Vation
10.08.10, 11:29
The Complete Guide to Downloading Files from Usenet
What’s the first place you go to for downloading your files online? A torrent tracker? A client like Frostwire? (Please say no to applications like that.) What if I told you there was a way to do it in almost complete secrecy and it would max out your connection while doing so? Well, there is a way to do it, and it doesn’t require a huge amount of time, but it does require a subscription to a provider and a client to use, as well as a place to download NZB files. (more on those later) It will require a little money, but I can honestly say I have no regrets about it. First off, lets talk about Usenet.
Contents of Guide
Introduction
Prerequisites
Configuring SABnzbd+
Using Newzbin
Final Thoughts
Introduction
Usenet is a precursor to the Internet. Bulletin Board Systems and Usenet were the typical methods of discussion back in the day. Rather than bore you with the technical details, which I’m not afraid to admit are beyond me (I wasn’t alive back then), check out the Wikipedia articles on BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) and Usenet. Usenet and BBS groups were wide and varied, and specific groups exist for nearly every subject. Online forums are now used in place of these systems for the most part.
But we’re not interested in using the discussion side of Usenet. We want to download files from it, and let me tell you, downloading from Usenet is superior in almost every way to torrents. The way it works is that it’s able to utilize all of your true download speeds. So if you have a 5 meg line, you’re gonna get 5 megs (unless your ISP is lying to you.). So where do we start with this? Well first off, we’re going to need a Usenet provider. Most people will suggest Giganews, and I was a happy subscriber last year until I let it run out. My current provider is Supernews which with their current special will run you about $12 USD a month. This package gives you unlimited bandwidth, 400 days binary retention (more on that later too), SSL encryption if you want it, and 30 connections. Other providers can give you more retention and more connections, but I think this is the best deal anyone could need.
Next, we’re going to need a place to download NZBs from. NZB files are the standard files we use to download from Usenet. An NZB file simply tells our client where to download the pieces from off of Usenet. It’s basically a .torrent for newsgroups. There are free sites that offer NZBs, like the popular NZBMatrix, but my favorite place is Newzbin. Newzbin is a pay site, but it’s incredibly cheap. It will run you £.30 a week, or $0.47c USD. They also charge a £.50 service charge everytime you add on to your account. The smallest amount you can pay for at a time is 8 weeks, so for about 2 months of Newzbin access, it’s gonna cost you roughly $5.25. So it’s cheap. To top it off, you don’t currently need an invite to get in.
Thirdly, we’re going to need a client to get everything talking together. The only client I can recommend is SABnzbd+, it has an easy install, and will integrate with your Newzbin or NZBMatrix account. I wouldn’t bother with anything else. Now that we’ve satisfied all the prerequisites, let’s get started.
Prerequisites
Again, just to recap on everything you’ll need…
A Usenet provider
Access to NZB files, whether they’re from Newzbin or not it doesn’t matter
SABnzbd
Depending on the provider you went with, they should have given you access details to your account. Supernews will send you an email with all the needed information, or you can login to your account on their website to get it. All we need from them is the name of the server, username, and password. Write this information down somewhere. As an example, here are the credentials I use.
Server Name: news.supernews.com (Most providers servers are like this. news.[provider].com)
Username: denklckr@gmail.com
Password: *****************************
Now we need to configure the SABnzbd+ client. Download the version you want depending on your OS. Here are the links to the Windows and Mac versions. Some other tools I would recommend are the nzbdStatus Firefox add-on, and a Greasemonkey script that will auto-send NZBs from Newzbin to your SABnzbd+ application. I can’t currently find the link to the right script so I’ll have to update this part later.
So, download SABnzbd, and install it. It’s web based, so when you’re done installing it, navigate to: https://localhost:8080/sabnzbd .(Note: in the pictures I use, my address is 9090 because I have SSL enabled. SSL simply provides another layer of security.) It may ask you for a username and password if you specified that during the install. Let’s get this configured, so hit the config tab. (Note: I use the classic lightblue theme, it may look different on yours. You can switch to the theme I use for this walkthrough, and change it back later if you want.)...............
source and full reading:
The Complete Guide to Downloading Files from Usenet « the klckrlog (http://denklckr.com/file-sharing/complete-usenet-guide/)
What’s the first place you go to for downloading your files online? A torrent tracker? A client like Frostwire? (Please say no to applications like that.) What if I told you there was a way to do it in almost complete secrecy and it would max out your connection while doing so? Well, there is a way to do it, and it doesn’t require a huge amount of time, but it does require a subscription to a provider and a client to use, as well as a place to download NZB files. (more on those later) It will require a little money, but I can honestly say I have no regrets about it. First off, lets talk about Usenet.
