Configure static DNS - Linux

To configure static DNS on your Linux machine, open the interfaces file located at
/etc/network/interfaces
using a text editor of your choice.
Replace the content of that file with the content below:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.115
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
network 192.168.1.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

Note: The IP address you need to assign to this machine is given under "address".

Axel - A light download accelerator for Linux

Axel is a program that downloads a file from a FTP or HTTP server through multiple connection, each connection downloads its own part of the file.

Unlike most other programs, Axel downloads all the data directly to the destination file, using one single thread. It just saves some  time at the  end  because the program doesn’t have to concatenate all the down-loaded parts.

Installation (Ubuntu)

1. Open terminal and make sure you are connected to the internet.
2. Type in apt-get install axel
3. Axel will be downloaded and installed in a few minutes, depending upon the speed of your internet connection.

How to Download a file 

1. Open terminal.
2. Type in axel -n 10 Doing so will open up 10 connections simultaneously, increasing the download speed many fold. You may reduce or increase the number of connections depending on your internet connection bandwidth.

For more details on Axel, visit official Ubuntu Manual page at:

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/gutsy/man1/axel.1.html