Snag the Red Hat 9 ISOs, via Cash or BitTorrent 655
Tectonic Rumblings
Every so often a new tool comes along that causes a shift from Bronze to Iron, that divides history into "before" and "after." The peer-to-peer world has certainly seen its share. Those who used 486s to encode and play MP3s remember it wasn't just abysmal modem speeds that kept people from casual trading, but the tiresome process of finding users and content; Napster freed us from that bondage, letting the computer do the heavy lifting and freeing people to do what they do best.
When the weaknesses began to show in Napster's overly centralized model, Gnutella stepped in with a distributed, decentralized network. Audiogalaxy gave us astounding variety (even the most obscure music could always be found sooner or later) and a rich sense of community that is still sorely missed. WinMX offered the ability to connect to multiple Napster-compatible networks; with the advent of multi-source downloading, Morpheus and similar programs allowed us to rise above the limitations of slow upstream (until it's hard now to find any P2P applications that don't use it); and EDonkey added the nice touch of being able to share files before they were done downloading.
So what's the next stage of P2P evolution?
Enter BitTorrent -- a "swarming, scatter and gather" file transfer protocol developed by Bram Cohen that's taking the net by storm. Even without a friendly, unified interface, BT's ability to scale in the face of overwhelming demand while minimizing the free rider problem ("leeching") has attracted a flood of new users. But as with any tool, understanding how and why it works will always make using it easier and more fun.
All technical references are taken from the BT server tutorial and the official documentation.
Let's Start with the Basics
BitTorrent is not a 'website' or a 'network', and strictly speaking is not even a program -- it's a protocol with a number of functional implementations.
Instead of jumping right into downloading, first we'll discuss how files are served. Most new BT users are familiar with going to a website and clicking on links to .torrent files, but this just provides a friendlier interface and isn't actually necessary. All you really need to serve is a public Internet machine. The "tracker" will "keep track" of who is connected and who has which pieces of the file(s) in question. Like any public Internet service, a static IP address and/or valid hostname will make it easier for people to connect to your tracker.
To start serving, you choose a file or directory to serve and run a program which generates a .torrent file. This contains a 'hash,' which serves as a checksum to ensure the file is the same on all systems, as well as the address of a tracker. A typical .torrent file is quite small, typically 5-50k in size.
The second step is to load the .torrent file into a BT client. The client asks you where to save the file, you point it at the existing and complete copy, it verifies that the file hash matches, says the download is done and sits there uploading when necessary until you cancel it.
Here's an animated graphic (.mng, currently viewable only in Mozilla) of a torrent transfer.
Getting Started
The official BT client is available for Win32, Mac OS X, as an unstable Debian package, and as Python source code.
Getting started is quite simple; the Windows installer asks no questions and provides no options, and the only behind-the-scenes addition is that Internet Explorer now launches BT when you click on links to .torrent files. (Mozilla users will need to edit Preferences, Navigator, Helper Applications and add the mime type "application/x-bittorrent", to be launched by the btdownloadprefetched executable.) You can also download .torrent files and load them locally without going through a website.
Once the .torrent has been invoked, the client will prompt you for a location to save the file to. The client then creates a file of the appropriate size containing all zeros, and connects to the tracker to get a starting list of some random subset of available peers (other users connected to the 'swarm'). BT then starts connecting to peers and downloading random chunks of the file, and begin uploading to other peers as soon as you have enough for it to bother.
Every time your client verifies another piece of the download, it tells the tracker it has a good copy of that piece. By directly utilizing each user's outgoing bandwidth, downloads can be generally be completed very quickly while minimizing the load on the original server, in effect turning the dreaded "Slashdot Effect" against itself -- the more who want to download, the more there are to upload. Sooner or later (usually sooner), the download is done, and the client continues to upload pieces to other users.
What's In It For Me?
