I have experienced random freezes and semi-freezes (that defrosts after a few seconds) in the last three releases (2.4.4 - 2.4.6) when memory gets tight. I guess it's too early for me to tell whether this situation has improved in 2.4.7, after just a few hours of uptime. However, my informal test suggests an improvement.
The test was, on a P200MMX 64MB RAM 64MB swap, to launch Netscape Communicator 4.77, Mozilla 0.9.2, Galeon 0.11.1, Opera 5.0 and Limewire 1.6 ("heavy" Java application) simultaneously. This was done from within the already voluminous XFree 4.1 and Ximian GNOME (not running Nautilus). I also monitored the happening with a GNOME Terminal running "top". Everything was fine, although there was quite a bit of swapping going on. I therefore launched XMMS 1.2.5. The sound was smooth as long as I did not return to the screen with the four browsers. But I had to return to open a few web pages as simultaneously as possible in the different browsers.
I probably should have ended the test at this point - my HD LED was lighting up the entire neighborhood. However, I launched the GIMP 1.2.1. Confident that this was a manageable task, having no more swap and 1700 kB of memory, Linux 2.4.7 went on starting the GIMP. I admit there were quite a few glitches in the XMMS MP3 playback by this time and eventually, the system came to an effective halt, thrashing like crazy.
So freezes are gone, good old thrashing is back... I hope.
What I am about to point out may sound obvious, but I think it's important to straighten it out. There is a difference between Open Source as principle and Open Source Software as it appears today. What many people regard as a general lack of user-friendly interfaces among Open Source Software, has nothing to do with its source being open. It's not like the ingenious user interface you've just designed will break apart as soon as you decide to open the source.
The author talks about "the Open Source model" not having any mechanisms for user feedback. Although strictly true, there is nothing that says that open source and user feedback can't be used together. "The Open Source model" implies the source is open, and that's pretty much that. The model does not exclude the possibility to supplement the "development model" with some kind of ingenious user feedback mechanism. The fact that this mixture is still rare, is not a result of a conflict with the openness of Open Source Software. It probably has to do with Open Source still being a pretty young and unexplored phenomenon, at least to the wider public.
I know the article doesn't strictly contradict what I've just written, but I think it's important to underline my point to the people who just read the first paragraph of the article and then concluded that Open Source will result in bad UIs. Okay, those people probably don't read this anyway, so for the rest of you; go tell them!:-)
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I have experienced random freezes and semi-freezes (that defrosts after a few seconds) in the last three releases (2.4.4 - 2.4.6) when memory gets tight. I guess it's too early for me to tell whether this situation has improved in 2.4.7, after just a few hours of uptime. However, my informal test suggests an improvement.
The test was, on a P200MMX 64MB RAM 64MB swap, to launch Netscape Communicator 4.77, Mozilla 0.9.2, Galeon 0.11.1, Opera 5.0 and Limewire 1.6 ("heavy" Java application) simultaneously. This was done from within the already voluminous XFree 4.1 and Ximian GNOME (not running Nautilus). I also monitored the happening with a GNOME Terminal running "top". Everything was fine, although there was quite a bit of swapping going on. I therefore launched XMMS 1.2.5. The sound was smooth as long as I did not return to the screen with the four browsers. But I had to return to open a few web pages as simultaneously as possible in the different browsers.
I probably should have ended the test at this point - my HD LED was lighting up the entire neighborhood. However, I launched the GIMP 1.2.1. Confident that this was a manageable task, having no more swap and 1700 kB of memory, Linux 2.4.7 went on starting the GIMP. I admit there were quite a few glitches in the XMMS MP3 playback by this time and eventually, the system came to an effective halt, thrashing like crazy.
So freezes are gone, good old thrashing is back... I hope.
Cheers!
What I am about to point out may sound obvious, but I think it's important to straighten it out. There is a difference between Open Source as principle and Open Source Software as it appears today. What many people regard as a general lack of user-friendly interfaces among Open Source Software, has nothing to do with its source being open. It's not like the ingenious user interface you've just designed will break apart as soon as you decide to open the source.
:-)
The author talks about "the Open Source model" not having any mechanisms for user feedback. Although strictly true, there is nothing that says that open source and user feedback can't be used together. "The Open Source model" implies the source is open, and that's pretty much that. The model does not exclude the possibility to supplement the "development model" with some kind of ingenious user feedback mechanism. The fact that this mixture is still rare, is not a result of a conflict with the openness of Open Source Software. It probably has to do with Open Source still being a pretty young and unexplored phenomenon, at least to the wider public.
I know the article doesn't strictly contradict what I've just written, but I think it's important to underline my point to the people who just read the first paragraph of the article and then concluded that Open Source will result in bad UIs. Okay, those people probably don't read this anyway, so for the rest of you; go tell them!
KAR