Slipstreaming

[markstaylor]

I was just curious...
Is there a way to slipstream (combine all the updates with the original disk)
AMS5.

[Corey]

Well I'm not sure if I'm reading you right, perhaps you could give an example, but sure, it's definitely possible to create projects which are easy to update incrementally at distribution time, or contain a "service pack". If you are getting heavy into updating then TrueUpdate is a good thing to check out too. :yes

[markstaylor]

With slipstreaming you can for example take a Windows XP Service Pack 1 disk, copy it to your computer, then download the SP2 that is huge and have it installed over the original image. Then copy the files back to a new cd and it's now a Windows Xp Service Pack 2 CD. There are some other steps in there but I don't remember them off hand.

Just wondering if that can be done with AMS5. Again not a big deal, just wondering. It's useful in the example above, but I won't be installing AMS5 very offen.

But thanks

[Corey]

Yes it can be done. How tricky it would be would depend on what you are trying to accomplish, but let's take a look at an example. Let's say you released an autorun CD for a local band which has an HTML "buy now" page in it. So suppose you send that to the duplicators and they use that as your master copy. Now let's say the band releases a new CD 2 months later which you wish to add to the distribution. You only have to email the new "buy now" page to the duplicator, not the entire project. Simply make sure you place the updated content in an otherwise empty folder structure which is the same as the original project's and all the duplicator has to do is overwrite their master and the CDs keep right on rolling. Rolling, rolling, rolling, keep 'em doggies rolling.

This can be applied at any level, i.e. you can create an advanced full history binary patch for any executable in just a few minutes by dragging and dropping using Visual Patch, or you can create your own simple "pseudo service packs" by just arranging your "content to be updated" in folders and sending those out.

Hope I've addressed your main point here. If you ever have a specific scenarios in mind just post a few details and we'll try to elaborate on the process a bit. :yes

[Lorne]

I was just curious...
Is there a way to slipstream (combine all the updates with the original disk)
AMS5.

In case you're just asking if you can combine all of the updates that Indigo Rose has released for AutoPlay 5 together so you don't have to update it once it's installed...the answer is both "yes" and "you don't have to."

"Yes" - if you contact our support department I bet they could arrange to send you the full installer for the latest version.

"You don't have to" - all of our updates for 5.0 were full-history patches, so although you may have updated it several times, there has always only been 1 update to download at any given time (which can update all previous versions).

In other slipstreaming news, I got in behind a large dump truck on my bike yesterday. He pulled past me (and almost brushed my elbow!) while I was waiting at an intersection just before a really large overpass. When the light turned green, I waited for him to pull ahead, then tucked in behind the trailer and sprinted to keep up. I flew up the overpass at 44 km/h...with the slipstream it actually felt like I was going downhill!

I've slipstreamed in the past (on my other bike with the semi-slicks I've hit 65 km/h slipstreaming behind a bus) but never uphill, and I never imagined it would make that much of a difference. Wow.

[Sandy]

Lorne, that sounds dangerous! Be careful...

[Lorne]

Yeah, I don't do it very often...in this case the truck started off slowly enough that I had to hold back to stay behind him anyway, and the slipstream was just too sweet to pass up. There's almost no room to ride next to traffic on that overpass, so the safety bonus of keeping up with traffic offset the risk of slipstreaming a bit.

Big trucks don't stop that quickly, anyway...the biggest risk is from not having a view of the road ahead. Debris or a surprise pothole can be pretty brutal.

It is still risky, though...I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. "Don't try this at home, kids!"

Even with the slipstream I didn't top my fastest flat-out speed on the new bike, though. I hit 51.7 km/h a couple weeks ago with a tail wind, not bad for knobbies. In a 50 km/h zone, too...too bad there was no radar car around.

The downhill side of the overpass was disappointing; I was hoping to barrel down (without slipstreaming), but I had a really aggressive driver on my tail so I had to move to the narrow shoulder, which has some very dangerous protrusions that I had to dodge and hop over. About halfway down I had to cope with a 12 inch asphalt "spike" at the edge of a deep pothole...with no room to ride between it and the guard rail, and I had another car coming up fast from the rear. I didn't think I could hop over the asphalt spike (and I didn't want to risk unclipping) so I pulled onto the road and just hopped over the pothole...the car didn't move over much but thank goodness it didn't hit me.

Not a road I'd want to ride every day, that's for sure. (I was getting some new tires put on the Jeep...I felt fortunate to make it to the tire shop alive.)

[Corey]

Calculated risk and controlled chaos is healthy. It's good for your mind and good for your body. The key is knowing your limits and fully understanding the consequences of failure. :yes

On my skateboard, if I can't easily land something 100 times out of 100 under controlled circumstances I won't attempt it under uncontrolled circumstances. :o