Freedom torrents (no video)

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 29 Mar 2005 11:04

Could somebody explain how this works? I download, using bittorrent, but I don't really understand it, and I wouldn't know how to share on Freedom, or anything. You guys keep pushing for us to share, but I don't understand anything about "torrents" or how to do anything with them.
Thanks.

TwistedTorque · Post by **TwistedTorque** » 29 Mar 2005 11:17

Yep, I want to know more too.
It seems like a good idea, a tutorial is just needed.

junkyardjew · Post by **junkyardjew** » 29 Mar 2005 11:33

I've been getting tracker scrape errors lately, and i'm not sure why...

but beyond that, to upload you need the blogtorrent client installed (which you can download by clicking "easy download") then all you have to do is click on 'upload' - it will open the blogtorrent client for you, you drag the file you want to share into it, it makes a torrent file and uploads it to the website. then you just have to advertise that you have a file worth downloading, and leave you blogtorrent client open to upload.

I was trying to upload stuff before, but i'm behind NAT so i can't make incoming connections very well. i've been working on a solution, but nothing's worked yet...

Post by **Allan** » 29 Mar 2005 17:06

http://freedomfootbags.com/shredtorrents/ contains a brief explanation of the concept and points you along to the wikipedia entry that explains everything in great detail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittorrent

I wholeheartedly agree that the concept is somewhat murky at this point - it's a newer technology, but one that will hopefully address some of the issues of slow video downloads as we work out some of the details.

The BlogTorrent software I've installed there on freedom.com makes things about as simple as they can be at the moment. I'm talking to Steve about how to implement a tracker for the .org galleries and hopefully we'll have something worked out "soon" (months from now).

In the meantime, check out the wikipedia entry and please try to share your bandwidth by keeping your blogtorrent client open after you've downloaded any given video

If you have any specific questions I'll do my best to answer them here.

- Allan

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 29 Mar 2005 17:23

I seem to only be able to upload files that are already in the list, but not torrents for others ?

Is this right, or am I not doing something right ?

King Monkey · Post by **King Monkey** » 29 Mar 2005 19:42

Im guessing this kind of thing isnt much good for Dial-up users? Unless we have like a second phoneline or something and stay connected for hours?

Post by **Allan** » 29 Mar 2005 21:25

King Monkey wrote:Im guessing this kind of thing isnt much good for Dial-up users? Unless we have like a second phoneline or something and stay connected for hours?

Well, for downloading, it's my understanding that if there are a bunch of people seeding the file (sharing it) then downloading on dialup would be as fast or faster then from many web sites. That's the beauty of the system. Because everyone shares bandwidth, the more people there are connected (and sharing), the more available bandwidth there is.

It's a kind democratic system when it comes to handing out bandwith - the more popular a video is, the more people share that video, the faster and more reliable it is to get.

On the other hand, if you're on dial up, you'd basically simply want to disconnect after downloading - this is what I would call "legitimate leeching"

No one is expecting you to share much of your bandwidth if you don't really have any.

But if you're on broadband, all you have to do is leave the client running and people will use some of your bandwidth to get part of the file too.

It's not a lifetime committment to seed. Share what you feel you can. When you're done, shut the client off.

It can only get easier from here

Tsiangkun wrote: I seem to only be able to upload files that are already in the list, but not torrents for others ?

Is this right, or am I not doing something right ?

Go here: http://freedomfootbags.com/shredtorrent/trigger.php

or click the 'Upload File' link from the home page (bottom of it).

On the trigger page, three paragraphs down, it says: "If you already have Blog Torrent, get this file and open it to start the upload".

When you open the file (named 'upload.blogtorrent') you download, it'll prompt you to choose a file to upload (track).

Running 'upload.blogtorrent' will create yet another file named something like this: SinisterSession.wmv.torrent

While creating the .torrent file, it also checks the file to be uploaded and registers with the freedomfootbags.com server, it appears in the "blog" (and the RSS feed - rocks!) and voila, people are now able to download that file from your computer.

