When I first set my Vonage adapter up, I experimented by using up all of my upstream bandwidth by starting uploads before making a call. I was able to cause problems with the adapter if I started uploads from multiple machines. I think my router would share the bandwidth between all of the devices so that splitting equally with one machine wasn’t a problem, but splitting the bandwidth between 4 or 5 devices caused my call to break up.

If you had a good cable or DSL connection, and only one PC uploading at the time you were experiencing problems, your bandwidth should have been fine. If I had the same problem, I would suspect the router. I don’t know what your set up is, maybe you don’t even use a router. If you could give me a bit more information about your set up and your internet connection, we’ll talk about it.

It seems you need a client open for each file you try to get.

If you click on a torrent file and choose say “open with bittornado” and you don’t get the whole file before your machine is shut down, you haven’t a way to restart the transfer without going back to thepiratebay or wherever you clicked on the torrent file before. So I saved them to my hard disk so I could stop and start at a whim. It’s like a Limewire or Napster but works like an integrated mail program.

Here’s what the memory cost looked like running in Ubuntu:

I was able to get good speed a couple of times, but I think the things I downloaded were kind of obscure so there weren’t many uploaders. For the most part I got a slow but persistent download.

Also worth noting is that many Windows games have Linux clones. So if you like playing X in Windows, check out Y for Linux. Different name, different company, essentially the same game. If you’re into free software like I am, this is probably the way to go. Many, many titles are absolutely free for Linux. They don’t get the attention, but they are definitely out there! Open-Source goodness!

The only reason I’ve really seen to NOT switch is gaming. That seems to be Linux’s weak point right now.

A lot of people still think they won’t be able to learn this new-fangled operating system and say that they already know how to work windows. I pose the question: Do you? If I deleted your shortcuts, could you start your programs? If your memoirs are saved somewhere other than My Documents, could you find them? If you answer yes, then you can learn Linux. If you answer no, you can learn to do everything in Ubuntu that you can do right now in Windows.

I am not an anti-Windows fanatic. I use it everyday. My job depends on knowing Windows inside and out, and I am not likely to stop using it anytime soon. I use Linux when Windows won’t get the job done. It includes many, many tools that a Windows user will likely never see.

The biggest draws of Linux are that 1) it is FREE and 2) it is yours. Yes, free. Not bootlegged, not pirated, free. Not licensed, not rented, yours. If you don’t like Ubuntu the way it is, you can (and are encouraged to) change it. I’m not talking about the color of the background or the picture of “My Computer”. Every piece of the operating system (and most of the applications) is available in the source code. And, oh yeah, it’s free.

Windows drawing power seems to come from name recognition alone. It is obviously the big player right now. You’re not likely to pick a piece of software of the shelf and find it won’t work with Windows.

“Linux is more secure.” “Firefox beats Internet Explorer.” “Linux is for geeks.” Both sides have their mantras. Get it ,try it for yourself. Heck, try a couple. There are hundreds of “flavors” of Linux (Ubuntu is a good start). For those of you on dialup, or those that don’t want to burn your own copy, Ubuntu will even send you a copy for free (no, not $2.95 s&h, f-r-e-e).

Again, both OSes have advantages, but don’t write off Ubuntu (or any other Linux flavor) without trying it.

Adam