90
is there a download manager for Linux that just works? (libreddit.oxymagnesium.com)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
63 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Something as simple and as convenient to use as internet download manager

If you have ever used IDM before then you know what I mean, I'm yet to find an alternative that's on par with its ease of use and convenience

Here are my requirements:

  • I don't have to copy-paste any links or right click on any links (just like IDM)
  • it works on all sites, well except for mega.nz (just like IDM)
  • it can scan the website and show me a download button on top of the media if it detects media like a YouTube video or an audio file playing, etc... (just like IDM)
  • It works perfectly with Firefox (just like IDM)
  • it doesn't have to keep running in the background, starting a direct download link should initiate it and show me a pop download dialog/window (just like IDM)

I have tried:

  • Persepolis: it has failed me miserably, the download fails 99% of the time (like from GitHub) so I ended up disabling the browser extension because it was getting in my way.
  • Motrix: I have tried it on Windows with Firefox, but it doesn't auto-detect the downloads and I have to copy and paste the download links and in some cases this is very difficult as many websites don't show the direct download link to the user.
  • Varia: tried it quickly yesterday, and it failed to auto capture the download link and Firefox built in download manager started instead.
  • FDM: I have tried to download it off the package manager (a flatpak from Linux mint software manager) but it failed to install for some reason and now the download option doesn't load at all! But I have used FDM on Windows before, and it is not as good as IDM.

I just downloaded KGet, and it doesn't seem to be what I'm looking for, but we will see.

Some notes:

  • youtube-dl: I never used it before but from what I know about it, I'm pretty sure it doesn't fit my criteria
  • I'm using 1DM+ on my android phone, and it is so damn good, it's almost perfect, it is the golden standard for download managers on android, this app is another example of "it just works".
  • I think I'm losing hope, and I'm going to see if IDM can run perfectly using WINE

final update

Tested JDownloader2 with the Download with JDownloader Firefox extension vs FDM and the winner is FDM because it just worked out of the box no configuration was needed beyond just installing the browser extension, and it did a better job at meeting my requirements except for the 3rd one, but thankfully I found this great extension so it's alright

  • ah I almost forgot, yes I tested DownThemAll, and it didn't automatically capture downloads, so this was an instant no
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] [email protected] 74 points 1 month ago

I have nothing to contribute, but I'm extremely curious as to why someone would need a "download manager"? What's the use case?

I seem to recall most downloader programs just being malware like Orbit downloader etc.

[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago

I mostly use a download manager for parallel downloading a file. (downloading multiple parts of a single file at the same time).

[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I might be dumb but I still don’t understand the use of such a download manager.

I mean I guess I have an integrated download manager in Firefox and it’s sufficient for my user case.

[-] [email protected] 50 points 1 month ago

You’re not dumb you just haven’t needed that use case before.

Here’s an example of the last time JDownloader saved me. There was a website where people were posting archives of old skateboard videos. There were hundreds of links across dozens of pages in a forum. All links to sites like mega.

I was able to view all pages in one document and extracted all of the hundreds of links and put them in JDownloader. Over the course of the next several weeks JDownloader was able to manage those downloads without clogging my bandwidth. If a download failed it would notify me and I could retry it.

Can you imagine trying to do that in Firefox?

[-] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

Thanks for the explanation 👍

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Fair enough! That's so good you managed to get all that

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

Aria2 in the terminal has this feature:

aria2c -X 16 [URL]

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

A long time ago I used a CLI download manager that could download from different mirrors at the same time.

I think it was a tool called axel and it worked very well.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

When I used to use one it was due to sites limiting downloads to 200kb/s or similar. 32 parallel requests got that up to 6.4MB/s

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Neat! I haven't had to use download sites in ages so TIL you could bypass it like this. I thought all that stuff died with Rapidshare and letitbit etc.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

I think the big things are: 1. You can download things that aren't supposed to be downloadable. 2. More reliable when downloading big files.

