Migrated from Linux - Only One (Big) Problem

[Knives Out]

I recently purchased a MacBook Pro. It's pretty sweet, btw.

 

I have been using Linux for the past decade, so I expected a rather tough migration to a new operating system. Actually, this was not the case...OS X is incredibly easy to figure out!!

 

Except for one thing, everything works perfectly. I even successfully loaded all my Music onto iTunes, put Album art on every single Album, and removed every single duplicate file (the salesperson at the Apple Store said that this would be extremely difficult, but it was not).

 

Now for the problem...I am totally baffled by this. The problem is torrents. Let me explain how I used Torrents in Linux, and how I am attempting to use them is OS X, and maybe that will help with Troubleshooting.

 

In Linux = I set the torrent folder for the torrent handler (called "Transmission") to a file in my home directory called TorrentHome. Whenever I downloaded a torrent, it would go there. I would copy it to wherever I wanted it to go, so I could share it automatically. Worked perfectly. Had a ratio of well over 2.0.

 

In OS X = I downloaded the OS X version of Transmission, and copied my TorrentHome folder to my MacBook Pro HD. Then I set Transmission to use the TorrentHome folder as where it keeps torrents (I have a screenshot attached). I was baffled by the fact that Transmission showed no torrents at all! So I move all those files to a dummy directory and decided to start over. I went online, and downloaded a torrent. It downloaded without a problem. However, it is not uploading to anybody! See the attached screenshot; it is not uploading to anybody, and TorrentHome is where it is at.

 

Also, in OS X, after the torrent downloaded, I didn't just get the folder I downloaded, but also a torrent file (with the Transmission symbol as it's icon). This never happened in Linux! What the heck is this thing? Can I delete it? I put it in TorrentHome, but it didn't help.

 

Screenshot is attached. Notice that the file is not seeding or uploading.

 

Help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

As mentioned, everything else is working smooth as butter. Also, the trackpad gestures are the greatest thing ever!! Lol.

 

Thanks in advance!

[realityiswhere]

[The below comments are my own and should be taken as such, not affiliated with InsanelyMac as I no longer approve of the way this site is run)

 

It sounds like you just to add the .torrent files back into the Transmission client again.

 

Let me further clarify:

 

Torrents are organized in several ways, always by special servers called trackers which contact torrent clients (Transmission) for ratio reporting and the like.

 

When a torrent is created, the person imports the file/files to be uploaded and a special ".torrent" (notice the dot) file is created. This .torrent file is very small, and represents the file you're downloading. Basically you're downloading a file (the .torrent), so that file gets imported into the Transmission client, which downloads the "real" torrent, ie: the files you want.

 

So if you were to download say a Ubuntu livecd, you would download the .torrent file, which would then be downloaded by your web browser, which you would import into your Transmission client for the real Ubuntu .iso to be downloaded.

 

So, to clarify, it sounds like you just had the .torrents being opened directly with Transmission when you downloaded them, in order to re-import the Torrents into your new Transmission client on OS X, you would just need to re-add the original .torrent files to Transmission so it can recognize the material as being previously downloaded, it'll compare hashes, verify the integrity of the download to confirm you've indeed gotten all of it, and allow you to upload again.

 

On the matter of not uploading:

 

It looks like you have a ratio of 0.06 on the file you downloaded, meaning out of 100% of the file you have listed, so far you've re-uploaded 0.06% of that, so upload is technically working, it could just be a not well wanted Torrent, or you could have closed ports (which is an entirely different topic).

 

Hopefully that makes some sense, and you have the original .torrent files of the torrents you're trying to re-add to your client.

[Knives Out]

It looks like you have a ratio of 0.06 on the file you downloaded, meaning out of 100% of the file you have listed, so far you've re-uploaded 0.06% of that, so upload is technically working, it could just be a not well wanted Torrent, or you could have closed ports (which is an entirely different topic).

 

Yeah, it says the port is closed, but that makes no sense at all. Let me explain why it makes no sense that it is saying the port is closed. Right next to my MacBook is my Ubuntu laptop. They are both using the same port. Ubuntu uploads fine...OS X does not.

 

I can assure you that the torrent in question is popular...

 

Also...regarding the .torrent files-can I just keep those and delete the finished download folder once things are working?

[realityiswhere]

Yeah, it says the port is closed, but that makes no sense at all. Let me explain why it makes no sense that it is saying the port is closed. Right next to my MacBook is my Ubuntu laptop. They are both using the same port. Ubuntu uploads fine...OS X does not.

 

I can assure you that the torrent in question is popular...

 

Also...regarding the .torrent files-can I just keep those and delete the finished download folder once things are working?

