Workshop: Send large files over the internet

Many internet service providers still limit the size of email attachments, so it can be all but impossible to send large files via email.

Indeed, if you’ve got an enormous file to share – a digital video, say – it can sometimes seem easier just to pop a CD in the post than attempt to transfer it electronically. But there are other options.

A tool called Pando, for example, solves the problem in a clever way. Rather than rely on clunky old email servers, Pando users can send large files to the Pando server. Then you can send an email to everyone telling them it’s there. They then download it from the server – or from the PCs of selected contacts.

In this Workshop, we’ll demonstrate how to download and make use of Pando to share a large video file.

About Pando
Pando works by using a central server alongside peer-to-peer networking software. Thus, if Aldo wants to send a 500MB movie to Beryl, he can load the software, send the movie to the server, wait for it to finish, quit the software and leave Beryl to download it from the server at her leisure.

However, if Aldo wishes to send the same movie to several people, it’s advantageous if they’re all online and stay online until everyone has the full movie, because Pando’s software lets everyone download bits of the movie from everyone else in the group. The result? Faster downloads.

Files are scrambled when being transmitted and stored on the server. Files are deleted after 14 days, but the ‘packages’ can be downloaded from any member of the group for as long as they’re stored on anyone’s sent/received list.

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