It's the RSS of webcomics.
Do you like
webcomics? I like webcomics.
Everyday, 1 minute after
cron has connected my
gateway to the net,
dailystrips runs.
dailystrips is a
perl program that downloads webcomics and stores them locally. There are many programs that can do this, what make this one worthy of a writeup?
Like most
Unix programs,
God is in the details...
Why did I choose this program?
When I started looking for this sort of tool on Sourceforge 6 months ago I wanted the one that would support the most comics.
dailystrips claimed to support the most and I have not been disappointed. I'll confess that I only tried 3 others, it's the incredible amount of predefined webcomics that has made this a killer app for me.
I use it on 90 webcomics! Sometimes it takes an hour, but most nights, just about 40 minutes later, I have the instant gratification of nearly 100 webcomics. (I have dialup.)
dailystrips supports a lot more strips!! (It has 650 definitions, but 300 to 400 are still functional.)
How it works
There are prerequisites. You must have linux with perl or windows with ActivePerl. If you meet those requirements you will probably consider decoding the arcane command line syntax a pleasant 1/2 hour's diversion anyway. (Took me 2 days..)
My line is: dailystrips --local --verbose --basedir /mnt/webcomics/ --stripdir --save --retries 2 @laurence
dailystrips has a 2 stages of operation. First it downloads the all urls and uses regular expressions to find the location of the comic. Then it downloads the comics.
dailystrips presents the comics in a simple html file that contains a link to the comic's site and today's comic. Too good to be true?
-
Out of 100 comics ~5 will fail to download. Solution: Click on the comic name to visit the site with a regular browser.
-
It's hard to setup. Solution: Suck it up! Do you want to be alpha geek or not?
-
Length of time to run. Solution: You can cron it to run when you are not using bandwidth. Or just surf the web and run bandwidth hogging apps later. Or get broadband..
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Slow release schedule. Solution: Learn perl. Fix problems yourself.
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Legal. There is no legal problem. If something is available on the web you can download it with almost any browser agent you like. However do not re-publish what you have retrieved or lice-ridden vultures will tear out your liver.
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Morals. Solution: Is there a morals problem? Well you are costing the author bandwidth without compensating him by viewing advertisments. For a struggling webcomic artist bandwidth bills can be a problem. At the moment it's not a big problem. The amount of people able to run this is limited to alpha geeks. It may be a problem in the future. I know getting me to stop using it would be like getting a crack-head to stop smoking, a peer to peer user to stop downloading mp3's etc... You would have to threaten my life or liberty.
More details
An open source project by Andrew Medico, it can be found at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dailystrips/
It can export to handhelds. There's a php wrapper on freshmeat. There are more options than you can shake a stick at. Look at the documentation.
For control freaks: consider using exclude statements rather than include statments to setup your groups. It's a lot more effort but it handles definition updates better and you will be introduced to a lot of new comics...
It may take 6 hours to run the first time though.
Please msg me with sugestions for this page..
camelot:~ # cat .dailystrips.defs
# Strip Groups
group Mine
desc my Regulars
exclude apt3g annie biloynano brenda brunothebandit cajascorax crowe cummings deangelis dicktracy elgar tomthedancingbug
exclude elvis erniepook escomposlinux gomaa graff haiopeis halge harmbengen huffaker idigoras tumbleweeds winter lola
exclude jeffstahler jerryholbert judgeparker keefe koterba lane lang langer locher macgregor mackay markstein
exclude matson menees mikeluckovich mitropoulos moir molina moudakis nemi noexit nowak obi ohman heathcliff momma
exclude oliphant olle pachideportes paresh parker patoliphant paulszep peel perscheid peterson pismestrovic
exclude plante plantu pondus priggee princevaliant quirit ramirez ramsey rexmorgan ricardo ritter motley redmeat
exclude robrogers ronnen sakurai schopf schot serguei slane slylock spiderman stavro stayskal streeter talesquestor
exclude tarzan thephantom thompson tiger toles tom touka trever turner weyershausenwelt wilkinson libertymeadows
exclude wonsoo wright zetterling zippythepinhead zudin zulet aislin alcarez andersonn alimov ammer middletons
exclude andycapp apod archie ariail asay athena auth babin bado barneygoogle bateman beattie behrendt nekobox
