Thread: Test/Development Machines?

Originally Posted by Minoritydan

How many of you guys have a test PC that you use before making changes to your prod (Car) system?

After I upgraded my Mainboard to address my High CPU Usage issue, I was thinking of turning it into a test machine.

Of course, its not the same hardware, but still, It might prove useful.

I do everything on a test machine before adding to the truck. My truck is usually 2 or 3 versions behind the test machine.

Well I now have the same MB indoors as the one in the car, the car has a XP-M 2400 and indoors has a XP-M 2500. I now also have identical 80GB 2.5" drives so I will build indoors and test then ghost to other drive and update the car with that one.

So yes I will have a test/Develop machine

I, too, keep a dev machine running at home with an indoor screen, whereas the cars have outdoor screens. Same hardrive, same hardware, same USBs.

I'm a little more of a risk-taker than Fixer: trusted software is installed on the Car as soon as its tested (RR updates, plugin updates, etc); test/beta software is usually only one version behind if installed in car; hardware is always the same although some remains on the Dev machine until software for it matures, i.e., Fusion Brain had to wait for RRFusion.

I will leave some software on the Dev machine waiting for it to mature, otherwise its documented on the dev machine and removed (my memory ain't what it used to be). Hardware thats not implemented is also documented and removed to be sold at swap meets/eBay/used elsewhere.

Dev machine is backed up to my server weekly. Restore points are set before every beta software test. My server is also my repository for all CarPC related software downloads (I probably have 90% of everything RR since its inception). I also keep a notebook listing all the versions of everything installed on the CarPC for issues like RRFusion doesn't work with the latest Fusion drivers, YET, so I have the old drivers on both, but I keep downloading the new (without installing) just to keep the repository current. I share my repository with no one and its inaccessible from the net. In addition, approximately 3 times a year, the downloads/install pkgs for all software on the CarPC is backed up on data DVDs and stored offsite.

I have a quad core vista x64 beast for my devel machine. I do all RR testing on this. If there is something specific to XP I want to test I have a virtual machine of XP SP3 installed so I can test the differences in real time on the same machine. Since I run an embedded OS in the car sometimes the production software is 6 months or more behind the devel box.

Gee Gizmo.... That's just one notch below insanity....

i use vmware on my laptop

Originally Posted by Blue ZX3

Gee Gizmo.... That's just one notch below insanity....

Sorry to disappoint you . About every 4 month everything I touch breaks so I've learned to keep multiple layers of backups.

And yes, I have two or three of everything cause at several times over the years I've considered doing a stealth install in one or another of my cars - to date: I never have because the convenience of the tablets, IN MY OPINION, still outweighs the OEM look.