Re: [Pan-users] Re: Connections

[Calin A. Culianu]

On Sat, 4 Oct 2003, Duncan wrote:

> Ronny Hippler posted <address@hidden>, excerpted
> below,  on Sat, 04 Oct 2003 14:26:34 -0400:
>
> > I am using pan under freeBSD and have it set up for a maximum of 3
> > connections to giganews. When downloading binaries it will only use one
> > thread at a time. It will be downloading one article then it will start
> > a second but stop around 2%. Once the first is done the second will
> > continue where it left off. Then it will try to start a 2nd, again
> > stopping at around 2%. According to the log I have three connections
> > open but it only uses one for binary decoding. Is there some sort of
> > limitation that is causing this?
>
> This is a very common misunderstanding of the way PAN, thru gnet, is
> handling things.  If you have a connection faster than you are allowed to

Hmm.  In my UI philosophy, if there is a common misunderstanding, perhaps
the UI could use some tweaking?

I have long been a believer that the PAN threading/connections status bar
at the bottom of the main window should be a bit simpler to understand.
A lot of other newsreaders report this information, and most people
understand what is happening with those newsreaders.  But one of the most
common newbie mistakes with Pan is that people get confused about what
it's telling you about connections and tasks at the bottom of the screen.

There should be at least text labels or tooltips telling the user exactly
what the relationship between tasks, connections, and threads are, and how
many of each are being allocated.  :)

Anyone second this opinion?