Direct Connect Tutorial The directions below are at best a few years old, and are most likely outdated, but the hub is still up, so come on over: loveline.redirectme.net. This tutorial will explain how to connect to a Loveline Direct Connect hub. Direct Connect is a way for users to gather, share files, and chat on a private network. The first step in using Direct Connect is getting some Direct Connect software. You can get an easy-to-use program called DC++ from the DC++ website. There are other DC program out there, but this tutorial is only relevant to DC++. Settings: After installing the program, run the executable "DCPlusPlus.exe" The Settings menu should appear automatically; if it doesn't, open it under "File" > "Settings..." and make sure "General" is selected on the left. 1. Under "Personal Information" fill in the following:
2. Under "Connection Settings" you need to choose "Active" or "Passive", dependant on how you are connected to the Internet, this is very important... because it will effect who you can and cannot connect to once in the hub.
"Port" should be filled in with a port number which is not currently in use, and that you have allowed access through your firewall or forwarded on your router. 3. Now choose "Sharing" on the left. If you have any files to share with the hub, add them to your "shared directories" with the "Add folder" button. Also a good idea at this time is to set an appropriate number of upload and download slots for your connection type. At this point the other options in "Settings" are not required, but you may want to take a glance at them and change a few things. Active vs. Passive: If you are in "Active" mode you will be able to connect to and download from any other users in the hub. Hub Specifics: Now in order to connect, you need to place the hub in the "Favorites" list. This is done easily by choosing "View" > "Favorite Hubs", and then clicking the "New..." button. You now need to specify the properties of your new favorite:
At this point you should have the hub all set up & the basics configured, and you can now join by selecting the hub in the favorites list, and clicking "Connect", or double clicking it. If for whatever reason the connection fails at this point, try adding the port 411 onto the address, like this: "loveline.redirectme.net:411". Chat: In order to chat with the other users in the hub, you use the very simple chat interface. On the bottom is a downloads/uploads status window, on the right is a list of users and their information, on the left is a large window where hub messages are displayed, and just below that large window is a text field (Similar to most "chatroom" styles). Note: Many DC users leave their computer connected to the server even if they aren't at their computer, so oftentimes people will not immediately respond to your questions or comments. The hub is traditionally most active at night, and often has a discussion going during the show. Downloads: Now that you are connected to the hub, and you know how to chat, you probably want to get some files. The users list window on the right hand side of the program shows all of the users connected to the hub. Each user has an icon next to their name, these icons can be explained by this info, found in the DC++ Readme file:
Keeping in mind that two passive users cannot download from each other (this includes file lists), you can see what a particular user has to offer by right clicking their name and selecting "Get File List" - when the list is downloaded it will automatically pop up. Search: To remove the hassle of downloading and checking multiple people's file lists in order to find the file you want, there is the "Search" function - it will search through each users file list and show you if there are any users with files containing your search parameters. You can access the search function through the magnifying glass icon in the tool bar, or by pressing Tip: When searching for a particular date, try multiple naming schemes, such as "YYYYMMDD", "YYYY-MM-DD", "MM-DD-YYYY", etc. Summary: Beyond that, the other options are non-essential and hopefully you can figure them out as needed. If you can't figure out a particular step in this tutorial, or anything else about the program - then feel free to email me (Webmaster (at) LovelineFan (dot) Com), or join the hub and ask for help. If you have extra bandwidth to spare, please consider staying connected to the hub even when you aren't chatting and/or downloading, thanks. Hope to see you there! |