Re: [LUG] Free Linux Format PDF

[Dan Lewis <danlewis.ltd@xxxxxxxxx>]

Torrent downloading is the current method used to distribute large files through a community. the files are divided into parts which are downloaded individually allowing for different parts to be downloaded from different places - it also mean that once a part has been downloaded it may in turn be uploaded as well while the other parts finish to download.

Therefore as you download you also upload. which is mandatory - the program is designed to do this - you cant just download. (this was revolutionary and made torrents the standard means for sharing larger files through a community)

You have two kinds of users peers and seeders - a peer is someone downloading and uploading a file at the same time. a seeder is someone who has the file (because they are the original source or have finished downloading it) and are uploading it. 

Lastly a torrent file is a link to a tracker which maintains the list of current seeders and peers for any one file. 

So once you have the torrent file (say from http://beta.legaltorrents.com/ or in my case http://www.tuxdistro.com/  and http://www.animesuki.com/)you need a torrent downloading app. I use utorrent  as it is very simple stable and efficient. there are other great ones - obviously the original bitorrent.

I use torrents to get all my distros and the fansub anime i watch - both legal uses;) 

Security of torrenting is fairly safe and most good torrent applications incorporate encryption as standard (utorrent does), however dont be fooled by this - it will only stop direct attempts to find out what any one ip address is doing. Instead governments and companies now simply download a file and start seeding it and see who downloads from them - thereby catching them in the act. this is embezzlement. but when you here about people receiving warning letters from isp's - this is how they know. So word of warning - if you are going to do stuff illeagle then understand that it is easy to get caught. But its pot luck as to whether you do.

hope this helps

D

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 2:47 PM, <jon.davey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Ralph Smithen writes:
> 2009/3/5  <jon.davey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>> Alan Pope writes:> On 04/03/2009, Rob Beard <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> It's possible that they were overwhelmed with the amount of downloads

>>>>  that they have decided to make it into a torrent thus saving them bandwidth.<snip>
>>> Al.
<snip>>> does that now mean that because the link to the mag isn't there any

>> more I can't get a copy?
>> Cheers, JOn
>
> I just checked and the tracker is still up:
> http://www.linuxformat.co.uk:6969
> That means that, provided you have the .torrent file, you can still
> download the file :)

...oh, cool, I'll give it a go...

> Here's an article explaining how it works:
> http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bittorrent.htm

I've got a rough idea abourt it, but it's one of those things that I will
only understand on a certian level...
Cheers anyway, JOn

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