After a power surge I’m left with an old junk for some time (P4@2.8GHz, 2GB, WinXP SP3). I have installed RT, but not-that-old versions are all unusable: with some RAWs they crash upon displaying the thumbnail (even if it’s the only file in the folder!), while with others it happens only upon loading them into the editor, in the middle of demosaicing. Too little RAM, one could say - BUT! For me it doesn’t look like that, and in fact I tried it out on a “test rat” system first, an even weaker netbook (1,6GHz, 1,5GB, WinXP SP3), and it worked flawlessly (only terribly slow). So there must be a different issue.
What should I do in this case? Install the debug build and submit a bug report?
In regards to running Linux, I think you may be quite pleasantly surprised at just how easy it is to run and use day to day.
Installation these days is usually ridiculously way and relatively foolproof. You could always boot a live cd and see if it runs on without committing at first.
I have been using Linux as an auxiliary system for some time - but I still don’t feel experienced enough to safely handle my data and to deal with problems and emergencies that will arise sooner or later. In Linux, it’s rather easy to make a fatal mistake.
Also, AFAIK NTFS support is still somewhat rudimentary in Linux, so sharing data with Windows is problematic. I have 4,5TB of data in NTFS, and currently don’t have enough storage to back it up - this is pretty much an obstacle, I think.
Not to mention SW not available for Linux and also not compatible with WINE.
(Then, with the debug build crashing earlier, is there any hope to find a solution or workaround for the 1-2 months before I buy a new mobo?)
Good to know, thanks for the info. But I still don’t feel that my Linux experience is enough to safely work on my data. I’m afraid that this and my Windows rote would result in data loss. If I could make a full backup, then I’d be more comfortable with it, but currently I have only a few smaller drives for backup purposes, just enough for the most important stuff.
Regarding the crash under WinXP, no ideas? Again, the debug build crashes while loading, just after displaying the console window (which is empty), while the fast build crashes upon opening most RAW files (in the middle of the demosaicing phase), and also upon displaying thumbnails for RAWs from the Lumix FZ30. But on a yet weaker netbook (also WinXP) I can even successfully save images.
then maybe you could use one of the smaller harddrives and try Linux there first.
Copy your really needed data to the Linux drive and unplug the Windows hdd afterwards.
Your Windows/data will be save and will work as your backup, so to say.
You will see its often easier as you think.
I am myself have been converting to Linux (Ubuntu 14.04LTS) for about two years now, and its a mostly a good experience.
But I can understand that you are afraid. Changing the OS is not the easiest thing in the world.
I actually have a test system with Linux, but it was hooked up to my small and lousy secondary display (perfectly unsuitable for any graphics work) via a KVM switch. Now I bought an active VGA splitter and hooked it up to the unused VGA port of the primary display too. But Linux doesn’t like my splitter very much - while Windows has no problems with it I’m sill looking for a solution, have already experimented with xrandr, but in vain.
That’s the difference: Linux is basically very cool, and in some fields very impressive and much ahead of Windows, but one simply can’t expect it to work. A lot of problems need to be solved to get a usable system, and one must have near expert knowledge to use it safely and reliably. I actively work to achieve this, but it will take some time
Off: does anyone know how to get rid of the automatic window tiling under LXLE? After idling for a while, all the windows get tiled up, which annoys me pretty much.
I’m sill looking for a solution, have already experimented with xrandr, but in vain.