I'm interested in this as a discussion, but Keith told me definitely not to mess about with the underlying OS, and I think Lee has also warned me off. I obey this for the story and reasons below.
As I understand it, with Raspbian just like with any Linux, compatibility issues exist and these are often resolved by things like pinning or fixed upgrades when the next release of everything is out and all the modules are know to be compatible. You'll sometimes see this if you use Linux Mint as it can lag behind Ubuntu, which lags behind Debian. I had an eeePC once, unlocked it to a full Linux desktop, then got sick of the lack of software choices and currency and added the mainstream Debian repository with no pinning, in anticipation of a lot more software choice, and totally bricked it, in terms of what knowledge I had. I had to do a full reset and start back at square 1.
BS from unqualified Southern oik:
When you sudo apt-get update, you only get update info from the repositories listed in the software sources. If the repository that the ogn software is in isn't listed, then it won't update.
If you add the repository that it lives in, without some sort of pinning or upgrade hierarchy, then the new version could bring in another load of new packages as dependencies which don't work with other, needed packages on the system. Broken...
You may know all this already, apologies if so...
As I understand it, and I'm interested in discussing this purely academically, the ATOM releases are with all known packages and are compatible. The replacement will also have a complete set of packages that are all compatible.
In between and unconnected may be Raspbian upgrades to various packages which work, negatively impact the ATOM ground station or break it.
As I understand it, the ATOM will auto update from one known all packages compatible release to the next, if it is after the release named as requiring a manual kick to the next one.
To provoke an auto update, if one exists, you could switch your station off, leave it ten minutes then switch to back on. Caveman approach to IT, but it works.
Mine's still on a time switch so it's off for about 3 hours a night.
Overarching engineering principle:
When it's working correctly, always, always, walk away.
The obvious conclusion is that it doesn't need mending.
If you attempt to mend it, the only expected change of state is from working to not working.
Engineering own goal.
I occasionally log in, ps ax, top and nc localhost.
Just to remind myself how it works and the password.
Otherwise, I just use it...
We ran up a new PAW Rosetta today before installation, and checked out the new functionality direct on tablet and via SkyDemon.
Brilliant.