Marvin's Retriever 0.31 for OS/2 Warp 4 and EcomStation             22 July 2002

   (This is alpha version software, untested and full of bugs, so be careful
    and don't complain too loudly, because now you know what you're doing ;-) )


This the README file which tries to introduce people to Marvin's Retriever 0.31
  
  
Contents
  
1. What is Marvin's Retriever for OS/2?
2. Features
3. Revision History
4. To do list!
5. Files in the Package
6. Hardware and Software Requirements
7. How to Install
8. How to use
9. Problems
10. Download and Contact
11. License

  
    
1. What is Marvin's Retriever for OS/2?
  
   Marvin's Retriever is a small program similar to Netscape's SmartDownload
   but not as powerful (yet). It is not a download manager but could be part
   of one. Well actually it should have been. But I don't know if my download
   manager called Marvin will ever be released, so I thought at least release
   Marvin's Retriever! To be able to reliably download stuff and to save me
   some work it is using the software GNU wGet to get the job done. GNU wGet
   is GPL licensed Software as Marvin's Retriever is. 
   Marvin's Retriever can read the Urls from the clipboard or a file or just
   have one typed in.
   This is an attempt to replace Netscape Navigator's 'save file' Dialog, which 
   seemed to be unreliable, it has buttons to pause/resume, retry and retransfer 
   downloads. 



2. Features

   - "nice" statistics window
   - ability to fetch URLs from the clipboard
   - Pause/Continue,Retry,Retransfer Buttons
   - Commandline interface
   - switchable between a small dialog and a more detailed one
   - ability read a list of URLs and then download them

3. Revision History
   
   Marvin's Retriever 0.31  |  22 July 2002  added features and fixed bugs
                                             
                                             Features added:

                                             -Option "Save with path" added to
                                              settings dialog
              
                                             -Option "Ftp-Passive Mode" for 
                                              accessing ftp-Servers outside
                                              a firewall

                                             -Command line switch -acl (auto 
                                              close window) and   -acl- 
                                               (temporary disable auto close)

                                             Bugs fixed:

                                             -major code cleanup helped to
                                              kill some small bugs
                                             
                                             -fixed jumping display of amount
                                              of bytes to go

   Marvin's Retriever 0.3   |  5 March 2002  added features and fixed bugs

                                          Features added:
 					  
                                          -Settings dialog
                                          -About Dialog (what a feature ;-) )
                                          -Menu 
                                          -Keyboard Shortcuts
					  
                                          Bugs fixed:

                                          -On systems with big fonts the
                                           dialog was not correctly displayed

                                          -Changed fonts to be bit smaller

                                          -Sometimes Retriever would not quit 
                                           correctly

                                          -Cleaned up user interface

					  

   Marvin's Retriever 0.2   | 12 Jan. 2002  added features and fixed bugs

                                          Features added:

                                          -Window size changeable (small/big)
                                          -Can read a list of files to download

                                          Bugs fixed:
                                          -Tasklist entry problem
                                          -Clipboard URL fetching problem
                                          -Better errorhandling, but not good enough yet
                                          -A lot more 

   Marvin's Retriever 0.1   |  4.Jan. 2002  First public version

4. To do list!
   
   -extend Retriever's knowledge of wGet's status/error messages
   -Netscape/Mozilla plugin or something similar
   -Xcenter plugin?
   -a lot more
 
5. Files in the Package

   -readme.txt         |This file 
   -retrievr.exe       |The actual program
   -wget.exe           |GNU wGet
   -GPL.txt            |The license of GNU wGet and Marvin's Retriever
   
   
6. Hardware and Software Requirements

   -Any PC with OS/2 Warp 4 or EcomStation.
   -Needs the emx 0.9d runtime installed.
   -wget.exe which is included. (Included version is 1.53, 1.7 work aswell, 1.8 not tested)
   -GNU wGet can be found here 
      GNU wGet 1.53 - http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=wget153.zip
      GNU wGet 1.71 - http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=wget171-os2-bin-vac.zip
   -less than 500 Kb Harddisk space
   
7. How to Install

   If you downloaded the .wpi install file, then just double click at
   it using the WPS or issue the command "warpin retrievr031.wpi" and 
   follow the instructions. A folder with the program object will be created.

   If you downloaded the .zip install file, then create a directory 
   somewhere and extract the .zip file in to it. You can then
   create an program object or just start Marvin's Retriever by
   executing "retrievr.exe".

8. How to use
  
   Well just use the program object to start it and you will be able to
   type in a URL. I normaly use Netscape's function "copy link to clipboard"
   when I want to download something on a website by using the right mouse
   button on the hyperlink.

   It is also possible to start Marvin's Retriever from the commandline
   shell like this:
   
       "retrievr.exe -d <directory> -c URL" 
      
       -d <directory>    sets the working directory (without brackets)
       -c                Tells Retriever to resume where the download stopped
                         the last time.
       -acl              Tells Retriever to close the window after the download
                         no matter what is selected in the settings dialog
       -acl-             Retriever will keep the window open no matter what is
                         stated in the settings dialog
       URL               Well the internetadress of the file which should be
                         downloaded

      other than that the full GNU wGet syntax should work.

   The Buttons are more or less meaningfull. 

   - Retransfer means start from the
     beginning again and get the whole file again.

   - Retry means stop the present connection and restart at the saved position
     This is useful as sometimes downloads tend to get slower the more time
     passes. With a Retry we connect again and might have a better connection.

   - Pause stops the present connection

   - Play resumes the download

   - Cancel stops the connection and closes the program window. The partly
     downloaded file will not be deleted.

9. Problems

   -The launch button only launches .exe files
   -Error logging could be improved
   -the clipboard url fetching is not very flexible
  




10. Download and Contact

Marvin's Retriever can be downloaded from the following locaton.
   
    - http://www.8ung.at/madmuid
 
    or from hobbes

    - http://hobbes.nmsu.edu  try one of the following
       
       - http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=retrievr031.zip
       - http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=retrievr031.wpi



I would like to hear of any ideas, bug reports (I expect there to be a lot
of bugs, and I know of quite a few myself, hence it is an alpha 0.31 release!)
I also would like to know if this is useful to anybody except me, myself and I!

So this is me
  Diarmuid Albers  -  madmuid@compuserve.de

Well I haven't really had a lot of feedback up till now, so if you found an 
annoying bug and are wondering why on earth it didn't get fixed, it just might
be that I don't know of it! So just go ahead report it.



11. License


Marvin's Retriever is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
version.

Marvins's Retriever is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY 
or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with Marvins's Retriever; see the file GPL.txt.  
If not, write to the 
Free Software Foundation, 
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
02111-1307, USA.

or visit them in the net 
  - http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html


