Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Snag the Red Hat 9 ISOs, via Cash or BitTorrent

Posted by jamie on from the p2p-doesn't-mean-pay-to-play dept.

Red Hat Linux 9 is out, and as of today the ISOs are officially available to Red Hat Network subscribers ($60/yr). Or, as of right now, you can grab the same ISOs using BitTorrent. For those unfamiliar with this free/Free P2P download protocol, an introduction follows, written by ololiuhqui. Update: 03/31 23:45 GMT by J : After roughly four hours, BitTorrent has transferred over 500 full copies of all 3 ISOs, and a total of over 1.5 TB, at 170 Mbytes/sec. Thanks to the more than 3000 people who helped each other download the data, and especially to the more than 200 who got full copies and still have their clients open, to keep serving data to everyone else :)

Tectonic Rumblings

Every so often a new tool comes along that causes a shift from Bronze to Iron, that divides history into "before" and "after." The peer-to-peer world has certainly seen its share. Those who used 486s to encode and play MP3s remember it wasn't just abysmal modem speeds that kept people from casual trading, but the tiresome process of finding users and content; Napster freed us from that bondage, letting the computer do the heavy lifting and freeing people to do what they do best.

When the weaknesses began to show in Napster's overly centralized model, Gnutella stepped in with a distributed, decentralized network. Audiogalaxy gave us astounding variety (even the most obscure music could always be found sooner or later) and a rich sense of community that is still sorely missed. WinMX offered the ability to connect to multiple Napster-compatible networks; with the advent of multi-source downloading, Morpheus and similar programs allowed us to rise above the limitations of slow upstream (until it's hard now to find any P2P applications that don't use it); and EDonkey added the nice touch of being able to share files before they were done downloading.

So what's the next stage of P2P evolution?

Enter BitTorrent -- a "swarming, scatter and gather" file transfer protocol developed by Bram Cohen that's taking the net by storm. Even without a friendly, unified interface, BT's ability to scale in the face of overwhelming demand while minimizing the free rider problem ("leeching") has attracted a flood of new users. But as with any tool, understanding how and why it works will always make using it easier and more fun.

All technical references are taken from the BT server tutorial and the official documentation.

Let's Start with the Basics

BitTorrent is not a 'website' or a 'network', and strictly speaking is not even a program -- it's a protocol with a number of functional implementations.

Instead of jumping right into downloading, first we'll discuss how files are served. Most new BT users are familiar with going to a website and clicking on links to .torrent files, but this just provides a friendlier interface and isn't actually necessary. All you really need to serve is a public Internet machine. The "tracker" will "keep track" of who is connected and who has which pieces of the file(s) in question. Like any public Internet service, a static IP address and/or valid hostname will make it easier for people to connect to your tracker.

To start serving, you choose a file or directory to serve and run a program which generates a .torrent file. This contains a 'hash,' which serves as a checksum to ensure the file is the same on all systems, as well as the address of a tracker. A typical .torrent file is quite small, typically 5-50k in size.

The second step is to load the .torrent file into a BT client. The client asks you where to save the file, you point it at the existing and complete copy, it verifies that the file hash matches, says the download is done and sits there uploading when necessary until you cancel it.

Here's an animated graphic (.mng, currently viewable only in Mozilla) of a torrent transfer.

Getting Started

The official BT client is available for Win32, Mac OS X, as an unstable Debian package, and as Python source code.

Getting started is quite simple; the Windows installer asks no questions and provides no options, and the only behind-the-scenes addition is that Internet Explorer now launches BT when you click on links to .torrent files. (Mozilla users will need to edit Preferences, Navigator, Helper Applications and add the mime type "application/x-bittorrent", to be launched by the btdownloadprefetched executable.) You can also download .torrent files and load them locally without going through a website.

Once the .torrent has been invoked, the client will prompt you for a location to save the file to. The client then creates a file of the appropriate size containing all zeros, and connects to the tracker to get a starting list of some random subset of available peers (other users connected to the 'swarm'). BT then starts connecting to peers and downloading random chunks of the file, and begin uploading to other peers as soon as you have enough for it to bother.

