Introducing Exascale Downloads: open source, closer to you
We’ve launched Exascale Downloads, a public mirror for open source software, hosted on our network in Wolverhampton.
The idea is simple: support open source projects by donating bandwidth, storage and power. Developers and contributors make the software. We’re providing another place for people to download it.
Open source, closer to you.
Open source software is part of everyday life at Exascale. It helps run networks, host services and build the tools we use. Running a public mirror is a practical way for us to give something back.
A mirror holds a copy of files from a project’s upstream servers and regularly synchronises with them. Distributing downloads across more servers helps share the load on the infrastructure behind those projects. For users, it also provides another choice of download location.
What’s available?
The mirror is already serving:
- Ubuntu’s package archive and release images.
- Arch Linux packages and installation images.
- LibreOffice downloads.
- MariaDB releases, packages and source downloads.
- Raspbian packages and updates.
We’re preparing more projects, including Rocky Linux and Blender. The directory marks these separately while they are being set up, so you can see which downloads are ready.
Bandwidth, storage and power
We’ve allocated 20 TiB of storage to the service, with a shared 10 Gbps connection and no monthly traffic cap. That connection is shared across the mirror; it isn’t a promise of 10 Gbps for every download.
The public directory groups projects into operating systems and software, with links to browse files and visit each project’s website. It also shows sync status, download activity and storage information, with live updates as the service runs.
Free to use
You don’t need an Exascale connection or an account to download files. Browse the directory, choose a project and follow its download or repository instructions. Before using a mirror, check its sync status and verify files against checksums or signatures from the project’s official website.
The software, trademarks and credit remain with the projects and their contributors. Our part is to help distribute their work.