As soon as anyone does so, they become a seeder themselves and ideally, 20-30 other people will download and seed as well and all share bits and pieces of the file.

You need to download a new file for each video you wish to share. You can't re-use the 'upload.blogtorrent' file for any other videos you wish to seed!!

So, for example, let's say I want to share a video I made of Dylan and I from last summer.

- I go to the trigger page and download the blog.torrent file to my 'footbagvideos' folder where the video sits.

- I open the blog.torrent file and it asks me what video I want to share - I choose 'Dylan-Allan-Summer2004DRAFT.mov'.

- Now I have a 'Dylan-Allan-Summer2004DRAFT.mov.torrent' file sitting next to the video in the folder and after it does a couple things, you're sharing (seeding) that file.

Let's say that I'm running winblows and my computer crashes an hour after starting this process because I wanted to surf the web at the same time

I reboot the computer and go back to my 'footbagvideos' folder and double click on the Dylan-Allan-Summer2004DRAFT.mov.torrent file which opens the blogtorrent program which tells freedomfootbags.com that there is a seeder online for this video again.

-A

brian relly · Post by **brian relly** » 29 Mar 2005 21:32

AllanHaggett wrote:You need to download a new file for each video you wish to share. You can't re-use the 'upload.blogtorrent' file for any other videos you wish to seed!!

-A

Is this why I've been getting that stupid error? I've only been able to seed 2 files without incident--vasek's todex6n routine, and sinister-shred. Every other one I try I get the error, "rejected by tracker. This torrent is not authorized on this tracker."
Am I getting this error because I haven't downloaded any other files? I really don't want to, because I already have all the videos everyone else is seeding.

Post by **Allan** » 29 Mar 2005 21:39

Stephen Barnes wrote: Is this why I've been getting that stupid error.

If you've been trying to re-use the upload.blogtorrent file, yes

As soon as you've created a .torrent file with the video name in it, delete the upload.blogtorrent file.

If you want to seed other files (that aren't already listed), visit the trigger page and get a new upload.blogtorrent file and do the process again.

If you want to start seeding a file that is already listed, but that you have already downloaded (perhaps from another source), you have to make sure that the file name is the same as the one that was originally seeded. Any variation in the file name will cause a failure.

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 29 Mar 2005 23:34

If you have NAT on your router, then your downloads will go much slower. You must forward your ports.

Check here to see if you have NAT and if you do.

start>run> type "cmd" press enter (dos prompt)
type "ipconfig" press enter
note the default gateway and ip address
Open a web browser, and type your default gateway (your router's addy) enter
might need a password (for linksys routers just type in "admin" in the password field)
go to the setting that says apps and gaming and type in the range 6881-6889 for ports and your ip address and enable and save.

On the Do I have Nat page you will see your real IP address you can set this on bittornado in advanced options and maybe on the new bittorrent client.

Also check the faq at bittorrent.com

Note that different clients use different port ranges, or you can specify which ports the program should use. For example Bittornado starts at 10000. Open the respective ports.

Tom

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 30 Mar 2005 14:52

AllanHaggett wrote: You need to download a new file for each video you wish to share. You can't re-use the 'upload.blogtorrent' file for any other videos you wish to seed!!

-A

Oh, I see now. I was trying to use the same file. Thanks.

FlexThis · Post by **FlexThis** » 30 Mar 2005 16:42

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 13 Apr 2005 17:44

I'm actually using the system now, with that "4 elements" video, 'cause the direct download isn't working. Maybe I will create a torrent of something too...I kind of skimmed over some of the replies, but I think I read most of Allan's. I have another question, though:
Is there a limit to how many torrents are uploaded to Freedom? I guess they aren't large files, right? But you, Allan, said (I believe) that you may not keep this going if it doesn't work out. So my question is, how wouldn't it work out? this seems to be rad -- and if everybody on broadband seeds at least a couple torrents (is that proper?) then this will be a sweet way to host videos and we should create torrents for EVERY footbag video!!