Every time your client verifies another piece of the download, it tells the tracker it has a good copy of that piece. By directly utilizing each user's outgoing bandwidth, downloads can be generally be completed very quickly while minimizing the load on the original server, in effect turning the dreaded "Slashdot Effect" against itself -- the more who want to download, the more there are to upload. Sooner or later (usually sooner), the download is done, and the client continues to upload pieces to other users.

What's In It For Me?

Now your first instinct at this point might be to close the program, but you really ought to leave it open as long as possible afterward, to help seed the file into the network. But this is really a social and cultural issue which can't necessarily be addressed through technical measures; BT can enforce fairness during the transfer with its algorithms, but no software can force the user to keep the client open. Many tracker owners keep a close eye on such things, and will generally ban repeat offenders. In any event, "giving back" your bandwidth has never been easier, even for users behind firewalls or NAT (although as always, being able to avoid or go through these will make the transfers more efficient).

Alternative Clients and Other Tools

That said, there are perfectly valid reasons to want some control over the amount of bandwidth a P2P application uses, and an experimental, unofficial client (Win32, Python source) has been created to provide a friendly interface for this. BT will automatically adjust your download speed appropriately if you set a slower upload speed, but it's still an invaluable tool for some cable and DSL users whose downloads will choke and abort if they use too much upstream, or for anyone with limited upstream who wants to reserve some of it for other uses.

Currently, both the official and experimental GUI clients use a separate window for each transfer. BT++ (Win32, Python source) has made an initial attempt at combining all transfers into one window, as well as offering some other enhancements, but users report mixed results, with some saying "it works for me" and others that it's buggy to the point of unusable; still, it's one to keep an eye on. (Caveat: BT++ provides an option to automatically stop uploading when the download is completed. I believe this deliberately encourages people to do so even if there is no real need to do so, and would advise anyone using BT++ to refrain from using this option; it's unnecessary, detrimental to the BT networks, and may lead to your IP being banned as described above.)

TorrentSpy (Win32) is another useful tool that shows various statistics about your transfers, including which files of a multi-file torrent are complete. It's not meant to replace a downloading client, but to complement it.

I should add that the speed and time-to-completion numbers may not be wholly accurate, and will typically fluctuate wildly to some extent during a transfer. (After all, do you believe Windows when it tells you how long it will take to copy a file?) The "percentage completed" at least is accurate, and you may be able to get more accurate information using TorrentSpy. A new version of BT has just been released (3.2) and its reported changes include "more even and consistent download rates".

A Few Miscellaneous Points

It's quite possible to generate .torrents for files you want to serve and then advertise them on someone else's tracker. Since anyone can run a tracker, BT is more like IRC, Usenet or Direct Connect than something like Kazaa. Like Freenet, it works best if the content is highly in demand; it's also more effective on recently released stuff. One highly recommeded website is Bstark. It doesn't provide .torrents for anyone to download, but functions as a "metatracker", that is, a tracker that keeps track of trackers. If you're a statistics geek, the graphs are a lot of fun, and even for the average user it's a simple way to check what files are most in demand and most in need of someone to serve them. This is even more effective when you combine it with an alternate means of communication such as IRC or email, making it easy for users to check supply and meet demand. The .torrent file can also be distributed by any means, be it a website, IRC channel, email attachments or perhaps carrier pigeon.

Conclusion

With the 'entertainment industry' finally focusing their attention on IRC, the cantankerous and difficult granddaddy of Internet file sharing, BitTorrent has found a niche and filled it admirably. The author understandably wishes to focus upon using BT in a legal manner. As with any new invention, "the street finds its own use for technology," and BitTorrent will undoubtedly continue to be rapidly adopted for both licit and illicit use.

