linux??

[Crunchy(Cracked)Butter]

The fastest i can remember my modem communication went down the old copper line was 17k, that was over ICQ as well for a quick file transfer inside my country.  But yeah you are right none the less.

[jrigby]

well my internet connection usually rounds out to dowload at about 6 kb per second.

[kompresseduk]

let's not confuse bits and bytes here...
56k modem can run at a max 7kB/s which is unrealistic. say 5kB/s max...

Lycoris (513MB) @ 5kB/s = 28.5 hours
Gentoo (135MB) @ 5kB/s = 7.5 hours
your modem will probably have difficulty doing 5kB/s, so it'll be quite a bit longer...

on another note, i may give gentoo a try, seems small and full of linxy goodness...

edit: how about slackware zip linux? fits on a zip disc, so it's less than 100Mb...

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: keot ]

[rtgwbmsr]

The calculation was assuming a 7 KILOBYTES per second download for a 56kbps modem.

KBps and Kbps are all different things(bits and Bytes)

The calculator does:
(DownloadsizeMB *1024)/(Speed in kilobits per second /8) = Download time in minutes

Sometimes the max is unreasonable, but it made it flexible to enter any connection speed. Maybe I'll revise it to shave off 10 or 20 percent of the speed.

[voidmain]

And also don't forget it depends on if the servers are hogged.  I've got 1.5Mbps cable yet I've been downloading RedHat 8.0 for a day and a half now and only 544MB downloaded out of the 3 CDs. The servers are just plain swamped and I'm only getting about 3 or 4KB/s. Normally I can download a CD (650MB in around an hour or two). Looks like it'll be a few days for my RedHat 8.0 report...

[lazygamer]

56k's can't go at true 56k for some reason, something like 48k perhaps. 48k does not mean 48kb or 48000 bytes(or is that bits?) per second, it actually means 4800 bytes(or is that bits?) per second.

[voidmain]

56 kilobits (Kb) / 8 = 7 kilobytes (KB) of data per second. That is assuming both ends are connected at maximum capability.  

In addition to that if you have a modem capable of compression you can effectively get higher transfer rates. Assuming you are transferring a text file that is capable of being compressed to half it's size (most text files compress much smaller than this) you will in effect get 14KB/s when you transfer that text file. Now compression will do you no good when transferring files that are already compressed (*.zip, *.gz, etc) because compressed files can not be compressed any more than they are.

Obviously there are other factors that will not allow the maximum connect speeds (shitty equipment, phone lines, running Windows, dropped packets, latency, etc) so you likely will only get 5 or 6KB/s max on a good connection when transferring *.zip, *.gz, or other compressed files.

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

[TheQuirk]

That, and in the US (and other countries, I think) they limit it to 53k. 53/8 equals to 6. And you'll probably go lower then that.

[Master of Reality]

so your saying the average 56 might get 5-6 KB/s (kilobytes) not 5-6Kb/s(kilobits).
Therefore redhat 8.0 (all 5 CDs) would take 7.513 24-hour days?? (rough estimate)

[ October 01, 2002: Message edited by: The Master of Reality / Bob ]

[TheQuirk]

I'm saying that the US limits 56k modems to 53kilobits. 53 divided by 8 is 6, so you'd get about 6k to 5k.

[Master of Reality]

the US doesnt limit anything. It is the hardwares maximum capacity. My hypothesis was going by that anyway, so do the math for your self and see if it comes to 7.513 days.

[TheQuirk]

No, the US _does_ limit it to 53kilobits. Read a 56k modem manual.

[Master of Reality]

why in hell would The US limit the capacty of 56k modems!!!!! and Canada's 56k modems seem to work the same too.

[voidmain]

quote:*Capable of receiving downloads at up to 56 Kbps and sending at up to 31.2 Kbps. Actual download speeds you experience may be lower due to varying line conditions. Maximum download speeds in the U.S. and Canada are limited to 53K, due to regulatory limits on power output. Requires compatible analog phone line and server equipment.

http://www.dynadirect.com/md-usr5686d.html

[Master of Reality]

what a fucking ripoff. I am glad i have never used a 56k modem. The highest i ever used was 28.8