[snip] > >> Ping time would probably be rather unfriendly to the mirrors :-) > > > > Would this seriously be a concern? I can't imagine that the cygwin > > user base is that update-happy that they'd be flooding download > > servers (which would have to serve them multimegabytes anyway) with > > pings. Especially when we still have folks going, "Hi, I recently > > upgraded from B6. Why did you break everything?". > > I don't know. But pinging 30 to 40 servers seems rather a heavyweight > solution. >
On-line multiplayer games do exactly that all the time, so unless I'm missing something here, I really can't see it being a problem. Unless the "pings" in the games aren't real internet pings or something.... > >> I was thinking treeview Continent/Country/Site. > >> > > > > NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT MORE > > TREEVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > > > > ;-) > > > > Seriously, what I'd really like to see us work towards is a UI-less > > mirror selection system as the default. 99% of users couldn't give a > > whit which server the stuff is coming from, as long as it works. > > Hence, a UI can only cause grief for all involved, and the more > > involved it is, the more grief it will cause. > > Nevertheless, wouldn't you agree that the treeview I proposed above would be > an improvement over the current listview? Yes, but I think it adds needless complexity to that particular interface, and doesn't solve the real problem, which is, "which of these selections gets me the stuff fastest?". Physical location gives you a hint, but the server across the street may be a 386 with a 14.4 modem and a dozen other Cygwinners downloading, while the one across the ocean may have a pipe the size of... well, I can't think of an appropriate similie, but a really fat pipe and no waiting. I think the best and easiest solution here would be to simply ping each server in the list, sort by ping, and display "server.name.here | ping_in_ms" in a two-column list box (which would probably have to be hand-rolled). I know ping isn't going to give you a definitive answer to the question either, but it is one step closer, and probably the best that we could realistically do. -- Gary R. Van Sickle Brewer. Patriot.
