Bitwit Torrents Summary
What are Torrents ?
From Wikipedia: BitTorrent is both the protocol and the name of the peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution application created by programmer Bram Cohen that makes it possible to massively distribute files without incurring the corresponding massive consumption in server and bandwidth resources.
The bittorrent protocol achieves this goal by breaking down a file into smaller fragments, typically a quarter of a megabyte (250 KB) in size. Peers download missing fragments from each other and upload those that they already have to peers that request them. The protocol is 'smart' enough to choose the peer with the best network connections for the fragments that its requesting. To increase the overall efficiency of the ad-hoc P2P network temporarily created to distribute a particular file, the bittorrent clients request from their peers the fragments that are most rare; in other words, the fragments that are available on the least number of peers, making most fragments available widely across many machines and avoiding bottlenecks. The file fragments are not usually downloaded in sequential order and need to be reassembled by the receiving machine. It is important to note that clients start uploading fragments to their peers before the entire file is downloaded. Sharing by each peer therefore begins when the first complete segment is downloaded and can begin to be uploaded if another peer requests it. This scheme is particularly useful for trading large files such as videos and operating systems. This is contrasted with conventional file serving where high demand can lead to saturation of the host's resources as the consumption of bandwidth to transfer the file to many requesting downloaders surges. With BitTorrent, high demand can actually increase throughput as more bandwidth and additional “seeds” of the file become available to the group. Cohen claims that for very popular files, BitTorrent can support about a thousand times as many downloads as HTTP.
The BitTorrent application is written in Python and its source code has been released under the BitTorrent Open Source License (a modified version of the Jabber Open Source License), as of version 4.0. The name "BitTorrent" refers to the distribution protocol, the original client application, and the .torrent file type.
Go to Wikipedia for further details at
What did all that mean ?
Basically this is another method for file sharing on a P2P network. Because the protocol, the client application and the file type may all be referred to by the same name, you must keep clear which element is being referred to. In one use BitTorrent is the name of a bittorrent client but there are a number of other clients that handle bittorents – for instance, BitTornado is another similar client.
In other uses bittorrent may refer to the file that you wish to download or it may refer to a small file that when used with a bittorrent client will tell the client how to find and download the file you seek.
The terminology is unfortunate but just exercise care when reading or speaking as to what element is actually being referred to.
Why use bittorents ?
This is a very efficient (fast) way of downloading huge files such as the size of an entire CD. For example, we use Knoppix which is a Linux operating system which runs entirely from a CD. Knoppix is available for free on the internet as an ISO image which is a file that when downloaded can be burnt to a CD to produce the bootable Knoppix operating system on a CD. However, the file size of the ISO file is over 700,000 Kb or about ¾ of a gigabyte. A bittorent download can be much faster than a standard FTP download.
In addition, bittorrent has built in error checking whereas FTP downloads of that size should be verified by running external MD5 checking programs. So the answer is bittorents provide speed and accuracy for large file downloading.
What must I do to play ?
You should download and install a bittorrent client on your computer. Go to the Wikipedia link above and they have links to a variety of client programs. Try installing both the original Bittorent and also BitTornado to get an idea what they look like. Then search the internet for a desired file that is available as a torrent and download it.
Here is an example
Download and install BitTornado as your bittorent client.
Go to this site
They have a number of torrents which you can download legally and for free. Select for instance a movie one. This is an experiment so select one with a smaller file size. Click on it and you will get a dialog box in which you can select “save to disk”. Hopefully, your browser is configured to save to your desktop but wherever your downloads are set to save, a bittorrent will come down. Actually in this instance the bittorent means a small file that points to where to find and how to download the movie file.
Now you have to launch (click on) this small file (bittorent). This should launch BitTornado and actually download the movie file.
Some assumptions
We presume that you have a DSL or cable broadband connection since you are looking for large files. We also assume you realize that downloading large files can fill up your hard disk quickly – make sure you have room before downloading.