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QWinApt Wants to Be Synaptic When it Grows Up
With the number of apps I'm downloading steadily on the rise, I'm always on the lookout for tools to simplify the process for me. QWinApt aims to give us poor Windows users a utility with the same
killer functionality of Linux's Synaptic package manager. It's a great idea, and an improvement from Win-get (which Brad reviewed in 2007), but it's still not quite up to par with its Linux cousins.
Getting QWinApt running requires two small downloads, the core app itself and wget to actually do the downloading. Extract them both to the same folder, launch the executable and you're on your way. All that's left is to choose a location for your downloads, and the package manager will open.
The graphical frontend is clean and simple (we'll overlook grammar and spelling - it's free, right?) and breaks down applications into main categories. Those categories are repeated in your download folder, so when you check an app (or apps) and hit apply, they'll download into the matching folder.
Then you're on your own. Unlike Linux the installers won't launch silently, you'll have to soldier through them yourself, which is QWinApt's biggest limitation. If you maintain an app store on a file server, however, it does offer a simple way to bulk download a number of good quality apps without having to visit dozens of different websites.
killer functionality of Linux's Synaptic package manager. It's a great idea, and an improvement from Win-get (which Brad reviewed in 2007), but it's still not quite up to par with its Linux cousins.Getting QWinApt running requires two small downloads, the core app itself and wget to actually do the downloading. Extract them both to the same folder, launch the executable and you're on your way. All that's left is to choose a location for your downloads, and the package manager will open.
The graphical frontend is clean and simple (we'll overlook grammar and spelling - it's free, right?) and breaks down applications into main categories. Those categories are repeated in your download folder, so when you check an app (or apps) and hit apply, they'll download into the matching folder.
Then you're on your own. Unlike Linux the installers won't launch silently, you'll have to soldier through them yourself, which is QWinApt's biggest limitation. If you maintain an app store on a file server, however, it does offer a simple way to bulk download a number of good quality apps without having to visit dozens of different websites.
Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsAllenAug 1st 2008 6:37PM
I'm familar with Synaptic, but reading this article, had I not been familiar with it I would have NO CLUE what this app did.
Lee MathewsAug 1st 2008 4:48PM
Highlight app, click apply, it downloads the app....Third paragraph. Also the closing mentions that it's a basically a bulk downloading app.
AllenAug 1st 2008 6:49PM
Lee, thanks for the info, I have downloaded and am about to run it.
AllenAug 1st 2008 11:17PM
Actually what I meant to say is, I'm downloading it (again) and trying it (again). Now that I have done that, I get it.. I just think the "Apply" and "Cancal" (sic) threw me off.
Seems to be a little buggy (crashed twice before it downloaded). Other than that, it seems nice. I'd like to see it take off. In the meantime, a similar app I like is the download checker from filehippo.com.
Lee MathewsAug 1st 2008 11:18PM
I'll have to check that one out, thanks for the tip! Sometimes it's hard to get a description totally clear - especially on an app like this that's good, but not quite on the mark.
InfernozAug 3rd 2008 3:22PM
Several of the shown download in QWinApt point to old versions of the applications and the tool does not appear to look for installed versions of the applications, so seems pretty useless for identifying new or updated software. I also question the use of wget, given that the DownloadThemAll Firefox extension seems much better for downloading files, especially on busy sites.