[Cialug] load average+upgrade

[Nathan C. Smith]

>   I have a linux box (my webcam box) that is constantly at a 2.5-3.5
> load average and can't keep up with the load.  It is an obviously
> overworked K6-2 500, would swapping it to a PII-350 get it to 
> acceptable
> performance, or do I need something more powerful (I have the 
> PII laying
> around, faster would involve money)?  I would use one of the other
> servers, but none of them have the spare slots for the video 
> capture cards.

Do you have a recent kenel loaded?  There were some nice enhancements added
to recent(ish) 2.6 kernels for "realtime" to make them more responsive to
realtime-like stuff - video, audio etc.  Maybe you can switch to one?

Can you unload or remove anything not being used?  Disable any hardware not
in use through the BIOS.  If you do an 'lspci' and 'cat /proc/interrupts'
are any of your interrupts being shared?  Try to get the capture card on
it's own interrupt.

How far behind is the video?  Can you renice the process?  Can you shrink
the resolution?

-Nate