New Github project to help downloading the ANSI art packs archive

Hi,

When attempting to download the whole 16c archive on a Raspberry Pi, I failed to download it due to several reasons (even network connectivity had issues), I tried also using git to clone the whole thing, but failed time after time.

So I created this small downloader, which resumes downloading after failure from where it stopped etc, so the download succeeded.

It is not a ground breaking util, it is just a small tool which can help some people and make the ANSI archive more approachable.

I wasn’t part of the ANSI scene (although I saw ANSI files in loaders and BBSes back in the day), so this is my humble attempt to be a (very small) part of it now.

I hope more people will find it useful, and I will keep following you guys and your amazing work.

this is my project:
16c-Archive-Downloader

Just so you know, there are a couple of issues with the current Github sixteencolor-archive:

The first issue is with the repository itself which is in fact too large and probably not stored in the most efficient way. As the files in the archive do not ever get updates, it would be better to switch to git LFS for this repo which would make storing and possibly retrieving files less prone to issues. Then again, storing an artpack archive in git repository may not have been the best approach. The idea is probably only good from a developer point of view.

The second issue is the repository is largely out of date, there is no automatic synchronization between sixteencolors-archive and the actual content of 16colo.rs. the latter is probably cleaner and more complete due to work put into it in the last years. however, changes are not synced to the repo and adjusting this might be a little project on its own probably…
The archive as shown on 16colo.rs however is available for public download through FTP (ftp://16colo.rs) or RSYNC (rsync://16colo.rs)

1 Like

Thank you @burps

I read some of the forum threads and it seems that the FTP is 8-9 gb big while the Github contains “only” 4.5gb

There is a huge difference (if the FTP indeed contains 8-9gb of art packs).

I can’t remember why, but I believe there was some reason we did not switch to LFS in the beginning. Possibly because of About billing for Git Large File Storage - GitHub Docs? But if it is needed, $5/mo isn’t a huge deal. I will put it on my radar to look at this more.

As for the second issue, I would love to get that sorted out. I will also put it on my radar to try and script out a way for FTP/rsync to automatically commit a change/PR if the repositories don’t match.

FWIW, I was just able to clone the repository without issue. I didn’t time it, but it was only a few minutes. I am on a very good connection, though (about 300 Mbps download).

Ah. Perhaps that you have to delete every file and re-add it was part of the issue? Moving a file in your repository to Git Large File Storage - GitHub Docs

a handful of packs (about 10) deliberately have permissions set to prevents downloading. so the error is intentional.