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So for quite some time, there has always been issues and complaints about users not being able to download roms from the links posted by the devs on new releases and/or updates (4shared, Rapid share, Mega upload to name a few)
with that being said they are always complaining and begging for someone who gets a complete download to re-upload with a mirror, to make their lives easier...understandable. But if there's one thing I know, "Most" devs hate it when users fill their threads up with a bunch of links...why? well that’s simple:
It confuses others (especially noobs) as to which link is the correct one and the one intended for download by the OP. This means that if someone put a faulty link/mirror that contained a bad file, un-signed zip, or their own custom version of the rom/mod that they decided to play "dev" with and screwed it up rendering it full of bugs...the Dev and/or OP has to deal with the complaints when that user comes back to post. Leaving him confused and dumbfounded as to what the hell they are talking about because nobody else is reporting these issues.
Download count just so happens to be very important to a lot of devs. It gives them a general idea of how many users are flashing their work, which can not only make them feel appreciated and needed by the community because of all the attention...but also create a ratio of problems to success. Example, 300 users download, only 50 come back to report bugs, the rest either don't post at all (I call them ghost readers) or give good feedback. Now, out of that 50 only 7 reported bugs can be legitimately confirmed, which means the other 43 people either did not follow directions clearly, or already had some other stuff going on that effected their experience. Why are these numbers important? Because, if the numbers of bugs are high...the dev knows to update quickly and correct things, if the number of user errors are high...the dev knows he needs to re-adjust his instructions or make them more clear and descriptive so that nobody misunderstands. And if the number of successful flashes are high...well...you know. And all of this can be based on number of downloads...which other users screw up when they post their own links!
Lost and forgotten is what all these mirrors, linked threads/topics, and uploaded fixes by random users become when the topic is over populated (especially big named threads like Eugene, CM, Wes Garner etc). So if the thread has 105 pages and an important link was dropped by a user that proved to be helpful way back on say...page 23! How in the hell is anyone who hasn't been following the entire topic to know that? And nobody in their right mind, who has a life, is going to sit there and skim all 105 pages. So if you must, or feel, that you have a useful link pertaining specifically to the topic that can help others, the best resolution would be to PM it to the OP, so that they can update the first post where all users can easily refer back to if need be.
Now with the why covered, let's move on the the what. And the what is what I have to offer:
A hosting service that I paid for out of my own pocket. This is my way of contributing to the community, as I do not offer donations, sorry. But for the exchange of helpful information, resources, mods, and great roms! I hereby offer all devs, and I do mean DEVS ONLY (yes that includes themers) the use of this hosting service is at no cost to them.
How beneficial is this you ask?
For Devs:
unlimited online storage space for all zips, rar's, and other files that are specifically related to the xda development (No personal storage like mp3's, movies, and family portrait please)
direct download links! No pop-ups, No ads, No human text box verifications
unlimited links- they never run out of time or number of downloads they will stay on the internet forever!!!! (or until you remove it)
Detailed info- keeps track of number of clicks, page views, downloads, you name it, you get your own personal page to view this statistics at any time
No size limit! Big or small, you upload it all (multiple uploads at once supported as well) I have not seen anything in any of these forums over 200mb...so if you're running up 1-2 gigs of use in a matter of days I will be investingating your usage!
For users
No more 4shared yay! Lol
No time wait (30 secs, 90 secs or whatever) Downloads start immediately after clicking the link!
No pop-up or separate browser pages to go to, download starts without the need to open a new page or tab, so you can easily continue on reading through the forum you are in
Links are never broken-they will always work until the OP removes it
No signing up, no memberships.. paid or free, just download. Same benefit as downloading links uploaded directly through Xda, except you don't have to be logged in to click these!
To keep things under control and fair I will only allow 3 request per week for access to this service. I'm not sure how many devs are registered and active but I'm quite sure there are a lot. Eventually all devs who are interested will have the opportunity, but for my own conveyance I will only take 3 request a week, because I will not be online everyday to take all request, this also give me the time to help each individual to get set-up and answer any questions they may have.
