EDonkey

eDonkey 2000 is a peer to peer file sharing application developed by MetaMachine. EDonkey uses Multisource File Transfer Protocol.

The eDonkey file sharing network is decentralized like many other file sharing networks. Two kinds of applications connect to the network, client and server. Clients allow users to connect to the network and to share files. Servers act like meeting hub for the clients. Both client and server are available in Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and other UNIX variants.

EDonkey uses md4 hash checksums to identify files. This function allows identification of identical file with different filenames. Another feature of eDonkey is that it shares file segments before the download completes, this speeds up file distribution throughout the network.

Users on eDonkey predominantly share large files such as CD images, videos, games, and software programs. Some websites list the checksum of sought after files to ease file searching. Some of those websites also has list of active servers for users to update.

The Network is based on a decentralized server network. Anybody can set up a server. Because the server network is changing very often, there is a need for server-lists.

There are numerous open-source and Free Software clients for the eDonkey network. Emule[?] is an open-source Windows client, xMule is a port to several Operating Systems of eMule, MediaVAMP is a korean only client, MLDonkey is a Free Software client which runs on many platforms. But except for MLDonkey there are no free software version of the server.

The inventor of eDonkey invented another file-sharing network called Overnet[?], which interoperates with the eDonkey network, but without the use of any servers. Most eDonkey Clients now also use the Overnet Network.

External Links

• Official Website (http://www.edonkey2000.com/)
• Emule Project (http://www.emule-project.net/)
• xMule Project (http://sourceforge.net/projects/xmule)
• mldonkey (http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/mldonkey)
• MediaVAMP (http://www.mediavamp.com/)
• Lugdunum2k - A Patched version of the original server (http://lugdunum2k.free.fr/index.html)