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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: wurzel on March 22, 2007, 10:30:36 PM
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Hi guys,
Can anyone help me to use CTorrent?
I've downloaded it & set it up, but I haven't a clue how to use it. By that, I mean how to find flies to download, then the options to put in the command line.
I've tried to read the docs, but it's complete gobbledygook to me.
I've tried to use CTorrentUI, but when I run it, it just asks for the file to download, which is where I have the problem.
I've seen a friend's PC with a BitTorrent program, it's as simple as Aminet! I thought the miggy was supposed to be easier ;)
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I too had questions about getting it to work. must be a secret cause i didn't get much help last time. Once you find a torrent through any browser it "supposed to be able to read the address and begin downloading, but I have yet to get that far. maybe i'll mess with it in abit.
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Has anyone had success? what shell commands were used and how. The GUI doesn't work!
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You have to get .torrent file from somewhere for each thing you'd like to download. There are several web pages offering .torrent files etc.
Then just type in shell "ctorrent thefileyouhavegot.torrent" and it starts downloading the actual content.
Some torrent clients may have search function, but it actually searches from different web pages, which you can access directly too. So it's up to client what pages have been defined into it. Torrents are bit messy.. there isn't single repository like with Aminet which you referred. They are here and there and you have to find correct place to find files you like :)
And remember, you share everything you download at the same time. Unless you have disabled it or your torrent port isn't open to internet.. but then you might get pretty slow download speeds.
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Wikipedia: BitTorrent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent)
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thanks! will try again later. Does it matter which browser you use to save the file. I used ibrowse and save to ram. the file appeared as a txt. file which could be opened by notpad or something. What if i used the downloaded the .torrent from a laptop and transferred it to the amiga, how does it deal with long file names?
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It doesn't matter which browser you use. IBrowse works just fine. Transferring is fine. Filename length depends of the filesystem used. Standard FFS has max name length around 30 chars, but you can always rename the .torrent file.
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@PVC cool
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Hi,
Just began playing with this and I've reached maybe another step along.
So I've got my .torrent file, I've pointed CTorrent at it, it has confirmed the contents and has put some kind of "virtual" files in the dir I chose. So far so good.
Now it says it is downloading the files, only there is NO hard disk activity. Surely there should be some? I'm not waiting hours for it to do it's thing only to find it hasn't done it's thing! Where is the data going? Not into those "virtual" files, that's sure.
Also, it says it's uploading as well. What exactly? What data of mine is some bloke getting?
Cheers.
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Just read the wiki page about BitTorrent?
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So I've got my .torrent file, I've pointed CTorrent at it, it has confirmed the contents and has put some kind of "virtual" files in the dir I chose. So far so good.
That's right. The first thing it does is allocating the required disk space. The file names and sizes are correct, but the content is just zero. It hasn't downloaded anything yet.
Now it says it is downloading the files, only there is NO hard disk activity. Surely there should be some? I'm not waiting hours for it to do it's thing only to find it hasn't done it's thing! Where is the data going? Not into those "virtual" files, that's sure.
It depends on how many sharing the file you're attempting to download. If there are none, then - naturally - there will be no disk activity. I've had certain torrents working for weeks until finishing, while others like *ahem* the latest episode of a popular TV show with a plane crash on an island and some hot chick called Kate, can be downloaded in less than an hour.
Also, it says it's uploading as well. What exactly? What data of mine is some bloke getting?
If it's uploading, it's almost certainly downloading something. The thing about torrents is, as Piru tries to explain, that you're downloading from a lot of people, and you're sharing what you've downloaded with the others.
Leave it on for a couple of hours (or overnight) and you'll see some progress. Or, just for testing, try another torrent that's certainly popular (like that TV show I mentioned)
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Hey Lurkist, I too have been fiddling with it! The first time I dropped it into my c drawer, and tried downloading an mp3. It did the same thing you described, then it completed it into ram. I realized I needed to get it out of c immediately. I dropped it into another directory in a drive then proceeded to download a file in excess of 90megs. It placed drawer into the same directory as ctorrent, but no drive activity, meanwhile, my ram starts to get lower! needless to say i think i'm goind to get that file assuming if it is placing it in ram again. I'm using it now, so its hard to tell, I only have 30,000,000 memory and it is showing 21,000,000, but no files appear in ram. :-?
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BTW... Just how do you end ctorrent?? :-?
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OK! how do you get ctorrent to not write to ram: And I'm not reading bittorrent. I know how to use torrents...just not on my amiga. I'm down to 11,000,000 mem,and nothing being written to my drive!
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Just noticed that the default cache size for ctorrent is 16MB. Normally that would make sense and persuade me that everything is in fact working well, but if you (Zyphoid) have reached 19MB of stuff into RAM and still no HD activity, it's back to the drawing board.
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zyphoid: you can "end" it just like any other shell command.. with ctrl-c.
And it downloads files to current working directory. So cd where you want to get files and run ctorrent there.
