Comments on: Hotline - A P2P Pioneer Still Lives On http://filesharefreak.com/2008/07/10/hotline-a-p2p-pioneer-still-lives-on/ THE source for BitTorrent & P2P Tips, Tricks and Info. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:40:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Zig http://filesharefreak.com/2008/07/10/hotline-a-p2p-pioneer-still-lives-on/#comment-3937 Zig Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:49:43 +0000 http://filesharefreak.com/?p=272#comment-3937 Well, this multi-windowed interface is typical of Mac OS 9 on which Hotline was originally developed and it's rather unusual today, indeed. PhareRouge-GL has a tabbed interface, maybe I should have taken some screenshots of it as well. Sorry for that. In all cases there are many clones for a variety of operating systems, so there's a version for every taste. As for the client/server model and its bottlenecks, it's true that a Hotline server will never be able to sustain the same (or even approaching) user number than a Direct Connect or OpenNap server. P2P brought the whole thing to a new level, but in some particular cases a Hotline BBS has its advantages. It has a niche, for communities of a few dozens of members at most, where you *know* others. Many servers do charge for access, but others don't. It depends on the user's needs and choice - and on the time he spends to find a good server. As for Rapidshare links, I haven't seen any so far (and no NZB or torrent files either), probably because with recent symmetrical fiber connections and Terabyte hard disks, it's possible to host enough DVD Rips, so interestingly the client/server model can still keep up. Add to that the fact that some people like the community feeling and/or appreciate having no fakes, no poor quality files, no par checks/rar reassembling and a stable download source. Finally, for the legal side: this <a href="http://we.servep2p.com:90/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37" rel="nofollow">message</a> explains it quite nicely. In all cases, some Hotline servers were online before Napster and they're still here :) Well, this multi-windowed interface is typical of Mac OS 9 on which Hotline was originally developed and it’s rather unusual today, indeed. PhareRouge-GL has a tabbed interface, maybe I should have taken some screenshots of it as well. Sorry for that. In all cases there are many clones for a variety of operating systems, so there’s a version for every taste.

As for the client/server model and its bottlenecks, it’s true that a Hotline server will never be able to sustain the same (or even approaching) user number than a Direct Connect or OpenNap server. P2P brought the whole thing to a new level, but in some particular cases a Hotline BBS has its advantages. It has a niche, for communities of a few dozens of members at most, where you *know* others. Many servers do charge for access, but others don’t. It depends on the user’s needs and choice - and on the time he spends to find a good server.

As for Rapidshare links, I haven’t seen any so far (and no NZB or torrent files either), probably because with recent symmetrical fiber connections and Terabyte hard disks, it’s possible to host enough DVD Rips, so interestingly the client/server model can still keep up. Add to that the fact that some people like the community feeling and/or appreciate having no fakes, no poor quality files, no par checks/rar reassembling and a stable download source.

Finally, for the legal side: this message explains it quite nicely. In all cases, some Hotline servers were online before Napster and they’re still here :)

]]> By: nony http://filesharefreak.com/2008/07/10/hotline-a-p2p-pioneer-still-lives-on/#comment-3918 nony Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:16:47 +0000 http://filesharefreak.com/?p=272#comment-3918 I always hated those unruly popup windows. It would have been much more convenient to have page tabs like modern p2p clients. The server-client model created its own bottleneck, and having a decent server required lots of bandwidth, which back then meant the expense of an ISDN or T1 line, so most hubs charged for access. That's what killed it in my opinion. Hotline was started back in the days before movies and TV shows were being shared online, so about the biggest files routinely downloaded back then were MP3s. It seemed that Hotline was never very popular, except maybe among the Mac crowd. Newsgroups, IRC, and FTP sites (ratio servers being the norm) seemed to be much better sources for files. Today it's just too cumbersome - as well as dangerous legally - to have files, especially big files like movie DVDs, passing through a central server. Direct Connect became the next evolutionary step up from Hotline. One thing Hotline would be very useful for is for posting Rapidshare-type download links on the message board, since these files could be downloaded without loading down the server. I don't know if any hubs do this though. I always hated those unruly popup windows. It would have been much more convenient to have page tabs like modern p2p clients.

The server-client model created its own bottleneck, and having a decent server required lots of bandwidth, which back then meant the expense of an ISDN or T1 line, so most hubs charged for access. That’s what killed it in my opinion. Hotline was started back in the days before movies and TV shows were being shared online, so about the biggest files routinely downloaded back then were MP3s.

It seemed that Hotline was never very popular, except maybe among the Mac crowd. Newsgroups, IRC, and FTP sites (ratio servers being the norm) seemed to be much better sources for files.

Today it’s just too cumbersome - as well as dangerous legally - to have files, especially big files like movie DVDs, passing through a central server. Direct Connect became the next evolutionary step up from Hotline.

One thing Hotline would be very useful for is for posting Rapidshare-type download links on the message board, since these files could be downloaded without loading down the server. I don’t know if any hubs do this though.

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