[PlanetCCRMA] FC4 on an older machine?

[Len]

I've been running FC1 (2.4.26-1.ll.rhfc1.ccrma) on an older machine:
P3 800MHz processor
512MB RAM
19GB primary HD
40GB secondary (audio)
Echo Layla 24/96 audio interface (PCI slot 2, not shared - IRQ 10)
Graphics integrated in MOBO (64MB)

I dual-boot Windows and Linux, and the audio drive is formatted as FAT32 so it can be accessed
from either OS.

I've gotten decent results, and multi-tracking in Ardour hasn't been a problem.  Most of the stuff
I've recorded by myself, and I've played all the instruments and vocal tracks, so I never used
more than a few tracks simultaneously, though I've overdubbed lots more tracks, up to 10 or so. 
No problems.

Recently, I racked my computer and took it over to a friend's house to record our band.  I enabled
7 or 8 tracks and hit record.  After a few seconds of recording, Ardour tells me that "the disk
was not able to keep up with Ardour" and the recording is hosed.

Since I haven't tried recording this many tracks at the same time, I don't know if this is a new
problem or if it's been there all along.  I guess it's possible that the audio disk format (FAT32)
is a contributing factor.  I added a USB2.0 PCI card a while back, and no matter what I do it
wants to share an IRQ with Layla (even if I assign Layla to a different IRQ).  I haven't tried
removing the USB card and recording, but I guess that would be a no-brainer and something I should
have tried already.

I am considering the move up to FC4.  Is my system up to it?  Anyone running FC4 successfully on
an older machine with good results?

Thanks.
Len

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