I do not discriminate by phone make or model. All devs are welcome to this offer regardless of what phone they developed for. However; I will only post this thread here in the Vibrant forums, well, because that's the phone I use. But Mods are more than welcome to sticky it or link the word to other locations so that all devs can read. My only rules are:
Must be and already have been a member of XDA for at least one year.
Must provide at least two links to their work contributed here in the xda forums
Must have a valid email address and/or twitter account. (simply so that I can contact and update you if any changes or problems occur)
Must only use this service for the development of roms/themes/mods. Please do not take advantage of my kind heart, and use this hosting service for your own personal purpose, I will know, and I will take away privileges.
How to sign up for this?
Simply PM me if you are interested... with the above^^ requirements, and I will give you all the details and instructions you need.
Unfortunately, I will not start taking request until Monday of next week, a relative has just passed away a couple of days ago, and I am closing a deal on a new home, trying to fit time for a funeral, and moving all in one week can be a headache. But you are welcome to start sending me request if you like, but as I said I will only deal with 3 at a time. So if you send a request and don't hear back, please do not continue sending me your inquiry. Your voice has been heard and will be responded as soon as I get to you. Thank you.
Wow, I'm not a dev or anything like that but this is real nice of you. Kudos to you sir.
Working in the er its nice to know when your help is appreciated. So thank you.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
bguzmanz2 said:
Wow, I'm not a dev or anything like that but this is real nice of you. Kudos to you sir.
Working in the er its nice to know when your help is appreciated. So thank you.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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+1
This will not only help the devs, but the forum community in general, making it much more easier on both ends, so i thank you for this. Kudos to you.
TL;DR
You might also want to post this in the Dev sub-forum too. It's over here --> Vibrant Android Development.
Thanks for providing the service.
I hope you have some serious monthly download allowences. I do some hosting not related to XDA and I'm easily pushing 30Gig a month, which spikes even more depending on releases.
What your doing is awesome none the less.
If you find that you are pushing some serious downloads you could always turn some builds into torrents and use your machine as the master seed and let others help out that want to help out. Lord knows my machine at home has been seeding many Linux builds over the past months.
http://burnbit.com/
Not to disrespect you in any form or way, I appreciate this thread to the developers but this idea has been made quite a while ago since the first-generation of Android phone (G1).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=665957
AndroidSPIN has been around for a long time and has provided hosting for developers and their ROMs as well as a pretty organized database.
zephiK said:
Not to disrespect you in any form or way, I appreciate this thread to the developers but this idea has been made quite a while ago since the first-generation of Android phone (G1).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=665957
AndroidSPIN has been around for a long time and has provided hosting for developers and their ROMs as well as a pretty organized database.
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Yes, I already know this. But please understand this is specifically for xda...androidspin is its own website in itself, also still has its limitations as well as ads and opens new pages/tabs for downloads. My service does not do that, and is without limits.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
That is very helpful, and I appreciate it. But no I have no monthly cap, and I pay for my services once per year.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
kizer said:
I hope you have some serious monthly download allowences. I do some hosting not related to XDA and I'm easily pushing 30Gig a month, which spikes even more depending on releases.
What your doing is awesome none the less.
If you find that you are pushing some serious downloads you could always turn some builds into torrents and use your machine as the master seed and let others help out that want to help out. Lord knows my machine at home has been seeding many Linux builds over the past months.
http://burnbit.com/
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Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Kudos to you sir
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant
try it and soon you will get email from your hosting company of over usage. Unlimited in your contract means nothing.
They might make you pay for overusage by saying that you abused their network.
Klyentel said:
That is very helpful, and I appreciate it. But no I have no monthly cap, and I pay for my services once per year.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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Congrats I wish I had an unlimited bandwith host. I can get away with gigs of storage, but they caped me around 60gig a month.
Anyways hope it works out.
good luck, ive tried this a few times but seems like devs like those crappy upload sites. i'm gonna take a guess and say you are on a site like hostgator or something with "unlimited" bandwidth, watch it cuz its only unlimited untill you use to much resources.
Just an idea.
Why don't we create a distributed system using available tools/software like torrent files.
We need one or more torrent server/tracker and list of volunteers to be reliable seeders. Once you sign as a seeder, you will receive a list of # files you'll seed 24/7 until you receive an updated list.
