager examines each mirror link and if the download size matches the original link, the mirror is added to the list and will be used for threading. The second method is to pause an active download and go to the properties window. You can add a mirror in the link section. After a new link is submitted, Turbo Download Manager validates the link and adds or ignores it. To find the status, open the log window.
Some servers only allow a limited number of download requests. Most likely you have already reached the limit. Next time, don't forget to reduce the number of threads for this server before submitting the job. To let Turbo Download Manager continue the current job, you need to find a new downloadable link. Usually if you click on the original link in your browser, a new link will be generated (with a new token perhaps). Pause or cancel the download in your browser and copy the link to the clipboard. Now open "properties" window for this job and replace the link with the new one. You can check the log window for more info whether the link is accepted or not. If it is accepted, you can now press the resume button.
If server does not generate a new downloadable link, wait for an hour or so and try to resume the download one more time.
For the Chrome version, do not close the manager window as currently there is no session management available on Turbo Download Manager.
Turbo Download Manager is still in active development stage which means the developer version most likely has some new features that you might want to try. To get the latest developer version use the following links based on your platform:
- Firefox: Unsigned XPI
- Chrome: Zipped archive
- Opera: Zipped archive
- Android: Zipped archive
- Electron (for Windows, Mac, and Linux): Zipped archive
On Chrome and Opera, open
about:extensions
in a new browser tab. Check the developer mode on. Now unzip the
downloaded archive and point the browser to the root directory.Android build is more complex. Please visit the GitHub page for more informatin.
Please visit the SourceForge download page.
If you are on Firefox or Chrome browsers, technically you can use the downloader's APIs by sending
postMessage
requests. However, I haven't documented the APIs yet. Please open a new
bug in the GitHub repo to review the APIs you need to access to.It really depends on your INTERNET speed and your browser configurations. Note that higher number of threads do not always result in higher speed. You have to find the optimum number based on your connection and the available RAM you have. The default value is 3 for each new download.
If you are a Firefox user, you can adjust
network.http.max-connections
, network.http.max-connections-per-server
, and network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server
preferences to increase the number of allowed concurrent connections. If you are not familiar with these preferences, check Speed Tweaks (SpeedyFox) by Jeremy to find out what the recommended values are.Please check the Logs section.
Yes, porting Turbo Download Manager to Safari is in my to-do-list.
Currently, there are two ways to install Turbo Download Manager on an Android device. If you are a Firefox user, just look for Turbo Download Manager on Firefox's for Android market, if not you can install Turbo Download Manager as an stand-alone application. Simply head to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.add0n.downloader and get the application.
The former is based on Mozilla's addon SDK platform, and the latter is based on Chrome's packaged application platform.
Not yet! But still please open a bug in the Github repo. There is a plan to support localization soon.
Please see the "issues" list on the GitHub repository.
Turbo Download Manager only downloads those files that support multi-threading download. If there is no support for multi-threading, then the download fails. Actually there would be no advantage of downloading a file without multi-thread support with Turbo Download Manager compared to the default download manager of your browser, and that's the main reason why the download fails. When a download fails, you will is a new button in the right side of the job. Use this button to download the file using the native download manager.
There are two main differences. 1) In the Firefox and Chrome version, chunks are written to the disk upon arrival, however, in the Opera and Safari versions, chunks are stored in the ram and written to the disk once the entire file is downloaded. Thus, it is not recommended to download very large files in the Safari or Opera version. This is a fundamental limitation of these browsers and there is no workaround for that (at least at the moment). 2) In the Firefox and Chrome version, the download API can be accessed from other extensions, so basically the downloader can be used by other extensions to download files faster (in progress).
The default download directory is your system's default directory (the one Firefox is set to once it is installed). To change the directory, open the UI and click on the big + button. Now set the "Save in" and press the "Add as a new job" button. There is no need to fill other fields. Your download directory is now set to the new one.
From version 0.1.5, if you click on the "i" (info) button in the right side of each download item, a new window pops up. The actual link is logged there.
From version 0.1.5, if you click on the "i" (info) button in the right side of each download item, a new window pops up. There are three buttons on the top of the window to let you delete, reveal, or launch the file. Note that these buttons are only visible in the Firefox version of the extension.
Chrome version is released under application category; however, Opera version is under extension category. In the application category, extension has access to local read and write APIs. Basically all the chunks are written to the disk upon arrival. The opera version does not support these APIs and hence all the chunks are kept in the RAM until the entire file is downloaded.
By default, Turbo Download Manager fetches file information from the link provided during the submission. Some websites like sourceforge.net direct you to a webpage and then generate the actual downloadable link for you. From version 0.2.4, it is possible to use "Bypass redirects" feature to bypass the downloading page. Basically Turbo Download Manager loads the URL in an actual sandboxed background browser and detects the actual downloadable URL. Note that this method is slow compared to the direct downloading method and it is only recommended if direct download fails. It is possible to request "Bypass redirects" even from the manager window. Whenever a download fails, a new action button will appear in the right side of failed items, allowing you to request new jobs with bypassing feature enabled.
Open "chrome://extensions/" in a browser tab. Check "Developer mode" and point "Load unpacked extension to the root directory of the project. You can get the latest developer version of Turbo Download Manager from here (Chrome) or here (Opera).