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@pvc you're seem to know how ctorrent works :-D what's the command line you use as in cd directory for download since i assume it defaults to ram. WE me and Lurkist are almost got the hang of this I think. Also I tried ctrl-c but nothing happend it just hung and the little slash kept spinning! weird! :-?
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I think you need to ctrl-c for each file (or maybe folder) within the torrent.
I feel we're so close! This time I've persevered with a large torrent. I'm just over halfway through, with 45MB "downloaded". Ram hasn't decreased, still no hard drive activity, and this is after changing the cache to 1MB (I assumed I would see HD activity after every 1MB, but no). I'm sure I'll end up with nothing but those "virtual" files at the end of the day. I'm missing something obvious, I know it! :crazy:
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The client will continue to seed the file(s) even after you've downloaded it all. Once the client reports the file(s) being fully downloaded, it's good manners to keep seeding for some duration, preferably at least to 1:1 ratio. Once you no longer want to seed, ctrl-c.
Also, you can abort and continue the downloading later. The client is smart enough to resume properly.
The "virtual" files are in fact the actual files you're going to get. It's just that their content is garbled until the torrent has downloaded fully.
These notes apply to all bittorrent clients universally. Oh, and please do read the bittorent wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitttorrent).
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zyphoid: I don't see what's so hard here :) I have tested ctorrent one or two times, but as my ISP restricts the torrent transfers it's pretty useless to try to use client without encrypted transfers (as my version of ctorrent is, I don't know if there's newer ones).
Here's an example:
New Shell process 11
Ram Disk:> Store2:torrents/
Store2:torrents> list
AmigaMusic.com - Best of Amiga Music Vol 2.torrent 21038 ----rwed Today 17:50:43
1 file - 21038 bytes used
Store2:torrents> ctorrent "AmigaMusic.com - Best of Amiga Music Vol 2.torrent"
-clipclap-
| 0,[0/937/0],0,0 | 0,0 E:0^C
Store2:torrents> list
AmigaMusic.com - Best of Amiga Music Vol 2 Dir ----rwed Today 17:52:18
AmigaMusic.com - Best of Amiga Music Vol 2.torrent 21038 ----rwed Today 17:50:43
1 file - 1 directory - 21038 bytes used
Store2:torrents>
Nothing came to ram: and files were created to the (sub) dir I was CD'ed. ctorrent exe was in C:.
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Piru wrote:
The "virtual" files are in fact the actual files you're going to get. It's just that their content is garbled until the torrent has downloaded fully.
Downloaded at all would be good. Nothing seems to be saving - not in RAM, the current directory, a temp file somewhere, or those virtual/actual files.
Sort of like a drip filling up a bucket, but when you come back to it the next day the bucket is empty. Maybe a hole in the bottom, maybe some other little creature is drinking the water, who knows!?!
Piru wrote:
Oh, and please do read the bittorent wikipedia entry
It was very informative and cleared up many issues.
Just not this (seemingly CTorrent related) one.
Cheers
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Okay, feel free to give me a virtual slap (Piru especially!). The d/l is complete and those virtual files have filled up with real data.
What kind of insane wizardry is this!?!
Oh well, I won't question it because
It works! It works! It works!
Cheers,
lurkist
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Damn! now its on me to get mine going
lurkist you changed something, what? I hate feeling like an idiot!
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Torrents are downloaded in some size of pieces. And it probably downloads each piece in memory before writing it to HD. With slow transfer rate or at the beginning it may look like it won't write anything to HD.. you just haven't looked HD led long enough? :)
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ok. one last thing. does ctorrent need to be in sys:c drawer? mine isn't. it is in a partition drawer.
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@pVC -
Believe me, I stared at that sucker until my eyes went squiffy! Also I had the dir open in Opus and kept refreshing the page expecting to see the date / time change as it updated, but no.
@zyphoid -
Check your original d/l (the small one which went into ram) it should be complete. The larger one which is also going into ram is probably stuffed when you run out of ram.
If you are using a gui, bests to stop. Using CTorrent through the shell worked better, and is not really difficult. My executable is in SYS:C and here's what I used -
sys:c/ctorrent -s work:TORRENTS -P BT4103 work:WHATEVER.torrent
The "-s work:TORRENTS" just means that the files will end up in a place I can find easily.
The "-P BT4103" is reccommended in the docs as the latest peer ID
Hope this helps.
Now my next stupid question. When a torrent is only partially available, when I reach the point where no more is available should I just leave it running until more comes along? Or will more never come along?
OK, OK, I'll read the faqin faq!
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No, it's like any other normal Amiga command, which can be anywhere... just makes easier to have it in path (like in sys:c) so that you don't have to write it's path every time.
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No, it's like any other normal Amiga command, which can be anywhere... just makes easier to have it in path (like in sys:c) so that you don't have to write it's path every time.
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Some weeks ago i saw this program on aminet, so i diceded that i will try. I never hope that exist any torrent utility for miggy. Now this is my first post with my amiga, so my miggy is ready for the world of torrent. :-)