Now your first instinct at this point might be to close the program, but you really ought to leave it open as long as possible afterward, to help seed the file into the network. But this is really a social and cultural issue which can't necessarily be addressed through technical measures; BT can enforce fairness during the transfer with its algorithms, but no software can force the user to keep the client open. Many tracker owners keep a close eye on such things, and will generally ban repeat offenders. In any event, "giving back" your bandwidth has never been easier, even for users behind firewalls or NAT (although as always, being able to avoid or go through these will make the transfers more efficient).
Alternative Clients and Other Tools
That said, there are perfectly valid reasons to want some control over the amount of bandwidth a P2P application uses, and an experimental, unofficial client (Win32, Python source) has been created to provide a friendly interface for this. BT will automatically adjust your download speed appropriately if you set a slower upload speed, but it's still an invaluable tool for some cable and DSL users whose downloads will choke and abort if they use too much upstream, or for anyone with limited upstream who wants to reserve some of it for other uses.
Currently, both the official and experimental GUI clients use a separate window for each transfer. BT++ (Win32, Python source) has made an initial attempt at combining all transfers into one window, as well as offering some other enhancements, but users report mixed results, with some saying "it works for me" and others that it's buggy to the point of unusable; still, it's one to keep an eye on. (Caveat: BT++ provides an option to automatically stop uploading when the download is completed. I believe this deliberately encourages people to do so even if there is no real need to do so, and would advise anyone using BT++ to refrain from using this option; it's unnecessary, detrimental to the BT networks, and may lead to your IP being banned as described above.)
TorrentSpy (Win32) is another useful tool that shows various statistics about your transfers, including which files of a multi-file torrent are complete. It's not meant to replace a downloading client, but to complement it.
I should add that the speed and time-to-completion numbers may not be wholly accurate, and will typically fluctuate wildly to some extent during a transfer. (After all, do you believe Windows when it tells you how long it will take to copy a file?) The "percentage completed" at least is accurate, and you may be able to get more accurate information using TorrentSpy. A new version of BT has just been released (3.2) and its reported changes include "more even and consistent download rates".
A Few Miscellaneous Points
It's quite possible to generate .torrents for files you want to serve and then advertise them on someone else's tracker. Since anyone can run a tracker, BT is more like IRC, Usenet or Direct Connect than something like Kazaa. Like Freenet, it works best if the content is highly in demand; it's also more effective on recently released stuff. One highly recommeded website is Bstark. It doesn't provide .torrents for anyone to download, but functions as a "metatracker", that is, a tracker that keeps track of trackers. If you're a statistics geek, the graphs are a lot of fun, and even for the average user it's a simple way to check what files are most in demand and most in need of someone to serve them. This is even more effective when you combine it with an alternate means of communication such as IRC or email, making it easy for users to check supply and meet demand. The .torrent file can also be distributed by any means, be it a website, IRC channel, email attachments or perhaps carrier pigeon.
Conclusion
With the 'entertainment industry' finally focusing their attention on IRC, the cantankerous and difficult granddaddy of Internet file sharing, BitTorrent has found a niche and filled it admirably. The author understandably wishes to focus upon using BT in a legal manner. As with any new invention, "the street finds its own use for technology," and BitTorrent will undoubtedly continue to be rapidly adopted for both licit and illicit use.
Given the decentralized nature of BT networks and the rapid development of new tools, it's only a matter of time before someone writes a GUI wrapper for an IRC client, web browser and all-in-one BitTorrent interface. After all, Napster did it, as do most other mainstream P2P apps like Kazaa. Like Direct Connect with its 'hubs,' there will always be multiple BT servers available, and a unified interface would not only make it easier for users to find and download content, but free them to focus on forming the social and cultural networks that are also needed. A website typically uses far too much CPU and bandwidth to handle popular traffic, but a BT tracker uses minimal bandwidth by itself. Perhaps the next-generation clients will try to automatically locate trackers, or help the user find and serve older content as well as new releases.
