[Pix0r]

Hi All,

I was just wondering. I love using tomato, best BT app by far. The only thing that bugs me is that each torrent has it's own window. I've talked to the author and he say's that he is going to intergrate all torrents into one window but it will take a long long time (years I supose)

So I was wondering, how hard would it be to code a small app that just took the seperate windows and "wrapped" them in one window?

I'm no programmer but this would rock! Is it possible? Anyone interested?

Thanks

[rytc]

Originally posted by Pix0r:
Hi All,

I was just wondering. I love using tomato, best BT app by far. The only thing that bugs me is that each torrent has it's own window. I've talked to the author and he say's that he is going to intergrate all torrents into one window but it will take a long long time (years I supose)

So I was wondering, how hard would it be to code a small app that just took the seperate windows and "wrapped" them in one window?

I'm no programmer but this would rock! Is it possible? Anyone interested?

Thanks

Why not just use the official BitTorrent then? - out of interest what does Tomato do that's so much better?

[chris_h]

Originally posted by rytc:
Why not just use the official BitTorrent then? - out of interest what does Tomato do that's so much better?

My god is it the dark ages in here?

Get you some azureus. (and an extra stick of ram lol)

[chalk_outline]

And to also jump on the BT bandwagon. Any way to use it with 10.1.5? And don't bitch about upgrading. I get a new computer soon and won't pay for a OS upgrade when I will buy it in three weeks. I'm down with Python and the terminal so any way to get it to work would make my solo sex life much more exiting. All of the clients I tried failed with my OS At least all my www.apple.com vids still work..

[wataru]

Originally posted by chalk_outline:
And to also jump on the BT bandwagon. Any way to use it with 10.1.5? And don't bitch about upgrading. I get a new computer soon and won't pay for a OS upgrade when I will buy it in three weeks. I'm down with Python and the terminal so any way to get it to work would make my solo sex life much more exiting. All of the clients I tried failed with my OS At least all my www.apple.com vids still work..

If it's not worth it to you to upgrade, then it's not worth it to you to run BitTorrent. Just wait three weeks.

[Millennium]

To wrap the windows would be nearly impossible. You might be able to hack something together via AppleScript's GUI scripting, but frankly at that point it would be easier to just write a new app. You wouldn't have to do it completely from scratch; you could wrap the network code from the official BitTorrent client and simply add your own GUI. That's exactly what Tomato did.

This said, I would strongly recommend looking into Azureus. To say that its interface isn't Mac-like is the understatement of the century, but it blows everything else out of the water in terms of both what it can do and in terms of the information it gives you.

[Pix0r]

Originally posted by Millennium:
To wrap the windows would be nearly impossible. You might be able to hack something together via AppleScript's GUI scripting, but frankly at that point it would be easier to just write a new app. You wouldn't have to do it completely from scratch; you could wrap the network code from the official BitTorrent client and simply add your own GUI. That's exactly what Tomato did.

This said, I would strongly recommend looking into Azureus. To say that its interface isn't Mac-like is the understatement of the century, but it blows everything else out of the water in terms of both what it can do and in terms of the information it gives you.

Thanks for the answer, I kinda figured that, guess I'll just wait

For you other guys... I dont use azureus because: 1. It's java, like comparing limewire to acquisition. 2. azureus doesn't seem to agree with my router (and before anyone say's anything, my router is setup perfectlly to work with BT) 3. The interface is pathetic. 4. Before getting my router I tested 3 files, all 3 running in tomato and in azureus at the same time, tomato was nearly twice as fast. These are just my feelings, you guys might have had better success with azureus that I did.

Thanks

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Pix0r:
1. It's java, like comparing limewire to acquisition.

That's no more a valid reason than if the app were written in Carbon. Plain zealotry.

2. azureus doesn't seem to agree with my router (and before anyone say's anything, my router is setup perfectlly to work with BT)

Might I ask what you did with the router? This is honest curiosity. I've never seen Azureus (or any other BT app, for that matter) have problems with a specific router before. How do you have your portmapping set up? Actually, what model router do you have?

3. The interface is pathetic.

You'll get no argument from me on this one; Azureus' interface really does suck.

[chris_h]

Originally posted by Pix0r:
Thanks for the answer, I kinda figured that, guess I'll just wait

For you other guys... I dont use azureus because: 1. It's java, like comparing limewire to acquisition. 2. azureus doesn't seem to agree with my router (and before anyone say's anything, my router is setup perfectlly to work with BT) 3. The interface is pathetic. 4. Before getting my router I tested 3 files, all 3 running in tomato and in azureus at the same time, tomato was nearly twice as fast. These are just my feelings, you guys might have had better success with azureus that I did.

Thanks

2)... please give details on this... i'm going to put down 10 bucks that your router isn't configured properly (who wants in?)

3) the interface is perfect. no more maltalkage on this subject will be tolerated.


