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Why is Cygwin so COOL?


Cygwin success story #81728612838
=================================

I needed to get the latest Microsoft Platform SDK, both at home and at work.
They provide a nice "SDK Update" ActiveX thingy, which of course simply
doesn't work.  Luckily, it's also available for "full download" via HTTP -
in twenty ~25MB chunks.  Knowing full well that my grandchildren would have
grandchildren before I'd be able to get all that through my 56K modem via
"standard means" ("Sorry! Download died at 24.9999MB.  Wanna start over?"),
I turned to what I knew would eventually get the job done right - Cygwin.
More specifically, the incredible wget tool and this simple script:


#!/bin/sh

DIR=http://download.microsoft.com/download/platformsdk/sdk/update/win98mexp/
en-us/3672.1/FULL

FILES="PSDK-FULL.1.cab PSDK-FULL.2.cab PSDK-FULL.3.cab PSDK-FULL.4.cab
PSDK-FULL.5.cab PSDK-FULL.6.cab \
PSDK-FULL.7.cab PSDK-FULL.8.cab PSDK-FULL.9.cab PSDK-FULL.10.cab \
PSDK-FULL.11.cab PSDK-FULL.12.cab PSDK-FULL.13.cab PSDK-FULL.14.cab \
PSDK-FULL.15.cab PSDK-FULL.16.cab PSDK-FULL.17.cab PSDK-FULL.18.cab \
PSDK-FULL.19.cab PSDK-FULL.20.cab PSDK-FULL.bat Extract.exe"

for FILE in ${FILES}; do wget -c ${DIR}/${FILE}; done


Once this script was started, neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night, nor
ISP disconnects could stop it from its appointed rounds.  Sure it tied up my
phone line all weekend, but as the French say, "c'est la dolce vita".  It
did *not* however tie up my computer; Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear played just
fine thanks.

And the icing on the cake: emailed the script to work, and it's sucking the
SDK down over our much speedier connection here as I type this.

Yes, this is but a small sampling of Cygwin's greatness.  But it is
greatness nonetheless.  God bless America, and God bless Cygwin (and wget)!

--
Gary R. Van Sickle
Braemar Inc.
11481 Rupp Dr.
Burnsville, MN 55337



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