Sorry for the dumb question:

[Peter Whittaker]

M-J Milloy wrote:
> 
> I'm a new Ubuntu -- and Linux -- user in southern Ontario.
> I'm trying to install some software but ca.archive.ubuntu.com
> keeps timing out. What am I doing wrong?

Folks, I'm glad someone chimed in with the "no dumb Q's" remark, 'cause
I might have one: trying to be a good CDN, I was using ca.* at first but
had no end of troubles with it, so I deleted the "ca." and now have
solid success.

But so far, no one has suggested that alternative, mentioning other
mirrors instead. Is using the main site considered unfriendly? Since
ca.* seems unreliable or inaccessible, is there a preferred order for
mirror use?

I'd like to be as friendly as possible to our distribution system, but
I'd also like to hit a site that is up and up-to-date as often as
possible. So far, the main site meets those requirements, at least for
me.

(Ya know, a mirror selection system similar to an NTP server selection
system - list a bunch in a cfg file, poke 'em all and sees who's
fastest, use the top few - would be a cool idea... ...esp. if Synaptic
did this by itself every now and again.)

Thoughts, comments, advice, etc.?

Thanks,

pww