The late great Audiogalaxy had many strengths, but one of its most fundamental was the sense of community it encouraged. BitTorrent wisely fills a narrow set of technical requirements, leaving a great deal to human need and will. The ad hoc arrangements and customs that have so far sprouted as expressions of the will to fill these needs are often chaotic and messy -- but that's human action for you.
Much better than all of us rushing the FTP servers (Score:5, Interesting)
BitTorrent not working well (Score:5, Interesting)
Current download rate: 3 kB/s
Current upload rate: 35 kB/s
Seems to be some sort of bottleneck
Is it available at any FTP mirrors yet?
Re:BitTorrent not working well (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought you were right on... (Score:5, Interesting)
I personally ponied up my 60 bucks, but then again I also go out and buy boxed copies.
-B
Re:How about some ethics ? (Score:5, Interesting)
Charging money for a week is no different than charging money indefinitely. BitTorrent is a great tool which RedHat can use to get their bandwidth costs under control so they can focus on their core business, whatever that may be.
And do we really *need* it? (Score:5, Interesting)
I have been slowly, over the past year or so, warming up more and more to Gentoo. Today, in fact, I'm re-installing one of my home servers with Gentoo 1.4 because I just want it the way I want it. Gentoo is shaping up to be a great distro and if you love the days of getting your hands dirty in the depth of things, then you should give it a whirl. Altho it may not be worth it to everyone, there is something to be said about a blazingly fast distro that's tailored to your machine.
Plus, portage smokes rpm - in fact, the BSD ports was one thing I really missed with Linux. Now, it's the best of both worlds.
Re:Direct Connect (Score:4, Interesting)
Working better now? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it running any faster now, after 15 minutes or so? My download rates shortly after the Slashdot story went live were around 5-7 K/s. Since then it's been steadily increasing -- presumably as more and more Slashdot readers download, install and run BitTorrent, providing more clients for me to connect to. I'm now up to 25-30 K/s, which is roughly the same as my upload speed.
Pretty cool! (Score:1, Interesting)
Current status:
Estimated time left: 116 hour 30 min 37 sec
Download rate: 0 kB/s
Upload rate: 13 kB/s
It's like slogging through distributed mud!
Re:Don't forget to forward 6881 (Score:1, Interesting)
ridiculous (Score:5, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Add-on freshrpms.net packages (Score:2, Interesting)
Here's a forward of an email I've sent earlier, which should please some Red Hat Linux desktop users. The sylpheed packages have been updated (the problem worked around), and the ALSA kernel modules are on their way!
Matthias
From: Matthias Saou
To: RPM-List
Subject: Red Hat Linux 9 freshrpms packages
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 16:11:33 +0200
Hi all,
;-) :-( ;-)) :-)
Red Hat Linux 9 is here, and so are the new freshrpms.net packages!
Of course, as the main distribution is only currenty available to RHN
subscribers, the "os" and "updates" apt/yum modules aren't avaible yet, and
won't be until the release actually hits the stores and public ftp servers,
which should happen one week from now.
The new website is:
http://shrike.freshrpms.net/ [freshrpms.net]
All relevant parts of freshrpms.net [freshrpms.net] and apt.freshrpms.net [freshrpms.net] have been (or are soon going to be) updated to reflect the change.
New stuff: (*IMPORTANT*)
- The apt server is now http://ayo.freshrpms.net/ [freshrpms.net] and the paths no longer
include "en". For the info, "ayo" stands for "apt, yum and others"
- All files are also available through yum, although no yum package for
Red Hat Linux 9 is currently available from freshrpms.net (soon!). See
http://www.dulug.duke.edu/yum/ for more.
- Some packages have had their non-relevant epoch value removed. These
may be problematic if you decide to upgrade your system instead of
performing a complete reinstall. The affected packages are:
- apg
- anjuta
- blackbox (but was 0 anyway)
- gentoo
- gkrellm
- gkrellm-plugins
- gkrellm-themes
- gtktalog
- i8kutils
- libdvdcss
- ltris
- proftpd
- subtitleripper
- xine
The only packages with epoch set are the ones that need it in order to
keep upgradability with older Red Hat packages.
- The ALSA kernel modules don't work with the default Red Hat 9 kernel, so
until a solution is available, no ALSA
- The mjpegtools won't recompile, so transcode is currently built without
mjpeg support (required for (S)VCD IIRC).
- The sylpheed and sylpheed-claws packages don't seem to recompile with SSL
and produce include errors (krb5 from openssl) that I also have on
YellowDog Linux 3.0, I'll dig into that. For now, the 8.0 binary
packages should work fine.
- A few packages now compile again in their latest version, most notably
the screem web editor and the totem xine/gtk2 player.
For the impatient ones, remember that signing up with RHN will allow you to
support Red Hat, which is still providing us with a great (my favorite
GNU/Linux distribution! For the others, only one week left to go... and...
have you considered subscribing to RHN?
That's all for now, please report back to me any eventual problems, but
most of all... have fun!
Matthias
laud this effort (Score:4, Interesting)
This is an example of a legal use of p2p technology directly benefitting a valid user.
Re:I thought you were right on... (Score:4, Interesting)
or they could just follow the example of theo and co. from the openbsd site:
3.3 - Does OpenBSD provide an ISO image for download?
The OpenBSD project does not make the ISO images used to master the official CDs available for download. The reason is simply that we would like you to buy the CD sets, helping fund ongoing OpenBSD development. The official OpenBSD CD-ROM layout is copyright Theo de Raadt. Theo does not permit people to redistribute images of the official OpenBSD CDs. As an incentive for people to buy the CD set, some extras are included in the package as well (artwork, stickers etc).
Note that only the CD layout is copyrighted, OpenBSD itself is free. Nothing precludes someone else from downloading OpenBSD and making their own CD.
i've always thought this was a good comporomise between letting the dedicated and the geeky get what they are entitled to (the source to play with) while encouraging the moms and pops to chip into the corporate kitty. note that the price of openbsd producst is low... i think i paid $30 for the last batch of cd's i bought (and it came with stickers).
RH = Windows (Score:2, Interesting)
However, after seeing more and more of their money grubbing ways (AS,ES and the other subscription income methods they have started lately) I downloaded bit torrent and the RH 9 ISOs to a spare box and plan to leave it up and running all week. It's on a dedicated 100Mbit ethernet line. Take that... RH Marketing bastards!
I can remember when RH used to be fun, when it used to be for the community... those days are long gone. RH 9 will be EOL w/i no time. Why withold it from loyal users at all? Power to the people... that's what FREE software is all about. Thank you RMS! Thank you!!!
Re:Hopefully, it is faster... (Score:2, Interesting)
And even getting the Sendmail patches today was painful...
They have not quite got their act together,
I'm not interested that much in V9 but Sendmail
patches are fairly critical stuff, they need
more than one delivery route.
With all this and 1 year of support, I'm thinking
of the apt-get solution...!
Holy crap, my software got mentioned on /. !!! (Score:2, Interesting)
I've had several people express interest in an *nix version of TSpy. It's written in Delphi, which theoretically means it shouldn't be too hard to port over to Kylix. If anyone has Kylix experience and would like to help out, feel free to contact me at the email on my web site.
I'm gonna go tail -f my log file and listen to my network bog down.
Re:Quibble: There's still one left (Score:3, Interesting)
What I meant to say is that the orignal claim that you could not go copying Red Hat 9 CDs because all of the software was not of the sort that you could just go copying around is simply not true. Red Hat 9 is free in that sense. It's not free in the sense that OSI requires.
Interesting that Red Hat is not exactly open source (when installed in full) because of software I've been building from freely downloaded source for years.... heh.
Good catch.
Re:Much better than all of us rushing the FTP serv (Score:3, Interesting)