Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala is out. The demand for ISOs is incredible, so bit torrent is the preferred method. The mirrors are:

Ubuntu 9.10

• ubuntu-9.10-alternate-amd64.iso.torrent
• ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso.torrent
• ubuntu-9.10-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent
• ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso.torrent
• ubuntu-9.10-server-amd64.iso.torrent
• ubuntu-9.10-server-i386.iso.torrent
• New: IPv6 only torrents for users of IPv6 (learn more about IPv6)

Even getting to the torrent file via http is incredibly slow. I have a copy of the torrent file (not the ISO) at http://opensource.sfsu.edu/files/ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso.torrent It should be a lot faster to get the *.torrent on campus :-) I also have a couple of bit torrent downloads running on campus. I'll leave these running in the hopes that if you decide to download Karmic's awesomeness you'll get the bits from within 130.212.0.0/16

As a kid, I loved James Bond movies (I still like the old ones), especially the gadgetry. A shoe compartment, a multi-purpose watch, a micro camera. Needless to say, a lot of money has gone into ThinkGeek purchases Imagine my pleasure when I recently had to introduce the OLPC project to someone (potential funding source for a deployment). I pulled out a 8GB microSD card from a secret zipper in my shirt, placed it squarely on the table, and said "We won't be needing the Internet for now. This little piece of technology holds well over 100 albums and hundreds of books that are freely distributable. It also has a web server, a database server, a collaboration server, backup software, and a bunch more. We won't be needing the Internet to get this deployment off the ground".

How small can a Linux distro be? Very small. We've had distros that fit on a 1.44 MB floppy and are used for routers. For a desktop/GUI type distro though, the smallest I've seen is DSL - Damn Small Linux. I found another one a little while ago. Tiny Core Linux:

"Tiny Core Linux is a very small (10 MB) minimal Linux Desktop. It is based on Linux 2.6 kernel, Busybox, Tiny X, Fltk, and Jwm. The core runs entirely in ram and boots very quickly."

Before you wonder what sabdfl is, it stands for Self-Appointed Benevolent Dictator For Life, a title assigned to Mark Shuttleworth. Its a meritocracy, not a democracy! Mark was interviewed by Jorge Castro online after the release of Jaunty Jackalope, the code name for Ubuntu 9.04. The full interview is up at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/openweekJaunty/AskMark Here are some excerpts:

55,000 Sugar/GNU/Linux XO machines are being shipped every month to kids all over the world. This is a generation getting ready to break the bonds of digital dependencies and building a commons for themselves on free and open source software and open content and standards. In the meantime, Microsoft announced a pilot study to run Windows XP on these very machines.

 So, let's do a quick comparison:

Sugar is built on top of Fedora 9, the current and cutting edge version of Linux from RedHat, which then in turn creates its commercial platform based on Fedora releases. So, with Sugar, you get fresh code. Windows XP is from 2001. I was much younger then and had no grey hair Even at that, it is some specialized version of XP that you can get only if you are a third worlder. Its called Windows XP UP where UP stands for Unlimited Potential. Unlimited potential for whom? The users or the company? XP is no longer sold in the US, so the revenue er, I mean "potential" has to come from someplace else. 

Canonical founder and Ubuntu's Self Appointed Benevolent Dictator For Life (SBADFL) Mark Shuttleworth is putting his money where his mouth is. At OSCON earlier this year, he talked about beating Microsoft and Apple at their own game (although I think it should really be more about paving our own way than following someone's tail) of usability. Now, Canonical announces that it will fund usability improvements and push it upstream.The announcement is at http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080911-canonical-to-fund-upstream-linux-usability-improvements.html and discussion is up on Mark's blog.

A new live CD is now available (XO-LiveCD_080812.iso 426.01 MB) at:

 

Bittorrent - http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=0902d803b94822a07b7a5da6193147c10e0c83d8
HTTP - http://www.skolelinux.de/download/XOLiveCD/XO-LiveCD_080812.iso

Yet another bootable live CD distro that is loaded with goodies to clean your machine. This distro is particularly good for those of you who haven't kicked the "Windows" habit. Yeah, we know who you are, but that's ok. All in good time. Eventually, all your base are belong to us

Trinity works on Linux machines as well for partitions, etc.  From their site:

For those of you that have interest in the development of Linux distros, this great time line details the genealogy of the the most common Linux distributions. 

http://linux.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/linux-distro-timeline-2/ 

-jasonstone