Search Results for bittorrent
The power of BitTorrent
My buddy Robert posted this on the CWELUG listserv in December 2004, & it beautifully illustrates just why
BitTorrent is so wonderful:
Back in April of this year, the CWELUG [Central West End Linux Users Group]
started hosting a BitTorrent tracker:
http://lists.firepipe.net/pipermail/cwe-lug/2004-April/00132…
The purpose of the tracker was to distribute FLOSS more
easily:
http://www.cwelug.org/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi?DistributingFLOSS
To that end, the BT tracker has been enormously successful with over 500 GB of FLOSS distributed since the tracker
came on-line:
http://cwelug.org:6969/
In addition, Contegix has helped by allowing the CWELUG to colocate a BT
client machine. This machine alone has transfered an additional 368 GB of FLOSS bits. Combining the two numbers
results in over 860 GB of FLOSS being distributed. That is equivalent to over 1240 CDs of FLOSS; far more than any
amount we could ever have hoped to distribute at all the CWELUG ...
Command line BitTorrent overview
If any of you have been reading this blog, you know I'm a huge fan of BitTorrent. Linux.com published a short guide
to using BitTorrent on the command line. If you're a command line junkie like I am, then you really should read
"BitTorrent for Linux". I still prefer Azureus, but
in cases where I don't have that proggie available, the commands discussed in this article will come in handy.
(Check out all of my posts on BitTorrent
& Azureus.) ...
KTorrent: BitTorrent the KDE way
As long time readers know, I prefer Azureus when it comes to BitTorrent GUIs, or I just use the command line. If I
know the URL of a torrent, I use:
btdownloadcurses --max_upload_rate 350 --url http://[URL of BitTorrent file]
If I've downloaded the torrent file, I use this instead:
btdownloadcurses --max_upload_rate 350 --responsefile /path/to/bittorrent/file.torrent
Another GUI you might want to check out, especially if you're a KDE fan, is KTorrent. It's BitTorrent with a yummy
pretty KDE intereface. There's nothing really remarkably innovative about it, except that it integrates with KDE, which
may be enough for many of you out there.
(Check out all of our posts on BitTorrent,
Azureus, &
KDE.) ...
New Opera to bundle BitTorrent client
Wow - talk about 2 great tastes that taste great together … Opera (which isn't open source, but which has run on
Linux & other open OS's for, well, forever) has announced that the next version of its namesake browswer
will include a BitTorrent
client. That is fantastic, since it shows how innovative Opera continues to be, and will also get BT in front of
more people. Now let's hope that Firefox does the same thing. Browsers support FTP natively; they should support BT as
well.
(Check out all of my posts on BitTorrent and
Opera.) ...
A nice intro to BitTorrent
Those of you who have been reading this blog for any length of time know that I'm a HUGE BitTorrent fan - heck, I'm
downloading videos of a speech right now that I plan to use with one of my classes at Washington University in St.
Louis. eWeek has a nice article -
'A More Business-Friendly
BitTorrent' - that gives an overview of BT & why it works so dang good, as well as giving the briefest of
explanations as to the new features in BT 4.0, which just got released by BT's creator, Bram Cohen. These new
improvements should make their way into my BT client of choice, Azureus,
any day now. In the meantime, if you're looking for a nice 'n easy overview of BT for that BT newbie in your life, show
'em this eWeek article. It's a good'un.
(Check out all my postings on
BitTorrent.) ...
Review of several BitTorrent clients
When it comes to Linux, I usually just use the command line for BitTorrent. If I actually download the .torrent file,
I use this:
btdownloadcurses --max_upload_rate 350 --responsefile blah-blah-blah.torrent
If I instead have a URL, I use this:
btdownloadcurses --max_upload_rate 350 --url http://domain-name-and-path-to-torrent
Otherwise I use Azureus. If I'm on Windows, I usually use uTorrent, which is small, fast, & powerful. But there
are lots of options, and Michael Calore at Webmonkey reviews several in his "BitTorrent Client Shootout", including some of the ones I
mentioned. If you're interested in variety, check it out. It's an easy and informative read.
(Check out all of our posts on BitTorrent,
Azureus, and uTorrent.) ...
BitTorrent: now used by the government
Well, this is a first, at least to my knowledge: a US government agency using BitTorrent. OF course, it would have
to be NASA (what, you expect the Department of Health & Human Services? Or the Justice Department? Ptui!). NASA has
this really cool app called World Wind (Windows only, which totally sucks)
that allows you to zoom around satellite images of earth, from space to the ground, from the top of Mt. Everest to the
middle of a hurricane, & in 3D. Dude, it's like you're totally on earth!
Here's a hint: when you start playing with World Wind, definitely print out or keep
this helpful chart open, which tells you how to
use the program. Very helpful.
If you go to the Download page, you'll notice that you can
download just the app, which is a paltry 6.3 MB, or you can be a real pioneer & use BT to download the app and the
associated data, which is 171 MB. Folks, this is your tax dollars at work, and it's cool. Go get this & play to
your heart's content. And be a good ...
"Why isn't BitTorrent faster?", he asked.
