Alliance F2F friend to friend network

[gokuDX7 2,871]

Has anyone tried out the Alliance (http://www.alliancep2p.com/overview.shtml) F2F software yet? Seems like it would be kind of neat to all join a small network of friends where we can chat and easily share and search for files in a secure manner. Anyway I just thought this was neat so I figured id post here to see if anyone has or would use this.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

Interesting. It looks like it installs like any other instant messanger/p2p software. But any idea how one would go about setting up a personal network with it? I didn't see a faq for it. \

[gokuDX7 2,871]

I was trying it out today. It's actually really really nice for small or even large groups of people.

To get started all you have to do is download, install it, type in a username you wish to be known by. After that click on the "add friends to my network" button on the top. Click on the "invite a friend" button and it will open your default e-mail. In the e-mail you will see info on how to install and what your "network code" is (the code looks like a hash value. For example h223poasdpo7). When your friend receives the e-mail all they have to do is install the client, click on add friend to network, click on "I have a code I received from my friend", then type it in and you should see your friend on your list and they should see you.

After adding some friends it works great. I had about 8 people in my network and we where chatting and sending files. The only draw back is sometimes new people wont be able to see your friends even after they click on add new friends to network>"I want to connect to friends of my friends". It's a small bug and has been posted on the programs forums. It looks like it should be fixed in the newer version coming out soon. I found that if people disconnected and connected again they could see everyone.

Another draw back to the program (but can be fixed) is the way it allows everything to be decentralized. Basically when new people join their name, IP, and some other info is saved to a settings.xml file. Now most people's ips change when they loose power or even on a regular basis. So when that happens they are removed from your network and you have to resend them another invite code.

THERE is a fix though. If you register a free http://www.dyndns.com/ account and regularly update it with your current IP (use their client for that http://www.dyndns.com/support/clients/).You can replace your friend's IP with the new DNS name. So for example my ip is 87.67.56.45 (not my real ip) and my dns is gokudx.ath.cx. People can replace the ip with that DNS and it all works out fine. So if my ip ever changes no one has to send me another invite again. I just open the dyndns client click update dns address (it sends my latest IP to the site) and open up the Alliance client. The creator of the program is working on a way to allow people to use DNS easily.

Other then that the program is rock solid. Programmed in java so it works on every OS. The hard part is getting people to use it now.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

ah. it sounds pretty nice. Could be an easy way to send larger files back and forth. I should get my dad to install it so I can send him a couple cd's worth of family pictures

*cough*and a couple programs*cough*

[gokuDX7 2,871]

ya it's great tool to use. Since it's decentralized theres no worrying about some company taking it down later on.