I don't mind seeding 5-10 files 24/7.
We can retire any file at any time if there is no interest and archive it.
By archiving i mean switch to more "standard" way of hosting it like http or ftp access.
And when a new release is out the downloading will be even faster.
Hey there to all Devs who might be hanging around. I have been following this site for years now, and just got a HD2 and playing with Android. I noticed that most of these roms are on megashare, etc. I have unlimited bandwidth and diskspace. I am willing to donate said services for any and all android devs who want/need the space, or who don't want to mess with these share sites. If you would like pm me or respond to this thread and I will send you ftp information.
Thanks to all who have the time (as I don't I have a wife, kids a day job and a consulting company I run) to create these roms and to hack the phones, etc. If this is against the rules or in the wrong forum I apologize.
Think I would change the title to free Rom hosting for devs..
Sent from my HTC Vision HD2
Just a lil help for this thread, just cause I hate the file share sites Soooo much... bump!!
Sent from my HTC Vision HD2
@OP : I already provide free server for file hosting for HD2 ROMS (www.vbnfiles.com)
If you would like to partner and provide geo-mirror on same lines...I am more than happy to expand
My server location is Germany (with Hetzner DC).
VBNFILES Thread : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=654870
Would like to know your setup and resources. PM me if interested.
Hi
For many of us, we live behind a digital wall called censorship. And we happen to have to use tools like TOR etc to get access to many homepages. Unfortunately that means that sites like Megaupload thinks all of us TOR users etc are the same downloader, so they tell us we can not use their servers.
Ergo, many many many of us can not D/L your ROM´s.
If you post new ROM´s, please submit torrents for the billions of us that does not have a free internet.
Sincerely yours - one of the billions of blocked Megaupload users.
Plus one....
Great idea!
I LOL:ed at the title of this thread, it sounds like an adult movie .. the ROM cockers! =)
801run said:
Great idea!
I LOL:ed at the title of this thread, it sounds like an adult movie .. the ROM cockers! =)
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plus 1 id be pissed if i could not download.
This thread has to win the "Thread title of the year award"
Plus one... i hate megaupload but haven't choice.
There are other solutions, but they are not freee....
A great idea. It's something I've thought about before but, thinking about it, you would have to rely on everyone to seed the files to make sure we all had (pretty much) instant access.
This is my understanding of it anyways.
Just throwing it out there but another area on the forums for torrents would be sweet but I can't imagine the work that would create!
Much respect to all Devs and Site Admin.
I agree, and love the title of this thread, hail ROM Cockers!!!
That's not ideal. Not everyone has the bandwidth to seed a single file. And like majority of torrent users they do not seed at all.
Sent from my Htcclay's SuperHD2 using XDA App
sign +1 ololo
i won't be downloading from torrents. but, why the hassle when v-b-n has a server where cookers can put their files? and he's not saying "pay if you want to use it" it was free last time i checked. So, instead of inventing new solutions, use what this forum has to offer. And, if you want to improve, donate to him, so he can maintain the server
HAHAHA! Rom cockers!
Winner
+1, Great idea.
I've often wondered why torrents have not been utilised here. Considering that we're all phone enthusiasts here it's fairly likely that the majority of us are general tech enthusiasts too and therefor would have a decent collective bandwidth to serve these ROMs. Personally I have quite a considerably large pipe and I'm more than happy to seed anything that is legally distributable.
I think the argument you are making here is valid, but torrents is by no means a good way to distribute builds as they are frequently upgraded. You'll end up with hundreds of dead torrents in a week...
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Rom builders already have the VBN server with direct downloading so, no need for torrent nor useless miseplled thraeds
I find within 24 hours the VBN site is overloaded and no more download slots avail.
However I am willing to host a tracker server however I have very limited bandwidth for uploads so speed will struggle at the start.
I am however willing to build it on a linux based server (Eg LAMP) as as first pass and then if someone can organize hosting of a smallish VM then the entire VM can be moved from there onwards
It should be possible to script in a way that a cook only has to upload his rom to the site via FTP and it will automatically create a tracker/torrent from it.