I'm on a mailing list for web developers, & recently one of the guys on the list told he was using Tomato
Torrent (a BitTorrent client) on his Mac OS X box to download a 1.3 GB file, and it had taken almost a day so far,
& he was less than half way there. His point: "I thought the whole point of Bittorrent was to make the process
FAST. I could have FTP'd 1.3 gig much faster."
Here's my reply: ...
Make a torrent file with Azureus
I've used BitTorrent a gazillion times, but I've never actually made a torrent file. I know, I know ...
shocking! I've never needed to, but more importantly, I didn't know how. Paul Stamatiou has a great explanation of the
process at "HOW TO: Make a
Torrent with Azureus". As you can tell, it focuses on Azureus, which is a great BT client, open source, and
multi-platform to boot. It's an easy-to-follow guide, with lots of pix. If you want to make your own torrent, start
here.
(Check out all of our posts on BitTorrent
and Azureus.) ...
Robert defends P2P from a scurrilous attack
So this bozo wrote a column for the Midwest Tech Journal attacking P2P, & in it he made this brilliant statement:
<begin bozo>
Here is the bottom line...there is no use for P2P networks that passes the "straight face" test other than to illegally distribute bootleg songs, movies, and software, along with distributing obscene materials or pornographic materials - including child pornography.
<end bozo>
My good friend Robert was bothered by this crap & responded in a much saner, nicer way than I would have:
<begin Robert>
I too strongly oppose the illigal distribution of copyrighted material. However, I must disagree strongly with this statement:
[See quote above]
The above comment paints peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and those that use them with an extremely broad brush. While it is probably true that illegal material is being exchanged over P2P networks, that does not mean that P2P networks can only be used to exchange illegal material and that P2P networks do not have ...
Download Ubuntu, Kubuntu, & Edubuntu 5.10
They're out! They're out! Go get 'em: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, & Edubuntu (personally, I'm using Kubuntu now as my main
distro, & it rocks). Enjoy!
Ubuntu 5.10
The GNOME version. Read the release announcement.
Get it: order CDs or download it via FTP, HTTP, or BitTorrent
(it's about 600 MB, & BitTorrent is runnin' fast on this).
View the slideshow at OSDir.
Kubuntu 5.10
The KDE version. Read the release
announcement. Get it: order CDs or download it via FTP, HTTP,
or BitTorrent.
View the slideshow at OSDir.
Edubuntu 5.10
This is basically Ubuntu for schools: "The aim of Edubuntu is that an educator with limited technical knowledge
and skill should be able to set up a computer lab, or establish an on-line learning environment, in an hour or
less, and then administer that environment without having to become a fully-fledged Linux geek". As a former
teacher & tech advisor, I say, "Damn cool!" Read the
release ...
Easily make your own torrent file
As any of you who have been reading this blog for longer than 10 minutes know, I {heart} BitTorrent. It's sure easy
to use BT, but what if you wanna make your own torrents to share with the world? Here's an easy way to do so,
if you're on Windows:
DropTorrent. Just drag
'n drop, & you're got yourself a torrent. Now you have one less excuse to start sharing your cool stuff with the
world!
(Check out all my postings on
BitTorrent.) ...
Kanotix 2005-03 released
I'm busy right now writing a book on Knoppix (more on that later), but one of my favorite Knoppix variants has just
released a new version: Kanotix 2005-03. Knoppix is a Live CD, as is Kanotix, but where Knoppix just won't run well if
you actually install it (sure, you can, but I wouldn't), Kanotix is an excellent Live CD AND an excellent installed OS.
Just make sure you follow the instructions for installing it found in
"KANOTIX - Putting the Pizzazz on Debian".
New features in the latest Kanotix release: kernel 2.6.11.11 (with patches), ACPI & DMA enabled by default,
Unionfs support, KDE 3.4.1, OpenOffice.org 1.9.104, ALSA 1.0.8, & much more.
Read the release announcement.
Downloads are available via FTP, HTTP, & BitTorrent. It's a
700 MB ISO. Use BitTorrent if you can - on a cable modem connection, this thing downloaded in about 1 half hour!
(Check out all my postings on
Kanotix.) ...
Xandros: free software and reviews
Xandros sells its distro commercially, but it now offers a
free download (Warning! This
torrent leads to a 540 MB download via BitTorrent!) of the Open Circulation Edition as well. Included is Firefox,
Thunderbird, and Skype for VOIP. Wanna find out more? Read the
press release, or read the review at OS News:
"Review of Xandros 3.0.1 OCE". OCE is good, but you don't
get ALL the goodies unless you buy it. My advice? Try out OCE; if you want more, buy it. It's worth it if you want a
simple to use version of Linux. ...
Linspire 5.0 Live CD available
Well, Linspire now has a Live CD available for those of you who want to try this distro out & see if it meets
your needs. Smartly, they're making the 646
MB download available via BitTorrent, so get ta grabbin'!
At the same time, you might want to check out some of the Linspire 5.0 reviews, such as those found at OS News
("Linspire 5.0 Review" - very poorly written, but
positive), Amnews ("Net Xpress:
Linspire Five-0 is awesome" - registration required to view), and PCWorld
("Linspire: Linux With Strings Attached"
- not positive). ...