Given the decentralized nature of BT networks and the rapid development of new tools, it's only a matter of time before someone writes a GUI wrapper for an IRC client, web browser and all-in-one BitTorrent interface. After all, Napster did it, as do most other mainstream P2P apps like Kazaa. Like Direct Connect with its 'hubs,' there will always be multiple BT servers available, and a unified interface would not only make it easier for users to find and download content, but free them to focus on forming the social and cultural networks that are also needed. A website typically uses far too much CPU and bandwidth to handle popular traffic, but a BT tracker uses minimal bandwidth by itself. Perhaps the next-generation clients will try to automatically locate trackers, or help the user find and serve older content as well as new releases.

The late great Audiogalaxy had many strengths, but one of its most fundamental was the sense of community it encouraged. BitTorrent wisely fills a narrow set of technical requirements, leaving a great deal to human need and will. The ad hoc arrangements and customs that have so far sprouted as expressions of the will to fill these needs are often chaotic and messy -- but that's human action for you.

42 of 625 comments (clear)

  1. Much better than all of us rushing the FTP servers by man1ed · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember when 8.0 came out, it was days before I could find a mirror that didn't already have too many users connected. I think it is a great idea to use p2p to to distribute it.

  2. YES! by FortKnox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The best way to help Open Source Companies (a la RedHat) survive is to circumvent their income strategies!
    Tell RedHat to screw off! Circumvent the subscription policy with P2P!

    Is that a bullethole in your foot?

    --
    Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
    1. Re:YES! by bramcohen · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Redistribution isn't 'circumvention'. The GPL specifically requires that it be allowed.

      Strange that people seem to be so religious about all the details of the GPL, except when it might hurt RedHat, in which case it's okay for them to sell it like proprietary software.

    2. Re:YES! by labratuk · · Score: 5, Informative

      Their income strategies are to pay huge amounts for the bandwidth of thousands of people downloading their .isos?

      --
      Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
    3. Re:YES! by Mr.+McGibby · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Have you actually tried to get it to work under mozilla or phoenix? Do you even know what the hell you're talking about? It's obvious that you don't. "Oh, WAAA! It doesn't install with a single click in Linux!" Guess what, nothing does.

      It *isn't* a IE browser plugin as many folks have claimed. The installer simply installs the program like any other program, and then adds the correct mime-type and windows extension handler to IE. THAT'S IT. Writing an installer that makes it easy to install in Windows is a good thing, since doing so adds large group of users to the user base.

      All the tools to setup torrented downloads work best in Linux. I use BitTorrent in Linux all the time and it runs just like any other program. It's very nice.

      Installing almost any program like this that works well with mozilla or phoenix is impossible. Tried to install the Flash plugin? It sucks rocks. Bram and the BT crew can't be held responsible for the fact that creating a slick interface to Linux browsers is like trying to keep 10 polygamous wives happy. Nothing works the same way twice.

      --
      Mad Software: Rantings on Developing So
    4. Re:YES! by tuffy · · Score: 4, Informative
      Last I heard, the redhat cds contained proprietary software. They do contain plenty of GPL'd stuff, but redhat adds a bunch of non-GPL'd things in. If I remember right, they leave the non-gpl stuff off the first cd, so the first cd would be perfectly fine and happy to distribute on bittorrent. However, if any of the iso's contain NON-GPL'd NON-BSD-licensed software, they no longer can be distributed as if there's a huge THIS IS ALL GPL sticker on it.

      That's not true, and has never been true. Here is a portion of the EULA from Disc 3 of RH 8.0:

      Most of the Linux Programs are licensed pursuant to an open source EULA that permits you to copy, modify, and redistribute the software, in both source code and binary code forms. With the exception of the content of certain image files identified below, the remaining Linux Programs are freeware or have been placed in the public domain.
      In short, there is nothing in the personal, downloadable editions of the Red Hat distribution that is not GPLed, open sourced or otherwise not free to redistribute.
      --

      Ita erat quando hic adveni.

  3. Red Hat financial problems by ablcmx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Red Hat must be in serious trouble if they couldn't afford the .0 to append to the 9!

  4. BitTorrent not working well by Drunken+Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Estimated time left: 75 hours 25 minutes 35 seconds

    Current download rate: 3 kB/s
    Current upload rate: 35 kB/s

    Seems to be some sort of bottleneck :(

    Is it available at any FTP mirrors yet?

