CrypticCalamari

Great server. Great people.

You can probably be sure that Omer's link is trustworthy if it produces the same checksum hash that is expected, because finding a malicious file that does what an attacker wants, while at the same time producing the same hash as the legit file is so computationally intensive (like near impossible), that a random Mineacraftian having such capability would be almost as likely as a unicorn. Whilst SHA-1 is not secure for other functions, such as password storage, it's perfectly secure for file integrity checks.

They aren't simply profiting off the hard work of mod authors by doing nothing. They are performing the service of aggregating a bunch of fun and useful mods into one end-user friendly package. They are not selling them for money. I don't recall clicking a purchase button when I downloaded Technic Mod Launcher and the various servers. Web traffic and advertisements, plus donations to keep them going, drive their revenue stream.

I don't understand the limitation concerning revenue. Why would it matter if a modpack earns revenue. They have to pay for their servers to host their site. Revenue is gross earnings, not net earnings. Either the mod author doesn't know the difference between revenue and profit, or he doesn't want anyone to have the ability to pay for their expenses. In addition, monies earned by providing this modpack in no way hinders monies earned by the mod author. In fact, I wouldn't have ever known of this mod if it weren't for the Technic/Tekkit folks and their modpack. The inclusion of his mod in this modpack is a net gain for the mod author. I love the Railcraft mod and the Tekkit series of modpacks and I hope this issue can be sorted out.

This might be related to your browser. I was having the same problem using Google Chrome, so I switched to Firefox and it worked.

Also might depend on the power of your machine. I'm creating a multiplayer adventure map and decided to record video of me doing so, because I want to get into this whole youtubes things, and whoa, definitely didn't make for a good experience running a local server, client and recording program all on the same machine.