null Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 I need to get debian testing ("etch") DVDs and after visiting debian's website I decided to try bittorrent for the first time ever. Supposedly its "faster and less trouble"... So anyway, now a couple of hours later... I was at 1.5% and had 3 days remaining for the first iso. I was blazing along at 21 KB/s... so what is the deal with bittorrent? Its a total joke. Useless. I can get a CD or DVD downloaded with ftp or http in a few hours. hmm... lets see, should I use bittorrent for 3 days per CD, or ftp for 3 hours per CD... decisions, decisions.... I never tried jigdo. Is it any better than bittorrent? can't be any worse. Is it faster than ftp? Is there anywhere that has the amd-64 testing DVD ISOs for download by ftp/http? I didn't see any when I was checking. Am I doing something wrong with bittorrent? I'm doing it on my win2k box, since my only working dvd burner is here. Haven't put another one in my mandriva box yet. I may just buy the testing dvds for amd-64 if anyone's selling them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neddie Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 BitTorrent really comes into its own when there's a new, big file on offer, with lots of demand. Via http or ftp, the server would croak because it wouldn't be able to fulfill the demand. With BitTorrent, the increased demand leads to more seeders so downloaders should still be able to get hold of the hottest, newest release. If you're talking about etch DVDs then I guess the demand is currently much lower, so there is likely to be much fewer seeders available offering the file. In that case you might as well just stick to ftp or http, preferably from a local mirror. It might also be worth checking your client configuration - depending on which client you use there should be a connection speed setting somewhere. On the bittorrent-gui client this is set with the max upload speed - set this too low and you'll get a low download rate too, set it too high and your browser etc will stop working. Don't know much about jigdo but I think it just splits up the big download into smaller packets from several servers - hopefully spreading the load but not P2P like BitTorrent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aioshin Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 there are site or linux distro that does'nt have mirrors or happen to have but very few, so they advice to use bitorrent... like xandros.. they usually let you download their community version via bittorent.. but if there are available mirrors for your distro of choice, 'would not rather use it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 make sure you open up the right ports. i suggest using azureus, but either way you should check the nat wiki page regarding port information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted August 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 I'm gonna try out jigdo this weekend. I may end up paying for the debian dvd from one of those cheap CD places, and maybe donate a couple bucks to debian... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 I tried jigdo with debian, and it was crap. When it put it back together, it didn't even work afterwards. I ended up just downloading the iso in the end. Worked far better, and much quicker than jigdo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 (edited) BitTorrent is absolutely the fastest and most reliable P2P protocol ever. But it *does* need open firewall ports (or just one, for apps like Azureus and uTorrent), as well as some basic familiarization with it... In your case you were either misconfigured, or the swarm didn't have enough peers to get a decent speed. Edited August 2, 2006 by scarecrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 another thing is somtimes you have to let the torrent sit for a while before the speed picks up. initially it may appear slow, but 10-20 minutes later (with the bigger files) it will pick up speed as you sort of "move up" on the list of leechers (people downloading). this may not have been the case with your torrent, it's more likely this was either a firewall issue or as scarecrow said not enough seeders (people with 100% downloaded). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiver_Fluffi Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 (edited) I tried jigdo with debian, and it was crap. When it put it back together, it didn't even work afterwards. I ended up just downloading the iso in the end. Worked far better, and much quicker than jigdo. You must have been unlucky there Ian, Jigdo worked fine for me when I downloaded sarge DVD1, although it did take a while, I reckon longer than a new release over bittorrent, but in this case I reckon jigdo (fingers crossed) would get the job quicker. Edited August 2, 2006 by Reiver_Fluffi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 You must have been unlucky there Ian I think so :P Put me off ever wanting to use jigdo again. I mostly do ftp/http download, or try torrents now and again if I feel it might work quicker (after checking seeder/leecher levels first). The even funnier thing was the download took longer with jigdo than using the ftp mirror directly. Bizarre :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neddie Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 One advantage that jigdo has (if it works) over straight download is that if the CD/DVD image only changes a little bit (like a new release of the same CD/DVD) then it's clever enough to just download the bits that have changed, rather than the whole lot all over again. And an advantage that both BitTorrent and Jigdo have is that it should be much easier and more reliable to interrupt / pause downloads and resume them again later when it's more convenient. So the machine doesn't have to be on continuously in order to download the big stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dexter11 Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 should I use bittorrent for 3 days per CD, or ftp for 3 hours per CD... decisions, decisions.... You can downoad simulteniously with bittorrent too. So you can reach you maximum bandwidth just like using ftp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted August 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 ok maybe I'll try BT again this weekend. How do I know if I'm configured right.... ports and all that stuff ? One advantage that jigdo has (if it works) over straight download is that if the CD/DVD image only changes a little bit (like a new release of the same CD/DVD) then it's clever enough to just download the bits that have changed, rather than the whole lot all over again. yeah, I read that when I was reading about jigdo. Pretty handy idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 One advantage that jigdo has (if it works) over straight download is that if the CD/DVD image only changes a little bit (like a new release of the same CD/DVD) then it's clever enough to just download the bits that have changed, rather than the whole lot all over again. Providing of course you already download the original ;) Yeah, agree with this, once you got the first download, which would take ages, any changes would or should be nice and quick. Shame mine didn't work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted August 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 (edited) I'm having a hard time with how these "linux CD" places sell CDs & DVDs of all the distros for a pretty good chunk of money.... I mean, they are making money off other people's hard work... it goes against my way of thinking. For example linuxcentral.com sells the 3-dvd debian unofficial 3.2 set for $30. That seems like alot of money for someone else's work. Is "3.2 unofficial" the same thing as "etch - testing" ?? This guy at NewsForge really gives a glowing review of debian testing: http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/...42&from=rss Can't wait to get it and play around with it. Hopefully my FC experience with FC2,3 & 4 will help alot with debian. Edited August 2, 2006 by null Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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