Avid users of Varia, a modern download manager for Linux desktops, should check out the app’s official browser extensions.
Installing the Varia Integrator browser extension in Google Chrome/Chromium or Mozilla Firefox means you no longer need to copy a download link a web page then paste it in to Varia. Instead, you click a download link in your bowser and the extension punts it to the app.
“When the extension is enabled, it will route all started downloads to Varia. In order to route the downloads to Varia, make sure to flip the switch in the extension, and make sure Varia is not running in remote mode,” reads the store description.
Few people need or want to use download manager apps these days. Not a surprise; things we once downloaded (music, video, games, etc) we now stream or access on-demand.
But that doesn’t mean download managers are obsolete.
I only have a mobile internet connection — and it’s awful at times. Varia saves (what’s left of) my sanity so often.
Resumable downloads mean when my connection drops out — often 🙄 — I don’t lose what’s been downloaded so far. And when signal drops to the point I can’t browse the web and download simultaneously, I can pause a download or reduce download speed.
But even if your internet connection is rock solid there’s still plenty of value in using Varia.
The app uses the open-source aria2 backend, which is fine-tuned to download things as fast as possible; it supports queuing and scheduling, meaning you don’t have to download something immediately; you get bandwidth controls; don’t need to keep a browser open, etc.
As I use Varia regularly I wanted to pass on word of the official browser extensions (unless you check the project’s homepage or open the app’s settings panel regularly you might not have heard about them — I hadn’t until this weekend).
• Get Varia Integrator on the Chrome Web Store or Mozilla Add-Ons