[-] [email protected] 60 points 1 month ago

I'm surprised you tried all of these downloaders that I've never heard of, but somehow missed like the biggest one. JDownloader2 , the best one imo

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Lol, I actually know about JDownloader2 but never used it but well I'm downloading it right now so let's see

Update: close but not enough, FDM is the winner for me

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

There seems to be a Firefox extension that can send downloads and start jdownloader as well

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Tested it but in the end I settled on FDM

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

the thing about jdownloader it does not grab url and transfer it immediately to download manager with extension like IDM does.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

well yeah, that's true, but it auto grabs clipboard, so you can just Right click > copy link address. Yeah yeah 1 extra click and messes your old workflow ik, but at least it checks all the other requirements

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

There are Browser extension available, i do not know their quality.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Tested it but settled on FDM in the end because of its simplicity, convenience and ease of use

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

THIS

[-] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago

Jdownloader2 is the the best, I've not used anything else for years.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

It's maybe a little bloated and UI is 🤮 but it never lets me down. Since I started paying for RealDebrid I love it even more!

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

What is RealDebrid?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I guess it is a matter of personal preference and priorities

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Glad you found what you need. Ive never needed any browser plugins to use JDL2, it just works with copy and past and monitors your clipboard,

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

(go old school, curl and wget)

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

curl -c in a while loop

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

I use Java version of XDM and it work flawlessly on brave and firefox

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Hmm I don't recall using it ever before but I will give it a shot if things don't go well with FDM

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

any website

I'm sorry to say this is not possible with any app.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

He meant to say, any website that isn't soydev cloudy garbaj. Also the answer is still DownThemAll

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

jdownloader seems pretty close to "internet download manager"

Also I prefer yt-dlp over youtube-dl

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Have you tried https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/downthemall/ ?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Tried it today and unfortunately it didn't pass the test

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Curious -- what made it not an option?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

The only download software I used was the DownThemAll Firefox extension, which has always been real good. It works on all sites I've tried it with, it's a very customisable interface, I don't really know what you mean by not copy-pasting links but you don't gotta do that.

You're not likely to find an exact copy of the software for another OS, wine probably is your best bet if you just want IDM in Linux form.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I don't really know what you mean by not copy-pasting links but you don't gotta do that.

Here is what I mean, in testing JDownloader and other download managers I did a simple test, I open a website like let's say https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download-fdm-for-linux.htm and I left click on the download button if the download manager auto captures the download request and start downloading the file or prompt me to authorize the download then the download manager passes the test but if the browser built in download manager starts downloading instead then it is an instant failure; I put this extension to the test and unfortunately it failed.

wine probably is your best bet if you just want IDM in Linux form.

It installed successfully but unfortunately it seems that it won't work with the linux version of Firefox so I uninstalled.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

uGet always worked great for me.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago
  • Does it auto capture download requests from the browser?
  • Do I need to copy-paste the direct download link to it?
  • Do I need to right click on links then select it?
  • does it work flawlessly with Firefox?
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Out of my toolkit:

  • Audio and video? yt-dlp, hands down.
  • Files? The plugin DownThemAll for Firefox.
[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

yt-dlp

Hmm seems really interesting, will take a look at it when I have time

DownThemAll

Tested it unfortunately requires an extra step (right clicking on links), I'm looking for something that will auto start whenever I left click on a link instead of the browser built in download manager

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

https://www.wfdownloader.xyz/

Wfdownloader is often overlooked but it's probably one of the best and versatile tools around.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Thanks! I will keep this one in mind in case things don't work well with FDM

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I always use https://flathub.org/apps/org.freedownloadmanager.Manager

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I settled on it in the end but I installed the deb package instead from FDM website, the flatpak just refuses to install and I'm not willing to troubleshoot the issue

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 07 May 2024
90 points (89.5% liked)

Linux

45457 readers
1567 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]