Browsing /Getting Started
Starting with Version 2.0, AMIGIFT is designed on a portable fashion,
It requires no installation at all, just extract the archive somewhere (eg: RAM:) and start the
application. Also note that starting with build #200 the MUI's configuration file no longer
is required to be saved to ENVARC:MUI/, in fact it can be saved anywhere by using the newly
introduced MUICFG tooltype, which now enabled by default and pointing to
AMIGIFT:GiFTMui.cfg.
Additionally, from time to time when a new updates comes, you may will find individually
packaged components if eg only a plugin needs to be updated. However, what is more feasible
is those little updates available through GiFTMui's Online Updater.
Futhermore, what you'll find there are MC68020 optimized binaries, registered users will
benefit from ServicePacks which includes each component compiled to the different Amiga
Systems flavors, along bonus material.
Well, we'll start right now splaining the simple startup process...
It is a nuisance, but please take the time to read through the last chapters.
That will give you an idea about the abilities of AMIGIFT on the hand and
the complexity of it one the other. Also, make sure you has installed all
3rd-party requirements before continuing, if you
lacks a couple of them you can try the AMIGIFT-deps.lha archive
which install/updates all such components with just a click on the installer
script (And available for OS3, OS4, and MOS).
Then go ahead, start GiFTMui. You will be shown a Welcome Message.
Its contents should look familiar if you have read this doc carefully so far.
Close that window, we are ready to prepare AMIGIFT for use now. Open the main
configuration window by clicking on the "Settings" button in the toolbar.
Now is the time to configure GiFTMui, the daemon and the plugins you want to
use according to your wishes. Since you know the meaning of the options
(You have read the last chapter, right?), you should know what to do. :)
but well, don't get desperate... you shouldn't need to change each option,
since the defaults should be valid for most users, what you are really required
to change are the following options:
- giftd->sharing->shares Put some folder you wish to share.
- giftd->Protocols Select at which networks you wish to connect.
- GiFTMui->chat->username That will be your user/nickname on the
chat, each of the plugins also has a configurable username to the network which you're encouraged to define!
When you change the settings's page, from a component to another, you'll be prompted
with a requester about changed settings, as previously stated,
on the first run click NO and go to change the rest of options, and once finished
configuring everything you need, use the Save To Disk ALL function from the
Settings Menu, and you're done configuring.
Next it's time to launch the daemon to connect to the network(s), just clicking
the Connect button from the ToolBar does
the job, but make sure a TCP/IP Stack is running at that time. (NOTE:
if it's your first run and you're reproducing the actions as you read them here, do not
launch the daemon yet until you read about the ASIU program below!).
When the daemon is run for the first time it will try to generate your local
shares database which may cause your system to become unresponsive due to a
high CPU and HD load. Each network protocol selected must read your files and
generate an appropriate hash (MD5 or SHA-1 are the most common algorithms used)
for the shares. You can think of these hash values as fingerprints of the files.
These allow the daemon to find identical copies of a file to be added as sources
for a download/upload.
So depending on number and size of files you want to share, this operation
will most likely hog your CPU and harddrive for a while.
If you choose not to do the initial database generation, well, you will have to
do it later. There is no way to avoid it, sorry. Luckily, this has to happen
only once in this dimension. The next time you run the daemon, only files that
were added or changed will be hashed. Assuming that no overwhelming amount of
data has been added to your shares, the process should not take that long any more.
If everything worked out well until here, you are ready to go!
It is sometimes common for certain files to give giftd trouble with its
hashing and meta data extraction routines... If you suspect a problem with
your share hashing you can examine the operation more closely using the
following command:
shell> AMIGIFT:daemon/giftd INDEXONLY VERBOSE
and you're strictly encouraged to use this command firstly, once you've
installed all components/plugins you wish to use, and configured some sharing
roots (some directories whose files will be shared over the networks), Since
the threads which are launched interactively has priority -1 and this could
really take looong time for a first hashing procedure (depending of course,
the amount of files and size to be shared) ...
Recently, a new application with name ASIU (Short for Amigift Shares Index Updater)
was created, which simplifies this job. With a simple MUI
Interface which contains a listview and three buttons you can add which paths you wish to share,
or remove paths previously being shared. It will show files found on the selected paths and the
amount of bytes (on a formatted fashion) as well.
Note that what it does is just a quick (user-friendly) way of launching giftd's shell
process with the INDEXONLY argument, as previously noted, but with internal features to
verify your config and update/fix it if needed, that includes activating all of your
installed plugins (if aren't already) to create a full shares index file before
launching the daemon, and restoring the config to your previous plugins once finished.
It's highly recommended to use this program after a fresh boot for best perfomance,
and obvioulsy without any other daemon instance running on the background (or without
any other program in the background ;-)
If you are on your first run, we suggest you to run the ASIU program just after you used
the Save To Disk ALL GiFTMui's aplication menu action. Once loaded, ASIU will show
you the sharing roots you just have configured from GiFTMui, altogether with the number
of files and bytes each path contains. (just a in time tip: if you're running amigift
under a m68k machine do not try to share more than 800-1000 files or you'll be unable to
connect to Ares..). Next by clicking "Update Shares Index" will generate
your shares index database. Once it has finished working, you can continue with the launch
daemon/connect step as above explained.
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Well, we are now ready to do stuff, at this step you must have been generated
your shares database file, and launched the daemon, if you have launched it
from a shell you'll need to click the frontend's Connect button, else it is
automatically connected.
As already mentioned, launching the daemon does not necessarily means it is ready
to acccept connections. The same applies to network plugins, hence if you read
those Plugin X has been successfully initialized does not means it has
been connected to the network, this could take some time depending on various
factors, read the next Maintenance section for more info about that.
You'll see when a plugin is ready to return searches when his lamp (from the
frontend's main window) is green, clicking on the stats button, or if you run
a single plugin from the main window title.
Last but not least, unlike previous versions, AMIGIFT 2.0 does not require the
standalone AMIGIFT: assign, but it still uses it. That means the assign
is automatically assigned on startup, by either GiFTMui or giftd. Even when it isn't
required, you may want (or need, if some 3rd-part program uses eg amigift.library)
to keep alive the assigns, in such case, add the following lines to your
user-startup file:
Assign >NIL: AMIGIFT: <where-you-extracted-the-package>
Assign >NIL: LIBS: AMIGIFT:LIBS ADD
Note:
Users of Miami(Dx) will notice FIOASYNC is enabled by default on the first run, if you later switch to another TCP/IP Stack you'll need to manually deactivate this switch.
Firewalled, or being a NAT, users must allow access to the follow ports:
- 1213 daemon port, allow access to your local network.
- 1214 UDP and TCP, used by the FastTrack plugin.
- 1215 TCP only, used by the OpenFT plugin.
- 1216 TCP only, used by the OpenFT plugin.
- 6346 TCP only, used by the Gnutella plugin.
- 59049 TCP only, used by the Ares network plugin.
These are the default port numbers assigned to each protocol, however they
are fully configurable by you to anything else, without that interfering
on the properly functioning of the network(s).
As an example on how you may could easyly configure your router, is by
assigning the ports in a range, as show in the image below:
(Click the image to enlarge it)
...And that's all to the getting started step.
Confused? ask us!
$Id: index.php,v 2.0 2009/08/06 22:47:32 diegocr Exp $