exclude bensargent bertrams billday billschorr bobgorrell bok boligan boyle breen britt brookins brown cagle
exclude cajas cardow carlson carlucho casciari catalino catrow chappatte cherepanov christo claybennett clayjones
exclude clement coco corax corrigan curiousmoments curry day deadder deering deore dolighan doloricon duffy
exclude dwanepowell edstein esquivel ettahulme evans gable gado greenberg grondahl hachfeld hajjaj hansson harville
exclude heller heng henrypayne hervi jimmymargulies juliasuits kallaugher kim kowsar leahy linttrap mackinnon
exclude mallardfillmore marktrail mccloskey mckee medi morin nicholson ofarrell persitoons ripleys plif rowe sherffius
exclude siers slowpoke spencer stantis stevebenson summers swill trinidad troubletown tuma wallace walters wolvertoon
exclude wrightl yeslogo zeev andersonk cole donato flashgordon forcemonkeys gallegoyrey gilthorp jones popeye raeside
exclude rall steveroper tayo topsyturvey weepals anjornooz ares askshagg brunothebanditcurrent englehart graston
exclude kazanevsky keshav pancho randompropaganda reddick bish mandrake marmaduke maryworth nancy palomo conrad
exclude curtis geoffreymoss henry incontempt jerkcity alleyoop familycircus lilabner amores americanelf berglin
exclude bigones brainbuzz cartoonfix bluffy cheapthrills cutewendy danziger davies doodles drewlitton emmerson crock
exclude familycircus fatjesus fotr fred garrincha garyvarvel horsey handelsman leftersons lewis lowe marlette mikesmith
exclude miel monkeyhouse nichtlustig nonpersons peters ricardomundo rodewalt sack sevfiles sevgate sevscifi sevtrek
exclude sevwars sevylon5 snibbe sheneman spazlabs stockcartoons tasteslikegravel telnaes thatsjake touche weakendwarriors
exclude wasserman wrightd moviepunks babsandaldo bignate boasas captainribman cathy dennisthemenace dtte ferdnand frazz
exclude fredtheclown herbandjamaal katzkids zippythecolorpinhead fancyfroglin graffiti moose erniepookbig acidreflux
exclude avalonhigh hope pvp newbreed superosity babyblues boondocks broomhilda buckles comet7 dinetteset flofriends
exclude forheavenssake grizzwells jacobson jimberry lifesorad lockhorns onebighappy pluggers potluck rugrats theweedpatch
exclude aford agnes cranandlerma gingermeggs marvin redandrover redeye bachelorparty btaf charlieredeye
exclude crss drybones beetlebailey blondie catharsis doublehappiness hiandlois lionel lionel_am meatloaf pickles
exclude politicallycorrect kudzu mutts dela thismodernworld toomuchcoffeeman hagarthehorrible sexandviolence soup2nutz
exclude lupo thetwisting catandgirl buckets calvinandhobbes farley rvfun shelton zapiro statsministeren nipandtuck
exclude computoon betterhalf betty countyoursheep downtoearth forbetter garfield geech hazel houndshome lemontree
exclude squinkers trudy wizardofid drabble fuzzylogic saraanddavid mrhousewife raisingduncan heartofthecity wandering
exclude animal shirleynson samsilo jumpstart baldo devilspanties fastrack gasolinealley grinandbearit hedge kitncarlyle
exclude biloynanoenglish building12 theylldoiteverytime bobgeorge danmabfur grandave nonsequitur
exclude sheldon tankmcnamara toytrunkrailroaud ziggy dorktower topofworld toytrunkrailroad achewood bullsnbears
exclude grimmy franknernest coxandforkum
#Indefinate Hiatus
exclude hackles joeaverage stealingjustice acidreflux asif elflife geeksalad charlie thebigpicture dragontails wigu
exclude oddlyenough
# re-enabled funnyfarm
#Strips that would not resolve dns or parse the URL or download for 2 weeks. Damn moderntales.com
exclude clanofthecats pgs swamp theshadows warbucket edie flem gpf instantclassic mrpotatohead
exclude mrchuckshow nothingnice ozyandmillie pentasmal psmueller rudypark sexylosers spooner whenigrowup
exclude angst arcanajayne arcaynajaynesoul crfh elflifeadult kismet death fearmongers felicity fetusx flick
exclude kaerwyn perfectworld underpower suburbanjungle overdue vgcats hots lcd
exclude gimbley grift gsg guardians hutchowen jeepers killroyandtina locationlocationlocation mam mell narbonic
exclude northampton nostereotypes oddjobs paradigmshift pewfell ram rip robotbarber rogues shesanightmare skirting
exclude skritch soulchaserbetty thestiff tokyohigh tokyohighdayout tween vigilanteho innies biteme chasingrainbows
exclude circleweave americanbornchinese krakow jack queenofwands alice loveis noroomformagic bizwit bruno fleem james
exclude slowwave jackiesfridge dicebox dieselsweeties irregular nukees jokesonyou thenorm pardonmyplanet
exclude classm meehan shermanslagoon mrwiggles offthemark pennyarcade sluggy errantstory questionablecontent digger
exclude ctrlaltdel youdamnkid willynethel 8bit
# sfgate ?
exclude bfriends zits tinasgroove safehavn crankshaft
# replaced
exclude antihero
#won't pull down 2nd panel.
exclude somethingpositive
end