NSR: Any computer tech heads here?

[Howard Zinn]

Uh, downloading is getting something, uploading is sending something. You might wanna brush up on a few terms there. ;).


Whoaaaa!!!! Slow down with that complex computer terminology Achtung. :D

Alright, I've got that.

What are you downloading? Generally, files will start out slow and then as you connect to seeds and peers (people who you can download from), the speed will increase. The more popular a file is, the faster it can go. But if you're downloading something obscure, it might go slower..

All of the episodes of Futurama. How long do you think it would normally take to get 12 GBs? I was reading on the site I got the torrent from that it took some people a month of non-stop downloading. I'm certainly not up for that.

Yeah, though most torrent clients have a "pause" feature to do it the proper way.

Cool.

[StrikerCW]

If your going fast, it might only take a couple of days of straight downloading to get that much.

One word to the wise, since your at college, some colleges monitor the upload of ports if it gets to be alot. I have heard stories of people getting their ethernet ports shut down for downloading too much (which is obviosuly bullshit, but I think its possible if you are uploading).

[Achtung]

All of the episodes of Futurama. How long do you think it would normally take to get 12 GBs? I was reading on the site I got the torrent from that it took some people a month of non-stop downloading. I'm certainly not up for that.

Well, depending on the show, I can get hour-long programs in anywhere from 4-12 hours. For instance episodes of Doctor Who or Top Gear usually take 4-6 hours, so I'll just leave it on overnight, or start it in the morning and check when I get home from work. Those are about 700 MB or so each. One gigabyte would be 1000 MB (well technically 1024 MB), so downloading 12 GB would take a while, at least a few days. But keep in mind its a pretty huge amount of data, so that's to be expected.

But like I said, you can pause it and turn the computer off if you need. Thing is, because of the way BitTorrent works, its not sequential. So you can't for example, download half of a television show, pause the download, and watch the first half of the show. You have to download the entire thing in order to watch any of it.

BitTorrent is a little tough to get the hang of at first, but once you do get it, the speeds are so blazing in general that you never download large files any other way. For example, the other month the power was out here and I missed 24, so around 10 pm here when the power came back, I started downloading it as someone had put it up pretty much right when the show ended. I had it by 12 midnight and watched it the same night.

If you're still having problems with the speed, let me know. There may be some tricks for you to use. Futurama is a pretty popular show amongst downloaders, so speeds should be good.

[Achtung]

One word to the wise, since your at college, some colleges monitor the upload of ports if it gets to be alot. I have heard stories of people getting their ethernet ports shut down for downloading too much (which is obviosuly bullshit, but I think its possible if you are uploading).

I actually got shut down my freshman year for going over the limit, and back then they would shut you down for good rather than having a certain length of time like they do now. It's annoying, but I guess colleges have to watch their bandwidth usage.

[StrikerCW]

Yeah. I don't use BT here at UNI, only when I go home. I try to only download single songs when I'm here.

[Howard Zinn]

Well, depending on the show, I can get hour-long programs in anywhere from 4-12 hours. For instance episodes of Doctor Who or Top Gear usually take 4-6 hours, so I'll just leave it on overnight, or start it in the morning and check when I get home from work. Those are about 700 MB or so each. One gigabyte would be 1000 MB (well technically 1024 MB), so downloading 12 GB would take a while, at least a few days. But keep in mind its a pretty huge amount of data, so that's to be expected.

But like I said, you can pause it and turn the computer off if you need. Thing is, because of the way BitTorrent works, its not sequential. So you can't for example, download half of a television show, pause the download, and watch the first half of the show. You have to download the entire thing in order to watch any of it.

BitTorrent is a little tough to get the hang of at first, but once you do get it, the speeds are so blazing in general that you never download large files any other way. For example, the other month the power was out here and I missed 24, so around 10 pm here when the power came back, I started downloading it as someone had put it up pretty much right when the show ended. I had it by 12 midnight and watched it the same night.

If you're still having problems with the speed, let me know. There may be some tricks for you to use. Futurama is a pretty popular show amongst downloaders, so speeds should be good.


I'm using this program uTorrent (with the weird letter instead of the u). Is there a program called BitTorrent, or are you just referring to the practice?

I'm still getting .5 kb/Sec, and I'm uploading every once in a while at .1 kb/Sec. This is brutal. :p

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Well my old beast of a laptop has finally bit the dust. It's getting no power at all. I've already spend a few hours pulling everything apart and tinkering about, but still nothing. So expect some questions at some point about new laptops. I'll just remove the HDD and tranfer my data over when I get a new one, but the main problem is my FM cd being locked in the drive. I've removed the drive and tried the button (etc), but it looks like I'll need to carefully rip the drive apart to rescue it. :(

Probably only needs a joule to open as well... :rolleyes:

[Howard Zinn]

Well my old beast of a laptop has finally bit the dust. It's getting no power at all. I've already spend a few hours pulling everything apart and tinkering about, but still nothing. So expect some questions at some point about new laptops. I'll just remove the HDD and tranfer my data over when I get a new one, but the main problem is my FM cd being locked in the drive. I've removed the drive and tried the button (etc), but it looks like I'll need to carefully rip the drive apart to rescue it. :(

Probably only needs a joule to open as well... :rolleyes:


Sorry Teso.

Where are you posting from now?

[Achtung]

I'm using this program uTorrent (with the weird letter instead of the u). Is there a program called BitTorrent, or are you just referring to the practice?

I'm still getting .5 kb/Sec, and I'm uploading every once in a while at .1 kb/Sec. This is brutal. :p

BitTorrent is the generic name of the technology. Your program uTorrent is a torrent client program, and there are many others like it but they basically work the same way.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Sorry Teso.

Where are you posting from now?

