Ubuntu For Free

Having been an Internet user for a long time, I am well versed with a few topics related to peer-to-peer file sharing using the torrent system. On Windows, I used uTorrent, and initially after my switch to Linux, I continued to use uTorrent, just because it used less memory than Azureus. Eventually, using applications under Wine became a problem. uTorrent would disappear… randomly.

I tried Azureus, and it ate more and more and more RAM.

I was happy when i switched from Ubuntu to Kubuntu, mostly because of the inclusion of kTorrent. While kTorrent is not on the whitelist of acceptable clients at some of my favorite trackers, it conveniently has an integrated interface where all torrents are easily available through one window in the same view. Compared to BitTornado, this is a relief for those like me who desire an easy to manage (note, not understand, but manage) interface.

A sophisticated plug-in interface for expandability provides a range of extensions created by open source developers. It already comes with several plug-ins, and many of the features I discuss will be implemented through a plug-in, for example the interface for UPnP connectivity is through an included plug-in.

Of note, I appreciate the UPnP support. This helps eliminate the messy configuration and hassle of adjusting a firewall/router.

It also allows us to schedule bandwidth limits, much the same way uTorrent does. This again is through a plug-in. It also provides a lo-fi version for systems with limited video capabilities. This is definitely something I use, just because of simplicity.
Another feature I haven not found as useful has been the integrated search engine. I have been disappointed with the implementation of this feature in torrent clients in the past, so I was interested in trying this. It works moderately well. I have not been able to browse to next pages of results when using the integrated browser, but it forces me to be more precise in my searches. Since I am capable of using a browser on my own, I have forgone attempting to use the external browser integration. Please leave me a comment and describe your experience with this, because if it works better I would be willing to try it.

We are able to manage our torrents in kTorrent from any web-enabled computer in the world via WebInterface. I use this for checking the status from my laptop. This is convenient when I don’t have a remote desktop connection open and quickly want to view my queue and statistics.

Because I take other precautions, the Integrated black list manager I have skipped using. I am not for certain why it needs duplicated here, because if this is your only protection, it applies to kTorrent only, and really lacks in effectiveness. For those that choose to use it, it does support wild cards. Otherwise it supports the use of two ipfilter list file formats.

I believe kTorrent will be a regular in my peer to peer tool box, but the client is only as good as what the tracker supports, which makes me need to use something else from time to time.

Having previously configured my laptop for dual boot, I was satisfied with the way things were running. My wife would use XP. We’d enabled GRUB to save the default using the Start Up Manager, so we could hibernate in order to switch users and operating systems.

All was fine until Windows said “ENOUGH!” and bit the dust. I started out by getting the ominous sounding “Error 13 : Invalid or unsupported executable format” from GRUB. I wasn’t able to mount the partition in Kubuntu so I’m unable to retrieve any files from it.

I’ve tried using the Windows disk to boot to the recovery console. From that, I used fixmbr and it still didnt work. I used the great program Super GRUB disk to restore GRUB. Unfortunately, Windows still did not boot. What finally fixed it, was using FIXBOOT from the recovery console in Windows XP.

What an ordeal.