[ubuntu-uk] How to torrent on a remote machine

[Andrew Oakley]

Javad Ayaz wrote:
 > Sorry to be a pain...i know its been explained to me already...but im
 > not really a techie and im only starting out with buntu. :)

It's great to have new people who are enthusiastic about Ubuntu. You 
might want to hold back from replying to each and every post, though, 
until you have read through the suggestions and spent a few hours trying 
them out ;-)

> i use Ktorrent. Whats the best nslu2 to go for? from where? Im currently 

I think you're fundamentally not understanding what an NSLU2 is.

An NSLU2 is a very small type of "headless" server. "Headless" means 
that it runs WITHOUT a monitor. There is no desktop, and usually no 
keyboard nor mouse either.

So you can't run Ktorrent, because there is nothing to display it on [1].

An NSLU2 has a Cat5 ethernet socket, for the network, and two USB 
sockets, typically used for external hard disk drives. And that's it. 
It's about the size of two CD cases. No VGA socket, so there is nowhere 
to connect a monitor to.

So that begs the question... how do you use it, if there's no monitor, 
no mouse and no keyboard?

The answer is, you connect to it from ANOTHER computer over the network, 
using either a web browser or the command line (the "command line" is 
also known as the "terminal", the "CLI command line interpreter", the 
"shell" or "ssh" [2]). You can access the command line in Ubuntu from 
the Applications menu - Accessories - Terminal.

The web browser connection is fine if all you want to do is share an 
external USB drive over the network, but you won't be able to run 
torrents from the web browser.

If you want to run torrents, you'll need install Debian Linux on it, 
which can only be done from the command line.

What you want to do is pretty advanced (downloading torrents from an 
NSLU2). What I'd recommend is to learn to walk before you try to run. 
You will need to get used to using the command line first. You can 
practice using the command line on your existing Ubuntu machine. So, 
spend a couple of days learning how to use the command line:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=73885

Next, install GNU Screen, so that programs you run on the command line 
can continue to work even when you close the terminal window:

sudo apt-get install screen

Learn how to use GNU Screen here:

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/9/16838/14935

Then try installing and using a web browser and a bittorrent client that 
you can use entirely and soley from the command line:

sudo apt-get install bittorrent
sudo apt-get install elinks

For example, you could use these tools to download the Hardy install CD:

screen

elinks 
"http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso.torrent"

btdownloadheadless.py "ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso.torrent"

You can practice this on your existing Ubuntu desktop machine using the 
Terminal, before you buy an NSLU2.

[1] Not strictly true - you could run a remote desktop using X-server or 
KDE over VNC. But that's WAY too advanced for today, and very difficult 
to achieve on an NSLU2.

[2] There are technical differences between a terminal, a command line, 
a shell and an SSH session. Again, WAY too advanced for today.

-- 
Andrew Oakley