P2P for j00!
So there you are, sitting there, reading this, the best damn blog in the world, by gum, and suddenly you think: “Oh no! I just realized I have no idea what P2P File Sharing client Katsu uses! I must know! My very life depends on it!”
Well, fear not, dear reader. I have come to tell you what File Sharing app I use. If you had asked me this just a couple of days ago, I would have replied: eMule, of course! I’ve been a big fan of the eDonkey network since I first discovered it some years ago. Sure, overall it’s slower than many others, but on the other hand, the availability for big files besides the usual riot of mp3’s is very good, and it was a lot more reliable for large transfers than KaZaa ever was. So I started with the official eDonkey2000 client, then I moved on up to eMule for ease of use. But lately I’d been having some problems with eMule: for some reason, whenever I brought it up, it would wreak havoc with my router and cable modems, both would start going down and crashing sporadically. If I didn’t have eMule on, the connection was rock solid, but as soon as I booted eMule up, it would start crashing again. So I went on the hunt for a new client, preferably one that would allow me to continue accessing the eDonkey network, if only so I could finish downloading the files I currently had on queue.
Enter Shareaza: a fully open-source, spyware and adware free, user friendly client with access to the eDonkey network in addition to the Gnutella and Gnutella2 networks, which are very nice and mature decentralized file sharing networks, and, to top it all off, it can also handle Bittorrent files. I downloaded the Shareaza client, installed it with no fuss and muss (and my installed Spybot, Ad-Aware, and Giant Anti-Spyware clients all confirmed that Shareaza’s claim of being spyware-free is true), and imported in my eMule downloads. In a few minutes I was up and running. The interface is clean, searching is easy, downloading is easier, and it provides a whole lot of information but without putting it all in your face.. everything’s hidden behind unobtrusive tooltips and menus, so the main interface is nice and uncluttered, but you can drill down to see as much detail as you want on your current transfers. Very nice.
So far, it seems to perform quite well. Gnutella and Gnutella2 network files tend to download speedily, and eDonkey files work just like in eMule, maybe even better. Bittorrent is also brainless to use, very nice. Configuration is, overall, very easy. There’s a couple of rough patches, but nothing you can’t handle, and I expect those minor problems to be ironed out soon. One thing that I really like about it is that it uses one single port for all these networks. No need to poke 50 holes in my firewall for each network, instead, just allowing one single port through enables all the networks to function perfectly. Very nice, that. Even the remote client works over that single port.
Oh, and did I mention it’s completely open-source? That’s always a worry in the closed source clients: did the developers sign a deal with the RIAA/MPAA/NAMbLA to monitor my downloads and send federal agents straight to my doorstep? Well, in Shareaza that’s not an issue: due to its open-source nature, any funny code in there would be noticed and stamped out immediately byt he geeks in attendance. 
So, in conclusion: Shareaza. Get it.
November 27th, 2004 at 12:21 am
Shareaza’s keen. I’ve been using it for several months now. I don’t know how it works and the fact that I can’t search for specific phrases bugs me, but otherwise I’ve quite enjoyed it.
November 27th, 2004 at 5:31 pm
Wow this program Its so Great that they didnt have a client for Linux…………………
Honstly Katsu I will like try all the things you talk but first the have to build something tu us that use Linux…………. I know that you deep in your self understand me because you once have the same problem……………….
November 27th, 2004 at 11:43 pm
Hey Eldrin.. I understand your concern, the world does not revolve solely around Windows. When I used mostly Linux at home (these days I split my time between Linux and Windows more or less equally), the client I used was KMLDonkey, although that one’s only good if you use KDE.. don’t know if it would be any good on Gnome. Still, it’s a solid and capable eDonkey client for Linux, and I used it to great effect.
Another one, which I think you allready know about, is Apollon, which is a client for the giFT p2p protocol (which means it can access OpenFT, FastTrack(Kazaa!), Gnutella and OpenNap servers), I never got to try it, but it looks really good.
You might also want to check out the homepage for the giFT protocol, it looks like they have a client with plugins for most major networks there too.
Finally, a good article you might want to read concerning open-source and linux-based P2P clients is up over at Slyck’s website: Open Source P2P. It should give you a nice overview of what’s out there.
November 30th, 2004 at 2:35 pm
thanks Katsu. I alredy use Apollon ….. its true that this days dosent work pretty wel. Im going to see if that KML Donkey you mention to see what hapend.