[LAU] Got a bit of a problem

With trying to keep up with new versions of Zyn, Yoshimi & Rosegarden my system is getting very fragile. Originally based on 64studio V3 (beta) I've had to shoehorn bits in from repositories as new as debian squeeze. It only now takes the slightest mistake with an upgrade before the whole lot comes crashing down around my ears :( I've also made several attempts with ubuntu studio but found that quite hopeless on every occasion. After the most recent collapse I tried a different approach. I installed a fresh debian squeeze then added rt kernels from http://oselas.org/software/linux-rt/debian_en.html I installed both the nnn.29 and nnn.31 versions so I could try them both and see what differences there were. In fact they seem to behave about the same. They work, but performance is very poor. Jack seems to want to boot things out very quickly. With the latest (nio) build of Zyn the sound breaks up with the processors at around 45%, at about the same level Yoshimi gets booted out by jack. Previously I could get up to the 60-70% mark with these, and they never actually got booted - just sound breakup. The Rosegarden/Zyn/Jammin combo I used quite a bit in the past is quite unstable. Rosegarden even seems to lose the timing! I've done the usual settings in /etc/security/limits.conf but wonder if there are any other performance settings I'm should to alter elsewhere. As if this isn't enough, I can no longer get my MIDIsport working. It identifies itself quite correctly with the script I run, but then comes back with the message, 'can't open for input'. Needless to say, this is extremely frustrating. I don't want to go through the day-and-a-half procedure of rebuilding from the old 64studio again - and risking adding just the bit that breaks it all again - but I'm at a complete loss as to how to resolve this. -- Will J Godfrey http://www.musically.me.uk Say you have a poem and I have a tune. Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.