Contents of Guide
Introduction
Prerequisites
Configuring SABnzbd+
Using Newzbin
Final Thoughts
Introduction
Usenet is a precursor to the Internet. Bulletin Board Systems and Usenet were the typical methods of discussion back in the day. Rather than bore you with the technical details, which I’m not afraid to admit are beyond me (I wasn’t alive back then), check out the Wikipedia articles on BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) and Usenet. Usenet and BBS groups were wide and varied, and specific groups exist for nearly every subject. Online forums are now used in place of these systems for the most part.
But we’re not interested in using the discussion side of Usenet. We want to download files from it, and let me tell you, downloading from Usenet is superior in almost every way to torrents. The way it works is that it’s able to utilize all of your true download speeds. So if you have a 5 meg line, you’re gonna get 5 megs (unless your ISP is lying to you.). So where do we start with this? Well first off, we’re going to need a Usenet provider. Most people will suggest Giganews, and I was a happy subscriber last year until I let it run out. My current provider is Supernews which with their current special will run you about $12 USD a month. This package gives you unlimited bandwidth, 400 days binary retention (more on that later too), SSL encryption if you want it, and 30 connections. Other providers can give you more retention and more connections, but I think this is the best deal anyone could need.
Next, we’re going to need a place to download NZBs from. NZB files are the standard files we use to download from Usenet. An NZB file simply tells our client where to download the pieces from off of Usenet. It’s basically a .torrent for newsgroups. There are free sites that offer NZBs, like the popular NZBMatrix, but my favorite place is Newzbin. Newzbin is a pay site, but it’s incredibly cheap. It will run you £.30 a week, or $0.47c USD. They also charge a £.50 service charge everytime you add on to your account. The smallest amount you can pay for at a time is 8 weeks, so for about 2 months of Newzbin access, it’s gonna cost you roughly $5.25. So it’s cheap. To top it off, you don’t currently need an invite to get in.
Thirdly, we’re going to need a client to get everything talking together. The only client I can recommend is SABnzbd+, it has an easy install, and will integrate with your Newzbin or NZBMatrix account. I wouldn’t bother with anything else. Now that we’ve satisfied all the prerequisites, let’s get started.
Prerequisites
Again, just to recap on everything you’ll need…
A Usenet provider
Access to NZB files, whether they’re from Newzbin or not it doesn’t matter
SABnzbd
Depending on the provider you went with, they should have given you access details to your account. Supernews will send you an email with all the needed information, or you can login to your account on their website to get it. All we need from them is the name of the server, username, and password. Write this information down somewhere. As an example, here are the credentials I use.
Server Name: news.supernews.com (Most providers servers are like this. news.[provider].com)
Username: denklckr@gmail.com
Password: *****************************
Now we need to configure the SABnzbd+ client. Download the version you want depending on your OS. Here are the links to the Windows and Mac versions. Some other tools I would recommend are the nzbdStatus Firefox add-on, and a Greasemonkey script that will auto-send NZBs from Newzbin to your SABnzbd+ application. I can’t currently find the link to the right script so I’ll have to update this part later.
So, download SABnzbd, and install it. It’s web based, so when you’re done installing it, navigate to: https://localhost:8080/sabnzbd .(Note: in the pictures I use, my address is 9090 because I have SSL enabled. SSL simply provides another layer of security.) It may ask you for a username and password if you specified that during the install. Let’s get this configured, so hit the config tab. (Note: I use the classic lightblue theme, it may look different on yours. You can switch to the theme I use for this walkthrough, and change it back later if you want.)...............
source and full reading:
The Complete Guide to Downloading Files from Usenet « the klckrlog (http://denklckr.com/file-sharing/complete-usenet-guide/)