 

1. ROFL

 

[Explanation, basic networking]: the port is an incoming port, not an outgoing port. So your router is forwarding the port from the internet to your Ubuntu laptop, forwarding to the Ubuntu laptop's specific internal IP address on your LAN.

 

So you *NEED* to use another port on your Macbook that's different from the one your Ubuntu laptop is working because your router can only forward that port to one specific internal LAN IP at any given moment. What you think makes no sense makes perfect sense because the router can only forward a specific port to one IP at a time

 

2. In order to continue seeding you should be keeping the .torrent file with the actual torrent (in case you move computers/change filesystems/back it up and intend on seeding later, any number of reasons), if you ever intend on seeding that particular torrent again you should always keep the original .torrent file.

[Knives Out]

1. ROFL

 

[Explanation, basic networking]: the port is an incoming port, not an outgoing port. So your router is forwarding the port from the internet to your Ubuntu laptop, forwarding to the Ubuntu laptop's specific internal IP address on your LAN.

 

So you *NEED* to use another port on your Macbook that's different from the one your Ubuntu laptop is working because your router can only forward that port to one specific internal LAN IP at any given moment. What you think makes no sense makes perfect sense because the router can only forward a specific port to one IP at a time

 

2. In order to continue seeding you should be keeping the .torrent file with the actual torrent (in case you move computers/change filesystems/back it up and intend on seeding later, any number of reasons), if you ever intend on seeding that particular torrent again you should always keep the original .torrent file.

 

1. I tried different ports. None work. I cannot use a static IP address because I cannot modify my router.

 

Any solutions at all? Why the heck does it work in Linux but not OS X??

 

2. OK, I'll keep the torrent files. Can I move the folders (or whatever I downloaded) from the Torrent directory and still share the file (if I ever get it working)?

[realityiswhere]

1. using a static ip address has nothing to do with the router. you can just assign yourself a static IP from within the OS.

 

if you can't get at the router then you're lucky it even worked in the first place, the only thing I can think of is assign static IPs on both your ubuntu and macbook installs, but make sure you're assigning the static one on the macbook as what the Ubuntu one used to be, and then change the port on the ubuntu install in the transmission client, and use that port only on the macbook.

 

you can only move the torrent that you downloaded from the torrent directory and keep sharing it if you right click the torrent in the transmission window, there should be a "move data file" or something similar, that way both the torrent client and the OS know it was moved, otherwise if you just cut/paste it then the transmission client has no data to upload cause it's not looking in the right place.

 

1. I tried different ports. None work. I cannot use a static IP address because I cannot modify my router.

 

Any solutions at all? Why the heck does it work in Linux but not OS X??

 

2. OK, I'll keep the torrent files. Can I move the folders (or whatever I downloaded) from the Torrent directory and still share the file (if I ever get it working)?

[Knives Out]

1. using a static ip address has nothing to do with the router. you can just assign yourself a static IP from within the OS.

 

if you can't get at the router then you're lucky it even worked in the first place, the only thing I can think of is assign static IPs on both your ubuntu and macbook installs, but make sure you're assigning the static one on the macbook as what the Ubuntu one used to be, and then change the port on the ubuntu install in the transmission client, and use that port only on the macbook.

 

OK...I called my ex-roommate who set up the wireless internet, and he actually remembered the username and password for the router! (That's pretty crazy because he hasn't lived here for like a year or so).

 

So now I can make changes to the router.

 

I just don't know what to change. It is far from obvious what to do here, and google is confusing me by telling me to do several different things.

 

All I need is a port or two open for torrents...one on the OS X box and one for the Linux box. Help would be GREATLY appreciated!

[Snerler]

OK...I called my ex-roommate who set up the wireless internet, and he actually remembered the username and password for the router! (That's pretty crazy because he hasn't lived here for like a year or so).

 

So now I can make changes to the router.

 

I just don't know what to change. It is far from obvious what to do here, and google is confusing me by telling me to do several different things.

 

All I need is a port or two open for torrents...one on the OS X box and one for the Linux box. Help would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

Managing ports seems to always be a pain because on my router it takes time for the port to actually open and once the power is reset my internal ip changes and the port is no longer open for my computer. Instead I use the UPnP feature of my router and µTorrent. If transmission has UPnP just use it and you wont need to worry about opening ports.

[nmarques]

 A decade of Linux and you can't even work at low level. IMBA.

 

 Maybe trying to copy also the "whatever program" you use from your home folder to the new instalation ? Which obviously has the information regarding the current torrent stuff you have. This considering you use the same application in either Linux and OS X.

 

 

 

 

 For someone who claims to use Linux for decade your networking knowledge is actually very poor. Where's the low level knowledge ? 10 years ago, people used Linux mainly at low level