Opera Web Browser to include buitin BitTorrent client

October 3, 2005

You’ve just witnessed the Opera web browser given for free — as in totally free of charge, no banner ads whatsoever — last September 20.

After that, Opera is about to enter the BitTorrent world as well.

In fact, the latest preview release of Opera, Opera 8.10 TP2, already includes a builtin BitTorrent client! Now you can download files from BitTorrent as if you’re downloading any other file.

But Opera cannot create torrent files, so if you want to upload your own files, you must download another program that can create them, such as MakeTorrent and TorrentSpy. Many standalone BitTorrent clients also have their own torrent-creating facilities as well, such as Azureus (the BitTorrent client I’m using at home, and my personal favorite).

BitTorrent is yet another P2P network, just like FastTrack (Kazaa, MLDonkey), Gnutella (LimeWire, IMesh, BearShare, Shareaza, MLDonkey), Gnutella2 (Shareaza, MLDonkey) and eDonkey (eDonkey2000, eMule, Shareaza, MLDonkey). (Notice that MLDonkey can operate on various networks. Almost the same with Shareaza. Both of them can also access BitTorrent!) Bittorrent is fast becoming very popular these days, that’s why Opera is getting interested with it. BitTorrent is recommended for downloading and sharing really big files, which sizes are on the order of gigabytes, such as whole movies or whole sets of TV show episodes. (Linux distributions are also becoming available for download via BitTorrent nowadays.) They can be downloaded from BitTorrent at terrific speeds. BitTorrent is recommended for those who have at least a DSL connection.

Among the P2P networks, BitTorrent’s big difference is in the manner it operates.

If you want to download a file from the BitTorrent network, you first have to search for its corresponding torrent file on the Web. (You download and share a file through its torrent file.) There are popular torrent search engines out there, such as TorrentSpy.com, TorrentSearch and Mininova. The search sites will display information about the torrent file, including the URL of the tracker site that provided that torrent file. The information also tells you if other people are seeding (sharing) the actual file you want. There should be at least one person seeding the actual file. Next, you download the torrent file and then open it using your BitTorrent client. The client will read the information stored in the torrent file about the actual file you want, and then it will download the actual file.

On the other hand, if you want to share your file, then you should create a torrent file for it first. But even before that, you should search for a tracker site where you can upload your torrent file, such as isoHunt, Pirate Bay, and Lucia Tracker. (You may even have to register first. Registration is usually free.) Tracker sites have tracker announce URLs, which you must incorporate into your torrent file. After you put the tracker announce URL info into your torrent file, you upload it to the tracker site. Next, open the torrent file in your BitTorrent client as if you’re going to download that file. When the client asks you where to “save” your file, go to the directory where your file is and then select your file. The client will then detect that you have that file already, and so it shifts to “upload mode”. Then it will compute the checksum for your file, and finally it will host your file, ready for sharing. This method also works when you want to resume your download.

Nevertheless, I’m still a fan of plain ol’ Mozilla Firefox. Hehehe…