Here Be Dragons

[folderol]

In part 1 (well the only part so far) of my Linux install notes I mentioned setting up a spare partition for installing a second OS/distro/version. Well...

I'm indulging in a little experiment. I've made a fresh install of 64studio (which is based on debian etch) in my spare partition and am now very carefully and selectively adding upgrade packages from debian lenny. This is normally a complete no-no but I think by now I might just about know enough to get away with it

I don't want to get involved in re-compiling an RT enabled kernel so I'm leaving that part of the system severely alone, also because I am not touching my normal installation partition, if it all goes pear-shaped I've lost nothing except a bit of time.

If this all works, what I then want to do is strip out everything on the machine that I don't actually use - the printing system for example. I don't think this will make a lot of difference, apart from some disk space recovered, but I'll be interested to see if stopping all 'unnecessary' background services enables me to reduce latency at all.

[Oren]

Native ingenuity, in motion. The open-source advantage. Go, Will....

[folderol]

Well, as the title says ...

I almost got it right, just a couple of niggles, then found a final update needed on part of gnome. Did that, all seemed well until I tried to browse the 'net and, no network connection

Everything else seems fine and I think it's a bit faster, but that might be psychological.

This network problem could be a bugger. The ethernet connection is 'up' but appears not to be routed anywhere although the routing table looks identical to the one in the old distro on the same machine

[kara]

hmm strange...
what does ifconfig say ?
what is the default routing in route ?

k

[folderol]

Well I never did get to the bottom of this. However, when I had time I started again, working more slowly and carefully on the updates. When I finally had it all done I compared the general performance with the 'Standard' 64studio installation.

Apart from some slightly improved handling features (USB sticks recognised better) there was no real discernible improvement. One composition I use as a test was inclined to xrun at exactly the same place as before unless I had everything except Zyn. and Rosegarden shut down.

So, although this was informative, it wasn't particularly useful

[kara]

I have my personal upgrade strategy with my Linux
My linux daw runs flawless never any problems.
So, my strategy is no updates 

I know this discussable but I don't see any reason to touch it 
What is the expression again ? If it ain't broke don't fix it ?

k

[Oren]

I have my personal upgrade strategy with my Linux
My linux daw runs flawless never any problems.
So, my strategy is no updates 

More and more, I get the feeling this is the best policy. Then if some new task becomes desirable, but my current set-up will not accommodate it,...that's the time to select updates/upgrades that will enable the necessary improved performance.

[folderol]

Oh I agree with you both 100% for my working partitions, However, I'm a compulsive tweaker, so like to mess about in my spare partitions. If it breaks, it doesn't really matter - rinse & repeat

However, I do keep up-to-date with security patches on my office/internet machine. The DAW doesn't get touched as I never go on the net with it.

[kara]

The DAW doesn't get touched as I never go on the net with it.

Same here...

k