I guess its all just personal preference and you should use whatever fits your situation the best. However, anyone who doesn't use azureus is a food trough wiper.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Millennium:
To say that its interface isn't Mac-like is the understatement of the century...

Actually, Word 6 was a *lot* worse.

[rytc]

Originally posted by chris_h:
My god is it the dark ages in here?

Get you some azureus. (and an extra stick of ram lol)

Sarcasm aside, I have glanced at Azureus and used Tomato, however in the case of Azureus it just seemed like bloatware to me. If you can honestly tell me any reason why Tomato or et al. works better than Bit Torrent and in better I don't mean supplying me with gazillions of windows of information of which I couldn't care less about, I'd be very interested. In terms of pure function, I don't see how Tomato would be any faster as it is my understanding it is just a new GUI wrapper rather than a new app per se.

Cheers

[neoTony]

Originally posted by rytc:
Sarcasm aside, I have glanced at Azureus and used Tomato, however in the case of Azureus it just seemed like bloatware to me. If you can honestly tell me any reason why Tomato or et al. works better than Bit Torrent and in better I don't mean supplying me with gazillions of windows of information of which I couldn't care less about, I'd be very interested. In terms of pure function, I don't see how Tomato would be any faster as it is my understanding it is just a new GUI wrapper rather than a new app per se.

Cheers

Azureus has the safepeer plugin - that should be reason enough for any discerning bittorrent pirate (like you'll be using it for legal downloads! hah!)

[chris_h]

Originally posted by neoTony:
Azureus has the safepeer plugin - that should be reason enough for any discerning bittorrent pirate (like you'll be using it for legal downloads! hah!)

the only legal thing anyone downloads from azureus are the azureus updates.

HAMSANDWICH

[chalk_outline]

Originally posted by chris_h:
the only legal thing anyone downloads from azureus are the azureus updates.

HAMSANDWICH

And big ass Linux distros....

STRINGCHEESE

[mh0ffmann]

Really stupid question: how/where does one find torrents to download?

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by Millennium:
That's no more a valid reason than if the app were written in Carbon. Plain zealotry.

No really. I dislike the dodginess of Java apps.

But then I am a interface consistency zealot.

[Some Guy []]

does anyone else here appreciate the simplicity of the new official bittorrent app? the new one doesn't spawn a new window for each torrent, it also provides a nice drawer for errors and a window for individual connections...

what exactly is so great about azarus? i've used it a few times and always end up deleting because it's basically an app made by a linux/windows user (you can tell by the uglyness/layout/too many options).


-justin

[ReggieX]

Originally posted by Some Guy []:
does anyone else here appreciate the simplicity of the new official bittorrent app? the new one doesn't spawn a new window for each torrent, it also provides a nice drawer for errors and a window for individual connections...

what exactly is so great about azarus? i've used it a few times and always end up deleting because it's basically an app made by a linux/windows user (you can tell by the uglyness/layout/too many options).

The BitConjurer app is great for doing a simple one file grab, it's easy as pie and the latest update made it very nice.

Azureus has a billion options because that's what power users demand, and it's perfect for what it does. You can super-seed, limit up- and download speeds, control your seed ratio in case you have transfer restrictions, etc. etc. etc. It won't look and behave like a Mac program because it's built to run on just about every OS under the sun, so it's consistent to itself rather than trying to look like a Mac, or Windows, or Linux, app.

[Devin Lane]

Azureus seemed like a great client to me too, except it seemed a little slower. THEN, it kernel-panicked my mac. Keep in mind that in the entire life of my computer (almost 3 years), I have gotten a kp with a non-beta OS perhaps 4 times. Azureus -> Trash.

Anyway, I think the app ABC bittorrent for windows is the best of them all, except it eats ram and cpu.

[as2]

ABC is pretty good, I liked the fact that you can have a web interface for it. It meant I could add torrents while I was working away, and they would be downloaded by the time I got home at the weekend! It's a pity the PC I was running it off died.

Azureus just seemed to make my poor old iMac 400mhz hang while it loaded and i basically couldn't do anything else if it was running because it ate all my RAM and processor cycles.

So now I use tomato torrent - because its small but effective.

[ReggieX]

Originally posted by Devin Lane:
Azureus seemed like a great client to me too, except it seemed a little slower. THEN, it kernel-panicked my mac. Keep in mind that in the entire life of my computer (almost 3 years), I have gotten a kp with a non-beta OS perhaps 4 times. Azureus -> Trash.

Anyway, I think the app ABC bittorrent for windows is the best of them all, except it eats ram and cpu.

One KP and you trash an app? OK.

All BT clients I've used eat RAM and CPU like crazy.

[lenox]

Originally posted by Millennium:
That's no more a valid reason than if the app were written in Carbon. Plain zealotry.

Do you really need to load up a virtual machine for downloading torrents? I sure hope not. The interface consistence is also an issue. And as for carbon, there's plenty of reasons to not use it as well, especially if given a choice.

