Slashdot Mirror
Making Freenet Find Stuff Faster
Sanity writes "Many probably saw the recent announcement of Freenet 0.5.2. This release represented a vast amount of work - primarily in reducing Freenet's CPU and memory requirements. However, streamlining Freenet's current functionality isn't all we've been working on. I just finished an article that describes the most fundamental improvement to Freenet's core algorithm since its original design over three years ago, it is called "Next Generation Routing" and has the potential to dramatically increase the speed with which Freenet retrieves information. It could even make Freenet faster than the World Wide Web in many circumstances, all without compromizing anonymity and while remaining immune to the /. effect."
"immune to the /. effect."
:-)
If this isn't a challange I don't know what is
-traskjd
My blog [.net, rants, general IT]
it's running on my unmodified osx box. just use the unix version.-Ryan
Ryan Singer
Isn't the www good for both good and bad people though too? any technology that comes out will have a way to exploit it. The fact that it's faster then the WWW is an achievement in itself but would the RIAA/etc try and go after it claiming it's anonmity is the problem? I'm really curious to see how this plays out.
--- Sig? pfft
Other than the fact that most infringers do not like to use Freenet because it is too clunky for them to get their quick hit of free music, it is no more of a threat than any of the popular P2P services.
Translation: "Oh Lord, I hope Freenet is inherently unable to have robust search functions, because if it ever develops these, we're hosed. But in the meantime, we can dismiss this software as being a big POS."
Now, less than two weeks after the interview, it seems the one aspect of Freenet that Oppenheim wanted to write off at is on the brink of being fixed.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
Instructions for windows and linux and linux compatables.
Windows : Right click the rabbit icon in your system tray, then click upate to latest snapshot build.
Linux : run update.sh in the freenet directory.
Nero-burning ROM for Linux!
You know what'd be really impressive? Finding a way to make FreeNet slower. It'd be so slow you could make a Beowulf cluster of FreeNet nodes and use it as a time machine. Personally, I'd use it to go back to Ian Clarke's dorm room and convince him to get drunk and high rather than wasting his life making a P2P system that will be useful around the same time we have to start worrying about being censored by the United Federation of Planets. But that's just me.
...at least not keyword searching as you find in Google and Kazaa. When they refer to searching they mean given a key (a very large number), finding the corresponding data.
Immunity to ignorant masses of /. users it is not.
/. crowd of joining, and here is the etiquet/advice I have.
:)
/1/ /2/ /3/ and link to images from the future. If the image loads, you know there is a more recent revision. date based must be activated every time interval, or they die. Be very careful with these.
/. effect immunity, they mean linking to a site will only make it stronger. Everyone on /. joining freenet is just going to slow it down, because basically, you are creating a great suction on the net without any data to give back. Even worse, when you quit off of freenet, everyone will be looking for you from their cache and not finding you. This is going to cause the most problems, but surely not everyone on /. are going to quit on the same day. ;)
I was in the first
Things to do if you plan on playing with freenet:
1. Set it up properly.
1a Set your IP in the config file, read the site for details, but it's freenet.ini
1b Try to use DynDNS if you have a dynamic IP
2c Leave it up 24/7 for a few days before you judge speed. You need to let the blood circulate
2. Install a proper version of Java. I recommend the 1.4.2 beta. IBM may work better, I haven't tried.
3. Fix your browser.
3a Your browser will crash on some sites (even Mozilla not Opera) because of a GIF bug.. patch it.
3b Set your number of simultaneous connections up a lot. You request a file from your local store, then it downloads it. You need to request as many in parallel as possible.
Now, on to advice.
Get Frost! Frost is like the news groups of the freenet. It's a great place to read interesting ideas.
If you want to make a site, check out Fish tools, Fuqid and FIW.
Be aware that there are 3 different kinds of sites, and two modes of getting information
3 types include interval based, revision, and static. Static sites are one time shots. Revisions you create directories like
There are SSK and CHK linking methods, which I still don't know a whole lot about, but maybe someone will reply and explain them.
By
Get IIP, so you can realtime chat with people that run some sites on freenet. #freenet is dedicated to freenet chat and issues.
Have fun!
(Posting anonymously in respect of the freenet principals.)
This is incorrect. For networking related stuff, Java is efficient. It will use some more memory, and it will use (a bit more) CPU power but there are many reasons to go with java for such a project:
- easier language to pick up / understand (this is a collective effort)
- little to no chance of buffer overruns, making the node much safer against attacks)
- runs on Linux, Apple, Sun, Windows, FreeBSD without - any - porting
- java was more or less created with projects like these in mind, so most functionality will be readily available in the default libraries
Nowadays CPU and memory are commodities that can easily be come by. I see it taking about 32 MB right now, but that is out of a single 512 MB pool that can be upgraded to 1 GB for virtually free. My processor usage is max 25%, but note that the freenet guys set the priority to low themselves.
Java means a shift to better programming, with better runtime information and safer programs. This will take CPU and memory, but this is an offer you should consider very well.
This same discussion went on between assembler and C programmers. Look at it now. I think the progress of object oriented, garbage collecting, more secure platforms are as important as that paradigm shift.
Warper
I recommend using Frost for file transfers. The only thing I've ever successfully downloaded from a regular freesite (apart from graphics) is the Freesite Insertion Wizard.
freenet still isint there yet, but feel free to tell us when.
This is just the attitude that is delaying the adoption of many new technologies (IPv6, for one). "Early adopter, what's that? Just tell me when it's done!" How do you expect it to "get there" if no one uses it? Take a chance. You might be pleasantly surprised.