[X] My Assistant

I've been contemplating joining the H@H thing, but reading what it entails, I'm not sure it would even be worth it, for me or the site.

[www.speedtest.net] http://www.speedtest.net/result/1304028171.png

That was the best result I got. Most other locations near me were getting around .75 for upload.

Aside from that,

- the machine in question is a laptop (Windows 7 setup from HP), and while it has decent disk space left for files, I'm not sure how well it would handle H@H, as I have no idea how CPU-intensive it is to run.

- My machine tends to not be on all the time. I'm probably averaging 5-10 hours a day (pretty randomly), and most of that involves me actively using the Internet.

- I'm already running a torrent client, which usually results in an outgoing ~100kB/s (according to the client, anyway) as long as I'm online. I realize I can set a cap on this, but it's one more thing to think about.

There's also the trouble that, despite some 4-½ years of CS studies at institutes of higher learning, I'm still pretty clueless when it comes to things like choosing a port for the client to run on. Yeah, that's $60k well spent.

So, basically I want to know if this is worth PMing Tenboro about. Based on your own experiences, do I and my humble machine stand to make some Hath while helping the site, or would my hypothetical client likely go mostly unused?

To answer your questions:

CPU usage -On my 2.4 Ghz machine, it varies between 0 and 1%, 70-80MB for memory usage.
Windows7 - I've run it on XP, Vista, and 7 without problem
On all the time - you'll only get credit when H@H is on and running, of course. If the machine is hibernated, the host site will lose contact with it and mark it offline, as opposed to a firewall problem(which I've had a few times).
Already running a torrent client - I've run both at the same time before; generally I find torrents to be less well behaved than my H@H client. You'll just have a lower transfer rate(and therefore less gold/hath return).

Choosing a port - Pick one at random, preferably somewhere between 1k-65k. Roll dice if you want. Just avoid ones you might already be using(thus going above 1k to avoid most of the common ones). You can use this [en.wikipedia.org] Wiki list of TCP and UDP port numbers if you're hesitant. Then just set up port forwarding(you might want to switch your computer to a static IP address, it was my biggest cause of firewall issues).

It'll be used, if mine is any way to judge. It depends on how much bandwidth you have left over your torrent client.

Plus, you can set the site to use your H@H client while browsing - results in fast loads if it has the images cached on your own machine. To force that, simply hit the H@H download button and save the resulting file to the hathdl directory. That will not only cache it for the browser, but put it into a sub-folder in the downloaded directory.

With my client, normally I only have to do that and let it sit for ~5 minutes for lag-free browsing.

This post has been edited by Firethorn: May 24 2011, 06:26

If you've got H@H questions, I'm your guy.

Drop me a line if you ever have any questions.

As far as running the program, the most intensive thing is your internet connection. Unless you're capable of uploading at 500Mbit (yes you read that right), you should have no trouble running H@H along side anything else you're doing.

The biggest trouble most folks have is configuring their router or firewall to allow In and Outbound communication.

If you're using a router or firewall, you'll have to setup Port Forwarding so the requests coming In to your router are sent to your peticular machine, and the files being sent Out are sent out the same way.

Like in recycling projects - you should put plastic in the plastic bin, paper in the paper bin, etc. Otherwise, dumping trash and everything into 1 bin makes a mess and doesn't work.

Well, I went ahead and sent the PM with my info, so I guess it's in God's hands now.