Honestly, the Quickstart 1.0 release has been rocky. I'd like to thank all of you for your patience. Any troubles you've had with this process, I've had x20. Torrent issues, tracker issues, 2 gig uploads failing at the end, etc.
The short version is that I updated and tested the download links again to solve a couple problems. I also created a Downloading FAQ.
I am worn out on Quickstart. For me, publishing it is not fun part. Luckily, I think we now have a simple permanent solution with S3. The core issues are:
1) HTTP downloads are expensive. That's just the truth of 1 gig downloads. $.20/download adds up.
2) Bittorrent sucks without accessible seeders - no one can download
3) Bittorrent sucks without a reliable tracker - no one can find seeders
After spending hours researching free download sites, open torrent trackers, torrent web seeds and client compatibility, I finally gave up. Sil offered to host the downloads and that was a god-send. Thanks!
While uploading the files to Amazon S3, and configuring a public URL, I noticed Amazon S3 will host and seed files using bittorrent. This eliminates 2) and 3) above, and brings us to a reliable bittorrent solution which solves 1). For those who are using broken Internet connections that block bittorrent, S3 provides a HTTP download link - just remove the ?torrent from the link.
Amazon S3 provides us a bittorrent solution - backed by a reliable tracker (we'll find each other), and generous seeding (100-200kbps). I'm very excited about this.
Some other things I learned:
1) Don't rush a release before going on vacation.
2) Don't be cheap. Amazon S3 would have worked all along. I've blown about 15 hours trying to save $100.
3) Keep it fun! Don't let myself make promises and expectations that are not fun to fulfill :-)
I'm already toying with some ideas for Quicsktart 2.0, and looking forward to starting to work on them, after a bit of a break. I'm interested in posting some new demo videos on how to configure sharing, so stay tuned for that.
Best wishes everybody and thanks for everything you do for open source!
Mike
Comments
GREATLY appreciated
Michael,
We really appreciate everything you do. Thanks for all the hard work to make OUR lives easier!
two thumbs up!
HUGE Thanks
yes Mike, huge THANK YOU.
I spend most of my Drupal-time inside of Quickstart and I am growing into the framework you've created !
I too, really appreciate and thanks for the info on S3 ..
cheers
-N
Indeed
Thank you for all your hard work, Mike. This is a great project. I'm sure it'll catch on even more than it has. And perhaps more users will translate into more seeders, and Bittorrents will become more feasible.