The Torrent (for knoppix download)

[xxkiba]

Can somebody tell me why using this torrent takes 20 hours to download Knoppix??
I can download the .ISO itself within 1 hour, but I only have 45 minutes right now...
I just want to know if torrents are this slow all the time or not... I've wondered this for awhile now.

[Harry Kuhman]

BitTorrent is by design slow if you have not properly configured your system to let others share the parts that you already have. This usually involves forwarding a port in your router (you are using a router, right?) and allowing inbound connections to BitTorrent in any software firewall.

It is my experience that if you have done these then BitTorrent will be much faster than the mirrors. There are more details (port numbers and such) in the downloading faq and on the official BitTorrent site.

Be sure that you set your upload speed to a reasonable setting for your Internet service. I've seen the auto setting set it too high, and if you overwhelm the uplink completely with traffic then it can slow your ability to send requests for download blocks. My rule of thumb is about 23 to 24k bytes upload for every 256kbit upload capacity you have and you'll be fine (if you have 1 meg up use about 92k up to keep it from impacting your download).

My comments apply only to the official BT client. If you use one of the other clients it's up to you to be sure it isn't infesting your system or causing other problems. Most other clients are likely ok but there are some issues.

BT does start slow but builds speed nicely. Don't just look after the first minute at it's estimated time to download, look again in 5 and then 10 minutes and see if it isn't gaining speed.

[xxkiba]

ok thanks