Download Manager

Who hasn't experienced this? As soon as you join a forum or a retro gaming group, the first question that pops up is:

Where can I find roms?

However, the following questions need to be clarified before the topic is discussed in more detail:

• What is the legal situation?

• Is it really that difficult to find your favorite games online?

• Why do I need a download manager?

• Which settings are advantageous?

What is the legal situation

The legal situation regarding the possession of roms is not always clear!

In general, you are liable to prosecution if you download roms. The possession of copies (roms) is also punishable, as long as you can call the original game in its original form (disc, cartridge, etc.) your property.

Conversely, this does not mean that it is completely legal to own roms if the original games are in your home collection.

Since it varies from country to country, it may be tolerated here and there, but only if you speak of "fair use".

This means that you can use a copy (Rom) if you have the original, e.g. on your favorite device with an emulator, which is legal according to the law. Distribution and trade, on the other hand, always remain punishable.

Is it really that difficult to find your favorite games online?

The first thing most people will do is use a search engine to look for roms, find dubious websites and hope that they don't catch a virus that paralyzes their PC or that they are spied on.

But the solution can be so simple. Some of you may have already read or seen that there is a so-called internet archive that works on the basis of:

for the purpose of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a library or archive - wiki

Everything possible from the past is archived here and with the search function, including filter options, you can quickly find what you are looking for.

The principle is simple:

you create an account, log in, search for e.g. Commodore 64 games (freeware / no copyright) and click on the desired game and download it.

Often there are also entire collections, but clicking and downloading each individual game can be tedious. Every now and then downloads stop and you have to start all over again. This happens very often, especially with very large files.

Why do I need a download manager?

The remedy is a download manager such as JDownloader.

With this tool, files can be downloaded more reliably with some useful functions such as automatic unzipping, remote function and much more.

Once installed, the JDownloader is immediately ready for use and the integrated link import function is active.

If you click on the web link in an internet browser and copy it, the content of the web page is added to "LinkGrabber" and you can start the download.

Which settings are advantageous?

Here are a two basics:

Go to Settings -> General and set the download folder to a large drive or a folder

Under Settings -> Account Manager you can setup your accounts like archive.org, 1fichier, google drive and much more.

Click on "Add", enter in the pop-up window e.g. archive in the search field, select archive.org and enter your Username and Password below, click on "Save".

If you want to add a google drive account, please follow the instruction: Goggle Drive Account

Example

Let's download a C64 collection from archive.org.

First go to this page and click on "SHOW ALL"

Open JDownloader, add your Download folder and archive.org account (if not done) and copy the browser link

The copied link will be shown up in the LinkGrabber tab of JDownloader

Now select "Start all Downloads" and the content of the website is downloading

The download speed will vary from time to time, but you can adjust

max. chunks per download (5) and simultaneous downloads (2) to download more efficient.

More than 20 connections are not recommended, e.g. chunks per download (10) and simultaneous downloads (2) = 10x2 = 20 connections.

With this download Manager you can stop and continue downloads whenever you want, even when you close and restart JDownloader.