BitTorrent

BitTorrent

About

BitTorrent is a robust file sharing protocol and suite of tools that allow for a number of useful features, including

• Distributed, decentralised, P2P ("peer to peer") sharing (i.e.: a file doesn't need to exist on a server, and can be transferred between users). While a tracker is often needed to initially find peers, if the tracker goes down, each peer holds a portion of the network information in a DHT ("Distributed Hash Table"), meaning the torrent can still be shared even if the tracker vanishes.
• Partial file uploading - even if a client has only downloaded a portion of a file, they can begin uploading immediately
• "Swarm" based bandwidth and availability - the more people who join a torrent, the more people seeding, the more aggregate bandwidth becomes available. Unlike web servers that get slower as more people connect and download, BitTorrent gets faster with more peers in the swarm.
• Hash based file checking - all files are verified digitally, preventing data corruption
• Self healing - If your file is out of date or corrupt, pointing to a new torrent will download only the data required. For very large torrents (e.g.: complete MAME sets), this can save considerable bandwidth

For more information, see the Wikipedia entry on BitTorrent here:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

RetroNAS installs the open source, web based BitTorrent client named Deluge. See the project here:

• https://deluge-torrent.org/

The Internet Archive makes almost all of their online collections available via BitTorrent. If you want to download particularly large files or software for old/retro computers and consoles, BitTorrent can be far more convenient than traditional HTTP/HTTPS downloads.

Install

In RetroNAS, head to "Install things" and then "BitTorrent".

RetroNAS installs the Deluge torrent client in two parts:

1. The deluged daemon that runs a torrent client in the background 24x7 on RetroNAS.
2. The deluge-web web interface which listens on TCP port 8112, and lets you manage your Deluge BitTorrent client.

You can optionally install other clients either on your PC or mobile phone that can manage your RetroNAS torrents as well. An example tools is Trireme for Android, however there are many others (look for Deluge compatible thin clients):

• https://github.com/teal77/trireme

Usage

Once installed, RetroNAS will create a folder structure under the top level of your RetroNAS path. The folder structure and uses are as such:

• bittorrent - the top level folder
• bittorrent/downloading - currently downloading, but incomplete torrents
• bittorrent/complete - completed torrents which you can continue to seed
• bittorrent/torrents - storage for the .torrent files. Old, unneeded files in here can be removed if required
• bittorrent/auto-add - a watch folder for .torrent files. Any added in here will automatically begin downloading

The web frontend for Deluge will listen on TCP port 8112. To browse to it, open a web browser and navigate to your RetroNAS device's IP and the port. For example, if your RetroNAS is on 192.168.79.1 , browse to http://192.168.79.1:8112/

On first connect you'll be prompted for the deluge-web password. This defaults to "deluge". Change it if you like. This is ONLY FOR THE WEB INTERFACE.

You'll then be presented with a connection dialog, which you'll need to edit. Set the following values:

• Host: 127.0.0.1 (should be default)
• Port: 58846 (should be default)
• Username: deluge
• Password: deluge

Click "edit" to save the details, and then "connect".

Initially you'll have no torrents running. You can add torrents in several ways:

• Download a .torrent file manually, and then copy it (or save it directly) to the bittorrent/auto-add folder on your RetroNAS. If you have Samba installed, this should appear as \\RETROSMB\retronas\bittorrent\auto-add
• Download a .torrent file and save it to your local machine. In Deluge, click the "+Add" button, browse to the .torrent file you downloaded, and click "Add"
• Copy the URL of either a .torrent file or a magnet:? link. Within Deluge, click the "+Add" button, click the "Url" button in the dialog box, and paste in the URL of the link

You should see the torrent begin to download, and files appear in bittorrent/downloading. Once complete, the status of the torrent will change to "seeding", and the completed torrent is moved to bittorrent/complete.

As above, if you have Samba installed, this should appear as \\RETROSMB\retronas\bittorrent with the relevant folders below it.

Make sure that you stop and remove the torrent from Deluge before moving it out of the bittorrent/complete folder. If you fail to do so, Deluge detects that the file is missing, and begins downloading it again.

Finding Torrents

The Internet Archive is a great place to find interesting torrents to download for retro consoles and computers.

For example, take a look at the classic DOOM Shareware episide:

• https://archive.org/details/DoomsharewareEpisode

You'll see a Torrent link in the description page. Use that to download the software quickly, have it available on your RetroNAS to share with your retro computer using something like EtherDFS, but also keep the file seeding to help out the Internet Archive and donate bandwidth to share with others.