The main beast in the flat and I've got FM cravings.

[DutchFootballRulez]

The main beast in the flat and I've got FM cravings.

Feed the need.

[mhtwins113]

The main beast in the flat and I've got FM cravings.
at 3 am...

[Howard Zinn]

BitTorrent is the generic name of the technology. Your program uTorrent is a torrent client program, and there are many others like it but they basically work the same way.


My speed just shot up to 10 kb/Sec. I did a little fist-pump and thought, "Man, this is going to go quicker than originally thought!" Then the speed shot right back down to .5 kb/Sec. :p

Alright, what are seeds and peers. I've got about 15 peers, but no seeds. I thought the seeds were where I was downloading the program from. :confused:

[mhtwins113]

If you want my laptop recommendation, I have the Toshiba Qosmio F25 and it is pure class. It's a Media Center PC with a TV Tuner and other cool gadgets. Set be back about $1,500 though, so you might want to consider that. And also, the battery life is pure shit, 2.5 hours if you are lucky, but I'm using it as a desktop replacement at school so I always have it plugged in. If you are a mostly mobile user though, I suggest something else. Otherwise, this machine is all you want and need and more.

[mhtwins113]

My speed just shot up to 10 kb/Sec. I did a little fist-pump and thought, "Man, this is going to go quicker than originally thought!" Then the speed shot right back down to .5 kb/Sec. :p

Alright, what are seeds and peers. I've got about 15 peers, but no seeds. I thought the seeds were where I was downloading the program from. :confused:
Seeds are people with the complete file, peers are people with incomplete pieces. You are downloading the pieces that are available from these peers. BitTorrent itself breaks down the file into chunks and you download different chunks from different people and peers can upload the chunks they already have while they are downloading the ones that they are missing.

[Howard Zinn]

Seeds are people with the complete file, peers are people with incomplete pieces. You are downloading the pieces that are available from these peers. BitTorrent itself breaks down the file into chunks and you download different chunks from different people and peers can upload the chunks they already have while they are downloading the ones that they are missing.


Bah!!! *shakes head in disgust*

[littleman]

Bah!!! *shakes head in disgust*

I teach you about Bittorrent! :D I love to teach these things.. haha.

Basically, traditional file sharing programs require you to transfer the file in its complete entirety. What Bittorrent does is break the file down, like a jigsaw puzzle, and then distribute chunks to everyone. So, you may have chunks 1, 2 and 3 and someone else have 4,5,6. Then instead of everyone having to download the file from the Seeder (who has the -complete- file), you can exchange chunks between each other.

So, traditional programs require people to have full files before they can pass the file to other people. BT allows partial distributions, and this is much, much quicker. Chunks get spread everywhere and you can retrieve needed chunks from anyone who has it. The best part of it is that as long as everyone else has parts of it, enough to compose a whole, there doesn't need to be a seeder at all. It'll just take some time for at least one of the peers to gather all to compose a whole, and then become a seeder.


Recommended Programs: If you have a good PC with plenty of RAM, Azureus is great although its a resource hog. Personally, I use Bitcomet. If you're located in a University, then sometimes you need to find specific ports for you to transfer files quickly. If not, usually the default port will do.

Also, Bittorent speeds are often dependent on how fast you upload as well. In general, the faster you upload the faster you download. Try using a popular torrent to see if you get to tap your max dl/ul speeds.

[Howard Zinn]

I teach you about Bittorrent! :D I love to teach these things.. haha.

Basically, traditional file sharing programs require you to transfer the file in its complete entirety. What Bittorrent does is break the file down, like a jigsaw puzzle, and then distribute chunks to everyone. So, you may have chunks 1, 2 and 3 and someone else have 4,5,6. Then instead of everyone having to download the file from the Seeder (who has the -complete- file), you can exchange chunks between each other.

So, traditional programs require people to have full files before they can pass the file to other people. BT allows partial distributions, and this is much, much quicker. Chunks get spread everywhere and you can retrieve needed chunks from anyone who has it. The best part of it is that as long as everyone else has parts of it, enough to compose a whole, there doesn't need to be a seeder at all. It'll just take some time for at least one of the peers to gather all to compose a whole, and then become a seeder.


Recommended Programs: If you have a good PC with plenty of RAM, Azureus is great although its a resource hog. Personally, I use Bitcomet. If you're located in a University, then sometimes you need to find specific ports for you to transfer files quickly. If not, usually the default port will do.

Also, Bittorent speeds are often dependent on how fast you upload as well. In general, the faster you upload the faster you download. Try using a popular torrent to see if you get to tap your max dl/ul speeds.


So how do I make this bastard go faster? :D

[StrikerCW]

Azurues is a good program, although its connected with Java somehow and it takes a shitload of memory and cpu to run for some reason. ABC is another good one I have used in the past.

Another thing, is perhaps your behind a firewall (or the uni has an internal firewall?) I had to get around this by opening certain ports in the firewall and then telling azureus which ports to download from. Before I was getting similiar speeds to you, and only remote users. But after you open certain ports (if this is the problem) then you will get local connections (or something along those lines) which are heavens faster than remote connections.

[Howard Zinn]

Azurues is a good program, although its connected with Java somehow and it takes a shitload of memory and cpu to run for some reason. ABC is another good one I have used in the past.

Another thing, is perhaps your behind a firewall (or the uni has an internal firewall?) I had to get around this by opening certain ports in the firewall and then telling azureus which ports to download from. Before I was getting similiar speeds to you, and only remote users. But after you open certain ports (if this is the problem) then you will get local connections (or something along those lines) which are heavens faster than remote connections.


I'm sure I'm behind my school's firewall, as I've had problems streaming footie matches in the past with P2P stuff.

How do I do that? :confused: