BitTorrent Newbie question

[Arby]

My friend at work said it was easy to use and he emphasized easy. But he's very weak on teaching/ explaining. Most folks, I find, are. Anyway, On the strength of his recommendation, I downloaded/installed (I think) BitTorrent. I had taken a look at this before. I couldn't make heads or tales out of it. It just looks like geeks gone wild. Jargon is all I see. There's no real explanation for anything anywhere.

I just now downloaded/installed BT from a site called Degreez. At first, I thought I'd just download the zipped version, which I did. I'm not sure that it's even something that will work on my windows xp home, since none of the setup files (all of which I tried) worked. Which is fine by me, But why confuse the issue by having, in one spot, a zip file and an installer file for download? I downloaded/installed the installer file (version: S-5.4.2), except that when this installed, I got zero feedback. There was no progress bar, no request to select a folder other than the default folder, etc.. Nada. Anyway, I found the BT folder and clicked on this and that. Nada. The one file with the word execute in it fired up and asked me 'Which file do you want to Torrent?' or something. The folder was merely the last folder I had opened, namely my 'downloads' folder.

I guess this stuff if easy - if you already know it.

What file do I click on to simply fire up this prog, if there's one there? I can't even tell.

[greatcapp]

go here,

http://www.suprnova.org/



and suddenly, everything will become clear.
bt doesn't work in the same way as kazaa or winmx etc.
just clink on a link to download.

[moneoa]

O.k man its simple, go here to get the bittorrent client from the guy who designed it
http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/

I dont know what you downloaded but its not what sounds like bittorrent. There is no progress bar the client installs in about 3 seconds. NOW go to the suprnova url our friend there gave you
www.suprnova.org

(in case you missed it)
so it goes like this, you find what you want. Pay attention to the info beside the torrent link (torrent link = item you want to download) You will see two pieces of info # of seeders and # of downloads Generally the more seeders and more downloads there are for one file the faster it will download. Now its not an exact science, sometimes there is lots of both but it still starts off slow give it time and usually it picks back up. If there is only one seeder for a file it will probably be slow depending on how many downloaders have as much of the file as possible.

Seeders are ppl who have the complete file for download (hence they seed it on the network) downloaders are obviously
ppl who are trying to get the complete file but the way BT works is even if you dont have the whole file you share what part or parts you do have with ppl who dont have as much of that file as you. When the download completes you become a seeder. Now common ettiquette dictates that you keep the BT download window open for a little bit (it only seeds the file if the BT window remains open after download) How long is up to you and indeed you can shut it off after the download finishes but that also means depending on how many ppl are downloading it, it might be a bit harder for everyone else to grab. (power in numbers is the key with this prog)

As I said though its completely up to you. If you have an upload limit it can get eaten pretty fast by being a seeder as you are uploading some large files sometimes. Now not all sites will have seeder and user info (as in how many of each) attached to thier torrents so you might want to grab a prog called torrent spy. If you happen to find a page without that info torrent spy can look and see how many seeders and downloaders there are.

Last but not least obviously if there are no seeders then its a dead download (even if there are ppl downloading it, the seeder has the complete file so if there are no seeders and you try the download will grind to a halt, for example the one guy who has the most data for that file might only be at 45% so you and all the others will only be able to download up to 45%) so files with only one seed are 50\50 if nobody else completes the download before that one seed leaves then you might be fubared with only a half complete file on your hands (lucky though seeders do come back sometimes)

You can become a seeder again after you finish donwloading and after you close the window by clicking on the torrent link and saving it like you were getting it for the first time in the same place you have the file. (also you can resume downloads by this method)

thats about it. good luck and good hunting! (ps ignore all the other BT clients as most of them are betas made by other ppl for use by advanced users)

[lion7718]

Here is a link to the SuprNova Forums (http://www.forum.suprnova.org) ...you can read through the posts to help you out also.

[Arby]

Thanks a mil folks. You're right. This isn't like Kazaa Lite. Which is why I was completely bewildered. I went to work today and gave the same woeful tale to the friend who suggested Bittorrent to me. He chuckled and shook his head. But he's not a great teacher. I told him that I checked out Suprnova as he suggested, but couldn't make heads or tails out of it. When he said 'Yes, That's the spot. You just click on whatever you see, if you want it, and it starts to download', I said, 'Oh! Like the verifieds (sigdats) on Fasttrack?' He said 'no'. But to me, it is similar. What I was looking for, and where the difference comes into play, is software like Kazaa Lite, which I would need first.

I'm wondering whether the prog I downloaded initially is what I am supposed to use to put my files out there for others to download, since, when I clicked on something with 'execute' in it, it opened the last folder I had gone to and asked me whether I wanted to torrent it? But you folks didn't seem to recognize the prog. Well, I've deleted it anyway. But how do you put your files out there? Is Bittorrent exclusive? Mind you, a lot of the stuff I have (about 920 files that are 98% audio) consists of mp3 files I've downloaded and about a dozen avi files that I've downloaded. There's little glitches in the avi files and the mp3 files are as is, since I don't know how to touch things up.

Finally, Count on me to share.

[REDO]

making torrents is different. You have to download makeTorrent, its kinda a pain in the arse.

[Arby]

Well, The adventure continues. I won't worry about making Torrents for now, obviously. It's great that some folks are, of course. But I'll certainly be keeping my Kazaa Lite, since I can search for and, with limited success, find stuff I want. I really saw nothing I wanted on Suprnova, although I clicked on Matrix 2 just to try things out. I sort of wouldn't mind seeing that again, although it isn't the great movie that The Matrix was.

I clicked on it last night and it's now just over half done, although the 'seed' I first noted on the info screen disappeared after a few hours. If I'm interpreting things correctly, there's also a guage that says the average completion for the group currently downloading/uploading the file is 27%. Now, Does that mean that there is only 27% of the file in total for any of us to download?

In regard to the tip that your download rate is proportional to you upload rate, I set my rate at 100%. I noticed no appreciable change in the download rate when I did that. But what do I know? Am I correct in assuming that if I want to fart around on the net, I will make it easier to do that by temporarily setting the download/upload rate lower? Am I making sensible adjustments here?

I left the setting for maximum uploads at 6, although I don't get this. It's 'one' file I'm downloading/uploading-?

Later good people...

[Theinfamousone]

There's probably a lot of people that have the whole file so I imagine that you'll get it. The main thing about suprnova is that you can get full movies in real time, you can get thousands of TV shows that you can't get on any other network. You're kind of late to the game, but I've gotten every episode of Lois & Clark through season 3 episode 6 now.

[Arby]

Okay. I trust you. I guess I just have to relax and read around and it will get clearer. I think my question about average completion was stupid. To give myself credit, I figured out that it was stupid on my own, shortly after posting it. An average isn't a peak, or topmost limit. What I was focussed on was the disappearance of the 'seed'. I keep reading and hearing that BitTorrent files come and go quickly, and you've got to get em while they're hot. I guess what you're saying is that a seed will most likely hook up with us. However, If the seed has the whole file already, Why would he download/upload on it again?

Am I driving you folks nuts?

[Krell]

Am I driving you folks nuts?

You'll have to get in line, take a number.


j/k

[btnh187]

(version: S-5.4.2) -- A modified version of the "experimental client", which is a modified version of the original. its called "shadow's experimental" and works great, but it doesn't have anything spectacular over the originals

[Arby]

Well now, I've finished downloading (I will NEVER mention a file name again) . Unfortunately, I haven't yet got it to play. I wonder why.

I assume that as long as I don't click on finished, I can then serve as a seed. I've got the process paused right now, which I am sure won't prevent me from resuming and seeding.

[mp3MaStA88]

personally, i like bitorrent ++. It has many more features that the original bitorrent doesn't have such as, an easy to use interface which shows you all of your downloads in one window, and download resuming etc,.

[moneoa]

yeh if you keep it open you are a seed, remember though
if there are no seeds the average completion rate you see will be the highest percentage you can download. Therefore it is always best policy to download a file with at least 2+.
Usually if a file is popular you wont have to worry about all your seeds vanishing.

Even if you do loose all the seeds there is the possibility someone can come back and reseed it but the only way you can tell is to check torrent info (as in suprnova) or use torrent spy. (you can reseed by clicking on the link and saving it to the same file like you did when you downloaded it the first time. BT will check it and put it up as a seed.

With the sharing, the file you are downloading once it is on your machine is broken up into bits and then shared as soon as you get it. This is why the more seeds and donwloaders you have attached to a torrent the faster it goes (like multiple sources in kazza)Finally if you want more torrent sites go to google and type in torrent links or sites ect,ect one good place to find other sites with torrents is
http://www.torrentlinks.com/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=1

updated frequently with status of site beside link (if a site is down for example)

Cheers!

[Arby]

Don't get old folks. The mind goes. Sorry Krell!

A quick question: I just clicked on a file at Suprnova, the second such I've clicked on. It loaded my Shareaza. Now, I only used both BT and Shareaza for the first time a couple of days ago. Initially, I downloaded/ installed the previous, hence 'safe', version of Shareaza. But when I mentioned that it was scanning and processing (hashing?) my files slowly, someone recommended that I download the latest (beta) version of Shareaza.

I read that the latest Shareaza somehow works with BT, as well as a few other popular networks like eDonkey and a Gnutella network. So, When my Shareaza loaded, I thought, 'Okay. Possibly my selected file is in my 'transfers' pane, downloading.' But it wasn't. And I see no sign that I even clicked on the file I clicked on at the Suprnova site. If I'm reading my settings correctly, I'm not out of downloading capacity. I'm only downloading two other files at present. I'm set to download a max of 6. The default setting was 8, which I changed. Granted, I don't understand most of the settings I'm looking at here.

Thanks.

[Arby]

Thanks Moneoa!

[moneoa]

Sharezza has BT support but it is smelly and not that good.
They havent quite got the software proggraming down yet.
Sharezza is allright but you can find most of that stuff on
Kazza or Imesh. Turn off the BT settings in sharezza to go back to using BT client for default. Works alot better

[Arby]

Thanks again. I'll do that. I've got to play around with this. I'm going to look for the BT setting. I don't actually recall seeing it. I hope I can find it. :-(

I assume I can disconnect my Shareaza from BT and then run both.

Later...

[moneoa]

yeah it should be under an option that lets you choose what type of files are associated with sharezza

[Arby]

Me again. I had my view set on simple, or whatever. In 'simple' view, the only windows that showed BT settings wouldn't allow me to change them. In the 'advanced' view, I found a few more references to BT. There's not much there (and nothing in plain English 'explanation'), but what I could click on - guessing that I'm clicking stuff 'off' - I did. Then I shut down Shareaza altogether and had a look in Bytemonsoon, where I saw a file that I thought I'd click on. I did so, but, again, my Shareaza loaded. Arggg!

This time, however, I also was presented with the standard (I guess) BT download/ upload window. (I assume that the box for checking or not checking 'close window when download is complete' should remain unchecked in order for me to be fair and share -?) Then I saw the file I selected downloading in the Shareaza 'transfers' pane.

I don't know what the heck to make of this. At least I'm not 'losing' something, for a change. ;-)

[Greylin]

I would probablycheck the user options in Shareaza to make sure that it was not associateing itself with torrents. However, if this is not the case I would uninstall both Shareaza and your torrent client. If you still plan on using Shareaza load it and pay close attention to the questions/options during setup to ensure it is not handling torrent links. Then Install whatever torrent client you want, I myself prefer Azureus, and then Try clicking on a torrent link.

Another way you could get you torrent client to hande torrent links w/out the aforementioned steps is to right click on the torrent link and choose "Save as". Then right click on said saved torrent file and choose "open with" and browse to the folder you torrent clients .exe file is located. For example: C:\Program Files\whatever torrent client you use\whatever torrent client you use.exe


Hope this helps

[Arby]

I was reading a little when I came across the same suggestion, that is, your suggestion to 'save as' to a separate folder. I'm going to do that, because I don't like the association of Shareaza with BT. The two processes are dissimilar and I am already lost. I don't need this confusion. With the Fasttrack I am used to, I set my uploads to 1 or 2 when I'm trying to get something that's taking forever or when I've got lots happening. When that's the case, I usually set my downloads to 3 or 4. Then when I'm happy with what I have, I set my uploads to 3. My understanding is that that allows me to download and/or fart around on the net while my Kazaa Lite is connected.

But with BT, you're supposed to upload at max (max number of downloads, I assume), since you're uploading is proportional to your downloading. IE, The more uploading you allow, the more downloading you're allowed. Unless I am misunderstanding that, which is entirely possible. For a fact, I can't understand most of the settings I see in this latest Shareaza I downloaded.

[Arby]

I have to say, I'm not very pleased with the Suprnova forums. Sure, You can read around in there, which isn't any more fun than it is in most other places. But they are a little too deep into their geek schtick, in my view. I've gotten plenty of help and info from folks here. I am ignored over there. There's stuff I know how to do well - like spelling and making correct English sentences - but it doesn't prevent me from communicating with others who are weak in that area. So, Essentially they are rude. And here I feel bad because I can't afford to give them contributions.

[ribenabob]

this site has a great faq about bittorent that should be able to answer most questions:
http://www.dessent.net/btfaq/

[moneoa]

Arby man, Suprnova forums are usless, its not them ignoring you per say but Suprnova is one of the most used sites
for BT and this gives me the feeling moderators and such dont even see half the forum posts. If I could give you some advice?
Uninstal Shareaza (notice I can never spell it proper)
Its not the greatest prog and Kazaa basically fills the purpose of Shza. (at least in my eyes) Uploadis apparently equvelent of download in BT but enough ppl donwloading certain files will make your download speed shoot past the upload speed. (highest I have seen it on mine is 200) Of course this is all hinging on weather you have high speed internet

[Arby]

Thanks folks. I'll hold on to my Shareaza for now. I find it interesting. And it does work. I wasn't able to even get one return for a particular movie I was looking for until I tried Shareaza the other day. I'll also watch for upgrades. My IT friend says that those guys are always working on these ideas and improving on them. So, If I find Shareaza okay today, then I'd be interested in seeing how it develops and whether it becomes dyno mite tomorrow.

I still don't completely get it all. There's a lot of settings on Shareaza. I made some diagrams for my IT friend and took them to work (impressing him). He said that the settings were okay. He explained a bit about some of the settings (in 'entering' or something) that I can set to offer folks anything on my hard drive. But I'm not ready to go there. He only suggested that one of my settings, in the upload section, be adjusted. I've got too many uploads happening.

When I talked to my IT friend at work yesterday, he was wearing a shirt that said "No, I won't fix you're computer." I can understand. Everyone you know wants to use you. However, He's actually very friendly and positive about it. His attitude here is more joking than negative. In fact, He was on his way to fix a friend's computer.

I asked whether a completed download, via BT/Shareaza, made me a seeder, even when I shut down the process temporarily, and I didn't get a clear answer from him. He said that I shouldn't feel obligated to become a seeder, and, anyway, my completed file was now in my Shared Folder and available for others to download. While I agree that my file is there for others to download, I sort of feel that I'm cheating users of BT by taking a BT file that I've downloaded and, essentially, turning over to one of Shareaza's usual networks, where you can find it via 'search'. In other words, If we were all using the latest version of Shareaza, Wouldn't it kill the whole idea of Bittorrent?

But I'll keep reading around, and experimenting. I'll have to try the 'save as' method of keeping the selected torrent file out of the Shareaza process. Can I simply create a folder, separate from the BT client and everything else, and download the torrent to that? Or do I need to 'save as' and download to the folder where the client is?

Later folks, and thanks for the moral support vis a vis my experience with the Suprnova forums.

[TheRealMcCoy]

Just so i get this striate

when I add a tracker url from from two different torrent sites for e.g. pirate bay and bit junkie, this means the people who have downloaded the same torrent file from bit junkie will be able to share the seeds and leach data from the pirate bay as well?

so the more trackers i post to the more seeds 'n' leaches I get, the faster people can get the file?...

so would the number of seeds and leaches displayed on an individual tracker be the same on all of them or just the number tha that tracker managed to get?

cheers

[w31n3r]

well, at least you used the search function...

if you've downloaded a torrent that has only one tracker, then add another tracker to it, the changes will be reflected only for you.

if you're the creator of the torrent, and add additional trackers at the time of creation, then all peers who download and use your torrent can make use of the additional peers.