I’m currently downloading a torrent of the AMD64 version of Ubuntu Linux for my new laptop. I hate Windows XP (especially the “home” edition), but there are still some issues with Linux and laptops, since a lot of laptop hardware is extremely cutting edge and proprietary.

My concern over deleting my Windows installation by installing it on the laptop has been alleviated by one of the recent innovations in Linux distributions called a “live cd” A live cd allows you to test a Linux distro without actually installing it on your harddrive. The CD itself will boot right into the Linux operation system without changing whatever installation is currently there. So, I can test the look and feel of Ubuntu, and see if it supports my networking hardware without affecting the Windows installation already there. When I’m done, I simply reboot, and the Windows XP login comes back up. Sadly. 🙁

While it wasn’t my plan to talk about bittorrent when I started writing this, I figure I should at least comment on it. Bittorrent is a swarming download protocol. What that means is that instead of downloading the entirety of a large file of a central server, you being to download the file from the central server, but as you get parts of a file that other people need, you upload the parts of the file that you’ve already received to them.

Imagine if 1000 people wanted to copy a single book. One person can make a copy of a page, and mark that page is theirs. Then, while you’re making a copy of the second page, you can share your first page to be copied by others. Each person makes available to others the data they have already downloaded. It puts less strain on the original server, and allows people to download the software at the same speed.

Pure Genius…

UPDATE: I got Ubuntu running, and everything seems to work fine except my wireless hardware. According to this website, the card in the Compaq Presario R3000Z is unsupported by Linux, since the manufacterer will not release specifications for the hardware. Boo…