this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
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Off topic, but is there any tutorial on how to do this Usenet thing? Feel free to contact me on Matrix, it's on my profile.
You'll need 3 things:
A usenet client such as SABnzbd. This is equivalent to a torrent client like qbittorrent.
An NZB indexer such as NZBGeek, again equivalent to torrent indexers, but for nzb files.
And finally a usenet provider such as FrugalUsenet. This is where you're actually downloading articles from. (there are other providers listed in the photo in my other comment here)
Articles are individual posts on usenet servers. NZB files contain lists of articles that together result in the desired files. There are also additional articles included so if some are lost (taken down due to dmca/ntd) they can be rebuilt from the remaining data. Your nzb client handles the process of reading nzb files, trying to download the articles from each of your configured usenet providers, then decompressing, rebuilding lost data, and finally stitching it all together into the files you wanted.
No expert, but here’s my quick and dirty version:
Find an unlimited Usenet provider that works with your budget and location. Plenty of debate out there on which are best, and if you need a second pay-per-GB provider for filling in missing parts or not.
Spin up SABnzbd+ or a similar Usenet client on a local PC/NAS/etc.
the hard part - find a quality private Usenet indexer site that you can get an invite or has open registration.
Download the nzb files for the Linux ISO that you want from your indexer and open it with your Usenet client. (There are ways to feed the nzb file directly to your client, but that’s for next lesson).
Client looks for all of the parts listed in the nzb file on your Usenet provider, then downloads and unpacks them.
Et Voila - Linux ISO appears in your downloads directory.
A VPN is probably unnecessary, as most Usenet providers don’t log who downloads which files. Also, you can often hit your ISP’s max download rate from your Usenet provider, and there is no “seeding” to worry about.
Good luck!
Appreciate the post, but damn, that's still cryptic. "Find a quality private usenet indexer"... I don't even know where to begin to do this.
By searching Google for Usenet indexers.
It’s going to be difficult as many of them require invites.
Please note that, unlike private trackers, indexers are usually a paid service.
Nzbgeek, althub, ninjacentral, drunkenslug just to name a few.
Can recommend Nzbgeek
Honest question. Are there any advantages to usenet if I'm already deep into torrenting and on many private trackers? I've never used usenet but have been torrenting for 20+ years so I'm not sure if I'm missing out on anything
It’s likely faster - no waiting for seeds to connect and ramp up. I routinely see 900+Mbps from my provider from start to finish.
You aren’t at risk of exposing your true IP or downloads list to anyone but your Usenet provider.
Zero seeding required.
Older content is more likely to still be available in my experience (and not just with 1 dial-up seeder).
On occasion I have to go to private trackers when something never made it to Usenet, but it’s almost always something niche like an obscure out of print album. It cuts both ways though, and I’ve found some buried gems on Usenet that weren’t on any tracker.
The biggest downsides are the monthly cost of a Usenet provider, and a bit more technical expertise to host the NZB grabber.
Thank you for the answer. It sounds more legit than I had always thought. My current setup is just all private trackers with a VPN so I'm not sure I'd want to pay to set this up. I have PTP and BHD for movies. BHD and MTV for TV shows, RED for music and MAM for books. I generally always find what I'm looking for but I was always curious about usenet
Hey, yes there is. I was 100% torrents up until recently, also using multiple torrent sites including private trackers. The thing I struggled with was getting all the episodes of TV shows. Like if I added a niche or old TV show to Sonarr, it would be a constant struggle to find missing episodes or seasons (for some reason Southpark was a misery). This was pretty much completely eliminated with usenets. So now I have usenets as a primary and torrenting as a fallback if something cant be found. This config gives me almost full coverage. The downside is that usenets typically aren't free whilst torrenting is (although they are very cheap)
Usenet will download much faster and is generally much more "private" and secure (your ISP can never see what you download).
I'd like to know too, but people are so cryptic about it every time this shit is brought up that I'm overwhelmed before I even begin. So I just stick to the tried and true methods I know
See my reply to the parent comment.
I appreciate it! Is it worth the hassle to set up in your opinion? I'm pretty lazy, and that's way more than what I'm used to (1. Install client, 2. Turn on VPN)
I certainly had to fiddle with it a bit to start, but once it’s up and running it’s seamless and less prone to issues than torrenting IMO.
Find a Usenet provider. A quick web search and some reading should get you to the right place. I’m not sure if any good free servers are available anymore, but there’s probably one that’s cheap enough.
Looks like https://sabnzbd.org/ is a free and open source Windows/MacOS/Linux client that can download files. I haven’t tried it, but it’s highly rated on alternativeto.net
Install the *arr programs that you want to manage your libraries - Radarr (for movies), Sonarr (for tv shows), Lidarr (for music)
Install NZBGet (for downloading the files)
Sign up to a usenet provider.
Sign up to an indexer like NZBGeek, NZBFinder, etc.
Put your usenet provider details in to NZBGet under the News-Server section.
Put your indexer details into the indexer settings in *arr programs.
Put your NZBGet details into the Download Clients setting section in *arr programs.
Pretty much the gist of it. Then you can just search for and add the content you're after in Radarr/Sonarr/Lidarr and it will go looking.
If you need a hand I'm happy to help.
There's about 100 tutorials that'll come up in a Google search.