[diamondsw]

Originally posted by Millennium:
That's no more a valid reason than if the app were written in Carbon. Plain zealotry.

<snip>

You'll get no argument from me on this one; Azureus' interface really does suck.

So why do people use it? I'm curious - the vanilla BitTorrent client works well and the interface is clean.

[diamondsw]

Originally posted by ReggieX:
One KP and you trash an app? OK.

All BT clients I've used eat RAM and CPU like crazy.

Yes, but they don't kernel panic. I'd have to agree with the original poster - nothing kernel panics my system, and if any piece of software did, I wouldn't put up with it. Isn't that why we use OS X and not OS 9, so we don't have to reboot from crashes?

[Millennium]

Originally posted by lenox:
Do you really need to load up a virtual machine for downloading torrents? I sure hope not.

There are five BitTorrent clients available for the Mac: BitTorrent (the official client), Tomato, Eetee, Azureus, and mlDonkey. The first four of these are written in either Python or Java, both of which use virtual machines. The last -mlDonkey- is written in Objective-Caml, which despite the name's similarity to Objective-C, is not the same thing, and it too uses a virtual machine.

So, to answer your question: yes, you really do need to load up a virtual machine for downloading torrents, at least on the Mac. It's just a matter of picking which one you want to run, because no BitTorrent client is "native".

The interface consistence is also an issue.

For zealots and beginners, yes. And as an Azureus user, I'll agree that its interface sucks worse than most Mac programs. However, to treat interface as The Most Important Thing is naive and foolish.

And as for carbon, there's plenty of reasons to not use it as well, especially if given a choice.

Name even one valid reason. Honest challenge.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by diamondsw:
So why do people use it? I'm curious - the vanilla BitTorrent client works well and the interface is clean.

Azureus' interface sucks, but the raw power it provides is unsurpassed.

[Sarc]

Originally posted by Millennium:
There are five BitTorrent clients available for the Mac: BitTorrent (the official client), Tomato, Eetee, Azureus, and mlDonkey. The first four of these are written in either Python or Java, both of which use virtual machines. The last -mlDonkey- is written in Objective-Caml, which despite the name's similarity to Objective-C, is not the same thing, and it too uses a virtual machine.

I could be mistaken, but the base of BT is python (networking, file managment, etc), and all OS's use the python code and put a nice face to it.

[Thinine]

The official BitTorrent client for OS X was rewritten using the ObjC - Python bridge, so it's totally native now. They also totally redid the interface, so I'd take a look if you hadn't lately.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Sarc:
I could be mistaken, but the base of BT is python (networking, file managment, etc), and all OS's use the python code and put a nice face to it.

They do, but at least for the official clients (and Tomato), they still use Python to draw the interface.

The Linux and Windows versions use a cross-platform framework called wxWidgets to draw the interface, which is rendered by the OS. However, every single line of the program is still Python. No "native" code, at least not by the definition people here appear to be using.

The same, however, is also true of the PyObjC bridge. PyObjC's name is somewhat deceptive, actually; Python is not in fact "converted" to "native" code. The interface is written in Objective-C, but the core BitTorrent code is still Python, and so the Python virtual machine must still load to run the Python code.

The fact remains that there is no "native" BitTorrent client, and furthermore, it does not matter. Cocoa/Carbon or Python/Java/Obj-C are still not valid reasons to run or not run an app, and furthermore they will never be valid reasons. All that matters is whether or not the app does what you want.

[ReggieX]

Originally posted by Millennium:
There are five BitTorrent clients available for the Mac: BitTorrent (the official client), Tomato, Eetee, Azureus, and mlDonkey.

*Ahem*
http://bittornado.com/

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Thinine:
The official BitTorrent client for OS X was rewritten using the ObjC - Python bridge, so it's totally native now. They also totally redid the interface, so I'd take a look if you hadn't lately.

As I posted above, the client is not "totally native", nor does it matter, because that is not a valid concern. There are many reasons to choose one app over another, but what language it's written in is not one of them. Nor, for that matter, is whether it runs in a virtual machine, except for the most performance-critical applications, and BitTorrent does not qualify as performance-critical.

I have the lastest version, as I'm interested in what goes on with the BitTorrent Mac community, and so I follow the various clients. It's nice, but its interface suffers from the opposite problem that Azureus has: it's too Mac-like, to the point where it gets in the way.

A truly great Mac BT client would do well to learn from what Azureus and Tomato have to offer. Azureus is an excellent downloader but a poor Mac app. Tomato is a wonderful Mac app but a poor downloader. With a hybrid of their interfaces, we might see true greatness.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by ReggieX:
*Ahem*
http://bittornado.com/

Fascinating. I've heard of this client but I had never seen a Mac version.

It's worth noting, however, that this is Python as well. In fact, it uses the same wxWidgets toolkit that the official client uses on Windows and Linux.

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

no wxWidgets needed, you can run it purely command line. Plus using the source and MacPython you can run it in OS 9.