    --
    Have you been stalked by Seth today?
    1. Re:BitTorrent not working well by nstrom · · Score: 4, Interesting

      BitTorrent takes a little bit of time to get up to speed, please wait a few minutes, and your download speed should go up.

    2. Re:BitTorrent not working well by The+AtomicPunk · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is true. I started out with 12 hours time left, I'm now at 6 hours. I suspect over time, this number will approach 0. :)

  5. New /. headline by Limburgher · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Slashdot provides free BitTorrent stress test/load analysis"

    --

    You are not the customer.

    1. Re:New /. headline by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yup! And so far, it seems the weak link in the whole shebang is the DNS...

      If you're having problems getting BitTorrent to work, especially "bad data from tracker", use:

      http://207.44.142.96/redhat9.torrent

  6. How about some ethics ? by InodoroPereyra · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Red Hat, a company supporting lots of developing in the GNU/Linux community, releases their newest version as a privileged one-week-early download for their customers through their network. In the meantime, Slashdot publishes this inflamatory plug for bit torrent, as a workaround to kind-of-boycott Red Hat's policy.

    Correct me if I've got the facts wrong. But it sounds to me like a week long wait is not really long, and that this announcement in Slashdot is not really ethical ...

    1. Re:How about some ethics ? by bramcohen · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Maybe RedHat should release their stuff under a 'turns into GPL after a week' license if they don't want their software redistributed quickly.

      Charging money for a week is no different than charging money indefinitely. BitTorrent is a great tool which RedHat can use to get their bandwidth costs under control so they can focus on their core business, whatever that may be.

    2. Re:How about some ethics ? by alaric187 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, you've got the facts right. It's just that most people here want free as in beer and not free as in speech. I swear if Microsoft was free most of the people here would be switching to it right now. This open source thing is just a red herring for "I want free stuff because I deserve it."

      Thanks in advance to mods for extra tasty troll points.
      Also, notice I said most not all, I know there are lots of people that believe in open source.

    3. Re:How about some ethics ? by warpSpeed · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Correct me if I've got the facts wrong. But it sounds to me like a week long wait is not really long, and that this announcement in Slashdot is not really ethical ...

      Once you have the bits they are yours to do with as you please.

      I'll bet that RedHat is offering the pre-access to the bits for the subscribers so that they can actually get the bits before thier servers are /.ed from the unwashed masses.

      And I would bet that RedHat is happy to off-load the downloading to something like BT. It just makes thier bandwidth usage go down, and most likley the people sharing the bits were not going to buy support anyway.

    4. Re:How about some ethics ? by TV-SET · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Actually, it depends on how you look at it.

      From one hand, using p2p networks to download latest RedHat's ISOs is going against supporing a Good(tm) company.

      On the other hand, paying RedHat 60$ a year, and then going and downloading latest ISOs from p2p actually helps RedHat to save some bandwidth for those customers who complain too much. This might be actually helping RedHat in terms of partially paying their bills using the resources of those p2p users. :)

      The company I work for has a bunch of subscriptions to RHN, both Basic and Enterprise, but we are still getting 1-2KB/s download speeds currently. P2p might improve our satisfaction on the subject though. :)

      --
      Leonid Mamtchenkov ...i don't need your civil war...
    5. Re:How about some ethics ? by tomlord · · Score: 3, Insightful


      This is good for Red Hat. There are some obvious PR benefits to it, of course.... but I think it amounts to R&D they'll eventually capitalize on.

      RHATs central servers -- not just for isos but also for updates -- are a vulnerability; a single point of failure six different ways from tuesday. (There's even another post in this /. topic about the servers allegedly being overloaded right now.)

      Not nearly all, but a big chunk of the vulnerabilities can be fixed with P2P distribution. RHAT's bigger customers can be organized to help each other that way. When, for example, security emergency response times become critical, P2P will be a big boon.

      If, suddenly, all distribution of RHAT software happened P2P -- subscriptions would still have value, and that value will grow over time. Immediately, it would have value as a source of secure hashes, delivered over multiple channels. Of course it would retain its support values -- and my hope/prediction is that in the future, Red Hat Network will increase in the degree to which it is a low-walled garden "community (of customers) website": tightening and enriching the feedback loop between customers and programmers.

      -t

    6. Re:How about some ethics ? by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      GPL only means they have to make the source accessible, it doesnt mean they have to give away the iso with all the binaries prebuilt and all the scripts and whatnot that make it an easy-for-joe-dipshit package.

      Don't want to wait a week for all that convenience? Download all their GPL'd source and build it yourself.

      OR let's just rename it the GGGPL (gimme gimme gimme public liscense)

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  7. Nice to see well written pieces on /. by agrounds · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a welcome to change to the usual copy/paste from the linked articles we usually get. This is so decent it's alomst as useful as the time that guy posted the step-by-step on Gentoo that was so good I went home and installed on the spare PC. Bravo!

    Otherwise I'm glad to see the P2P community keeping pace (or should I say, one step ahead of) with the best in file serving. I'm not sure that RedHat would be pleased about it, but it was bound to happen that the ISOs would be released back to the community in record time regardless of paid subscriptions. In the end, I think they'll find it difficult to release anything without the inevitable leaks. This seems to hold true for Microsoft as well, as they contend with leak after leak of their beta and developer images. Information wants to be free!!

  8. Direct Connect by dethkultur · · Score: 4, Informative

    When will this crowd catch on to Direct Connect? Talk about non-leeching - in some hubs you have to share a minimum of 60 GB+ just to join. Yes that means those hubs average over 60GB/user. Nothing else even comes close.

    1. Re:Direct Connect by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 3, Interesting

      BT doesn't work that way. It starts uploading pieces of the file you've already downloaded, shortly after you start downloading. It's not a matter of what you're sharing, because you're only sharing the file being transferred. And everyone downloading is a contributor.

  9. Bandwidth saturation? by Mistah+Blue · · Score: 5, Informative

    It would seem to me that RedHat didn't fully think out the bandwidth hit they would take. I've got a colleague (who is an RHN subscriber too) that just had all his downloads (discs 1-3) timeout. I gave up trying to start downloads this morning. I personally think, Akamai would have been a better solution.

  10. Subscriber costs by rf0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    RedHat is a business. Business want to make money. The community support this. So therefore we get rid of their revenue streams by getting what will be free in a week now and stopping potential subscribers?

    Rus

    --
    Cheap UK and US VPS
  11. I thought you were right on... by Wee · · Score: 4, Interesting
    And I thought you were being sarcastic. I'm sure other people will see your post as saracastic as well. But you have a good point. Red Hat is clearly doing the pay-for-prerelease thing to make some green. If people can get it for free, then they likely will. That isn't a good thing for Red Hat.

    I personally ponied up my 60 bucks, but then again I also go out and buy boxed copies.

    -B

    --

    Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

    1. Re:I thought you were right on... by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I personally ponied up my 60 bucks, but then again I also go out and buy boxed copies.

      I already pony up the 60 per year anyway, have for two years. Its a good service they provide, well worth the money.

      As to them making money, once again what I see is giving a little more to those of us that give a little more to them. I didn't like the way they marketed it, but the fact is they give alot more bandwidth to people who have NEVER given them a dime than anyone else. The GPL requires you make the source available. They COULD put all their files on a 64k throttle except for subscribers, and meet the requirements of the GPL. But they don't.

      I personally hope they do make some money, get back in the black, and gain some market share. Linux is never going to become mainstream without companies like Redhat who have somewhat viable business plans. I WANT them to be here 10 years from now, because I like their products.

      Reminds of the gag: How do you make a profit by giving stuff away?

      VOLUME!

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    2. Re:I thought you were right on... by Frymaster · · Score: 3, Interesting
      They COULD put all their files on a 64k throttle except for subscribers, and meet the requirements of the GPL

      or they could just follow the example of theo and co. from the openbsd site:

      3.3 - Does OpenBSD provide an ISO image for download?
      The OpenBSD project does not make the ISO images used to master the official CDs available for download. The reason is simply that we would like you to buy the CD sets, helping fund ongoing OpenBSD development. The official OpenBSD CD-ROM layout is copyright Theo de Raadt. Theo does not permit people to redistribute images of the official OpenBSD CDs. As an incentive for people to buy the CD set, some extras are included in the package as well (artwork, stickers etc).

      Note that only the CD layout is copyrighted, OpenBSD itself is free. Nothing precludes someone else from downloading OpenBSD and making their own CD.

      i've always thought this was a good comporomise between letting the dedicated and the geeky get what they are entitled to (the source to play with) while encouraging the moms and pops to chip into the corporate kitty. note that the price of openbsd producst is low... i think i paid $30 for the last batch of cd's i bought (and it came with stickers).

      --

      2 1337 4 u!

  12. And do we really *need* it? by Lysol · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why all the effort? There have already been a couple of reviews out on 9 and it looks like it's nothing more than a little gloss over what can be had with 8. And frankly, 8 is ok, but I'm feeling my relationship is over with RedHat.

    I have been slowly, over the past year or so, warming up more and more to Gentoo. Today, in fact, I'm re-installing one of my home servers with Gentoo 1.4 because I just want it the way I want it. Gentoo is shaping up to be a great distro and if you love the days of getting your hands dirty in the depth of things, then you should give it a whirl. Altho it may not be worth it to everyone, there is something to be said about a blazingly fast distro that's tailored to your machine.

    Plus, portage smokes rpm - in fact, the BSD ports was one thing I really missed with Linux. Now, it's the best of both worlds.

  13. Working better now? by jamie · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Current download rate: 3 kB/s
    Current upload rate: 35 kB/s

    Is it running any faster now, after 15 minutes or so? My download rates shortly after the Slashdot story went live were around 5-7 K/s. Since then it's been steadily increasing -- presumably as more and more Slashdot readers download, install and run BitTorrent, providing more clients for me to connect to. I'm now up to 25-30 K/s, which is roughly the same as my upload speed.

  14. How ingeneous... by NOT-2-QUICK · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now, instead of the slashdotting the RedHat FTP sites and mirrors, the BitTorrent web site (the site distributing the client) will get the onslaught of RedHatters in search of the latest version...

    Alls well from my perspective, though -- I have already installed the BitTorrent client and have the new ISO's! As such, go nuts... :-)

    n2q

    --
    Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Benjamin Franklin
  15. Re:i used BT once... by nstrom · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is a known issue, not in BitTorrent, but in various USB DSL modem drivers and network card drivers. Linksys and Netgear have some known buggy drivers. Refer to the question titled "BitTorrent makes my machine blue screen! What should I do?" in the BitTorrent FAQ, and see http://homepage.ntlworld.com/j.buchanan/winmx/faq- restart.html for a page which also mentions this problem as it applies to WinMX, another P2P client.

  16. Make sure not to close the Bittorrent client... by RealityThreek · · Score: 5, Informative

    when the download is complete!

    Bittorent works by making everyone who downloads part of the "distribution network." By leaving the client open you are making the download go faster for everyone. I suppose this is kind of a utilitatian concept, but hey.. Slashdot readers are supposed to be idealistic, right? I'll leave mine open, and hopefully you will too.

    --
    :wq
  17. Animation works fine in Konqueror. by terkozer · · Score: 4, Informative

    quote: "Here's an animated graphic (.mng, currently viewable only in Mozilla) of a torrent transfer."

    Just to point out, the .mng works just find under Konqueror 3.1.0.

    For more information on MNG, and a list of supported browsers, follow this link

  18. Hopefully, it is faster... by cenonce · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am a Red Hat subscriber and I am pushing a measly 14 kb/sec to download three 600+ MB ISOs. I'm on ISO #1 with 9 hours to go!

    So what exactly is the advantage of getting the distro a week ahead of everyone else when the servers for "subscriber use" are so overloaded it will take me a week to download it!?!