Lots of "maybe's" and "should's" but willing to help where I can.
I am 100% against it!!! I do not like torrents from the day one and if someone wants them - well, post them yourself and contribute a group that wants to see torrents.
Megaupload is much more reliable and if you cannot wait 40-50 seconds to download the build, then too bad...
Sorry - Im not trying to be negative but it is pretty selfish to make a thread and state "All ROM cockers: Please torrent your ROM´s! No Megaupload please" ... no go AT ALL!!!
So - I am the "minus one" ...
I think they are saying that Megaupload blocks then due to national firewall and work arounds?
I agree with not liking torrent at all. Megaupload is as good as it gets with downloading. Why cant you guys use Megaupload?
I also do agree that VBN is over capacity most of the time, which will not let you download if it is.
I have a web server that I no longer use. Plenty Gb's of storage and far to much bandwidth.
I wanted to create a website for developers who don't have websites to have a space to host a website and their creations. I also wish to turn it into a website that holds those backups of apps to restore. (think of that Super User upgrade that would FC constantly).
If anyone has any ideas or would like their work for android hosted/need a website or forum for their work pm me on here or email me at [email protected]
I have taken down the website entirely, cleaned out the storage and is now ready for this project if it ever gets off the ground.
If you have something you would like to be hosted or to have backups available pm or email me with the information of the creator (just in case permission is needed).
If you also know a developer and that he or she would like this offer or information just tell him/her to email [email protected]
Pretty much free hosting for the android community. Something I can do to help out those developers out there.
And a thank you to all those developers out there. Thank you for all your hard work.
Haven't seen you in a while, but thanks for this.
True I had a bunch of finals to deal with and then my grandfather past away. But my offer stands for pretty much the entire android community as long as it relates to development.
But I am back and ready to fill the XDA community with my helpful comments :}
cmsjr123 said:
True I had a bunch of finals to deal with and then my grandfather past away. But my offer stands for pretty much the entire android community as long as it relates to development.
But I am back and ready to fill the XDA community with my helpful comments :}
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Well at least you have you priorities...I have 1 more trimester left, and sorry for your loss.
teh roxxorz said:
Well at least you have you priorities...I have 1 more trimester left, and sorry for your loss.
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Ya I have 2 semesters left and a summer semester.
And thanks for saying that.. it was a week before Christmas 2 like wth haha.
Anyways school first but in spare time Android Community ^.^.
got to get some support things up maybe php tickets or something.
My team may be interested when we are all on tomorrow we will see if everyone's down with it and one of us will pm u right now we are using a 50gb box account to share our work amongst ourselves since alot of it isn't ready for release yet would be kinda cool to have a site up tho where ppl can sign up for beta testing and give us input without having to post all our pre alphas and betas in xdas threads
Sent from my iCS'd out EViL4G, soaking in a bowl of Ramen Noodles
-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
My team may be interested when we are all on tomorrow we will see if everyone's down with it and one of us will pm u right now we are using a 50gb box account to share our work amongst ourselves since alot of it isn't ready for release yet would be kinda cool to have a site up tho where ppl can sign up for beta testing and give us input without having to post all our pre alphas and betas in xdas threads
Sent from my iCS'd out EViL4G, soaking in a bowl of Ramen Noodles
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Alright I'll give you details on the information (if all of you decide to )as it would be a lot easier for you all to collaborate work with a team FTP account :} forums/support tickets etc.
PM or [email protected]
cmsjr123.com has a brief short ugly intro page.. text on a white background.. But it gets the point across. With a blog soon for all of you to comment on.
cmsjr123.com now has the information to get started on if interested in my hosting offer.
Hey guys just wanted to let all the devs know that www.androidfilehost.com is currently looking for more devs and devices to host with us. We just spent over 4000$ on a new site the will be launching at the end of the month but our current site is up and running. We offer free membership for all devs. Also will be hosting other files as well. (Kernels, Mods, Tweaks, Apps...) Send me or xRepinsSporx a PM for more info or head to the site and start uploading now! Currently hosting for many many devs including Myn, Virus and Team Nocturnal. But need more devs!!!! Thanks