  19. ridiculous by the_phenom · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I find it ridiculous that the loudest linux/open source zealots in here refuse to pay to support it. Open source programmers deserve to be paid too. Put your money where your mouth is. And yes, for the record, I've paid for every version of RH since 6.x, and I even paid for Debian once. :) Let the flames begin.

  20. Mixed Feelings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    On the one hand, BitTorrent is an excellent way of reducing bandwidth for Open Source companies... if they release their files only on bittorrent, then they can get the distro out to more people & save money on bandwidth at the same time. In that regard, I think all Linux distro companies should adopt it.

    On the other hand, this is a massive leak for RedHat... if BitTorrent can always be relied upon to get the ISOs the day they're released to subscribers, then there is no incentive to become a RedHat subscriber... and thus RedHat loses money.

    In the future, it would be nice if BitTorrent users could wait until after the distro is released to the public before mirroring it... Yeah, then companies like RedHat still get their 1 week advance for subscribers, AND they get to not have their servers flooded on public release day.

    *sigh*... I better go buy a RH9 boxed set, I feel all dirty now.

  21. Re:Download capped to around upload speed? by bramcohen · · Score: 3, Informative
    That's very complicated. BitTorrent peers use tit-for-tat to prevent leeching, which works quite well, but still results in meandering download rates. Generally speaking, you get about as much download as you provide in upload, but that can vary if there's plent of excess upload capacity, or if too many people are behind NAT, or if the original seed is slow, or a few other things.

    So the short answer is that you'll generally get better download rates if you upload more, because peers will upload to you in exchange, but your actual download rate is affected how the particular deployment is going.

  22. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  23. Re:Pretty cool! by ralphus · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Let it run for a bit. mine is about 20 minutes in on an ATTBI cable connection. 118 kB/s down, 40kB/s up.

    Redhat was giving me 8.7kB/s down before I found this article.

    --
    Revolutions are never about freedom or justice. They're about who's going to be top dog. -- Kilgore Trout
  24. laud this effort by jaxon6 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I laud this effort. Here's my situation: We pay for the rhn service at work. I attempt to download the 3 iso's, and I get combined download speeds of 22kB/s. This is unacceptable. I'm using BitTorrent right now, and the speed is 1900kB/s, and rising. The machine is on a 100mb/s switch, on MIT network, so I'll probably get 3mB/s before the download finishes.
    This is an example of a legal use of p2p technology directly benefitting a valid user.

    --
    Do you see the sig? Do you have it in your sights? Why yes, Miss Moneypenny...
  25. Caveat Downloader! by SIGBUS · · Score: 4, Informative
    I tried using a BitTorrent session to grab the latest Knoppix (the link was posted in yesterday's Knoppix thread). Just for kicks, I went to one of the official mirrors and checked the MD5 sum of the ISO image that I received with the MD5 sum listed on the official mirror. They did NOT match. I summarily deleted the suspect image. In retrospect, I probably should have just gone ahead and downloaded the official image, and did a file-by-file comparison.

    Basically, you should check MD5 checksums, or better yet, GPG signatures, if you're going to download a .iso from a P2P network instead of getting it from an official mirror site.

    You should check them anyway, even when you get them from an official mirror, IMHO.

    --
    Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
  26. Redhat did bundle commercial software previously by maynard · · Score: 3, Informative

    >>Last I heard, the redhat cds contained proprietary software.

    >That's not true, and has never been true.

    Yes they did. For example, Redhat 4.x shipped with a commercial X server, Metro X and BRU backup tool. They also had a distribution which included Motif development libraries, as well as a secondary product line which included just the runtime libs as well as the runtime and development libs. Redhat 5.x continued shipping Metro X, but not BRU if I remember correctly. This policy was primarily a response to Caldera's bundling commercial software with the original Candera Network Desktop and Caldera OpenLinux productline. Not that Redhat Linux does bundle commercial software with the product - I haven't seen it so I can't comment on that. However, Redhat most certainly did bundle commercial applications with their product line at one point in time. --M