1 Second Linux Boot!

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
From our friends over at ZDNet comes this little impressive Linux instant cold boot exercise. Sure, it’s not your everyday boot sequence, but it does show what can be done by optimizing resources. Apple, Microsoft, are you listening?
 
The obsession with boot times. Really I reboot so little that anything around 30 seconds isn't a big deal however this is nice.
 
Yes, that was fast, but it's essentially an embedded device. That boot sequence most likely does not contain half of the stuff required to boot a modern, fully featured desktop OS.
 
MajorDomo said:
From our friends over at ZDNet comes this little impressive Linux instant cold boot exercise. Sure, it’s not your everyday boot sequence, but it does show what can be done by optimizing resources. Apple, Microsoft, are you listening?
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If Windows / OSX booted up anywhere near as fast (Which would only be possible by delaying/disabling a crapload of services, among other things) people would complain about why it takes so long to open even basic tools like their internet browser even though the OS is 'booted up'.

So either you load up a decent chunk of stuff at boot up so it doesn't affect load times down the road, or you load up what needs to be loaded up when you first run stuff that requires it.. Which would suck.
 
I don't really care about my boot time because I only reboot one Tuesday a month and it happens automatically while I'm asleep.
 
MajorDomo said:
Apple, Microsoft, are you listening?
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Are you advocating fixed hardware platforms with fixed services and zero user control of configuration? :p

PCs != fixed configuration embedded systems.

I do wish though that the OS could snapshot a completed boot and use that if no software or hardware was changed, maybe compressed/encrypted in a small amount of very fast flash or battery backed RAM. I know the idea has been kicked around before, but it's not gone anywhere on Windows.

I use sleep mode on the desktop and the OS comes back in 3-4 seconds. Rebooting is only once or twice a month for driver updates and patches.
 
pxc said:
I use sleep mode on the desktop and the OS comes back in 3-4 seconds. Rebooting is only once or twice a month for driver updates and patches.
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Yep, no reason to shut down anymore really..
 
Blazestorm said:
Yep, no reason to shut down anymore really..
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Yeah, same here. I have my PC sleep when not running stuff overnight, only restart automatically on Tuesdays when neeed, while I am asleep, and am running it during the day otherwise. My boot time is of no concern to me anymore, as it's so infrequently necessary to deal with.
 
anyone else notice something funny when he put the cord back in it showed the booted os then rebooted...
 
heatlesssun said:
The obsession with boot times. Really I reboot so little that anything around 30 seconds isn't a big deal however this is nice.
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I feel pretty much the same. I honestly never got the obsession with boot speed. So long as it doesn't take something stupid like a couple of minutes I am never sitting there waiting anyhow. That said, I think I turn my PC off once a month at most.
 
My Prius boots up about that fast too... It's not the same as a PC.
 
The ASUS expressgate OS thing on an SSD boots up in just over 1 second. You can go in genmay and play music on that. So its pretty full featured.
 
good comeback folks, but let's face it, we all want windows to boot that fast. why? simple cause sometimes we just want to play game/finish level on that 20 min brake.
 
scbjmshpv said:
good comeback folks, but let's face it, we all want windows to boot that fast. why? simple cause sometimes we just want to play game/finish level on that 20 min brake.
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Sure it would be great if my sig rig boot in one second, but the point a lot of us were making is just how often do you actually have to reboot. And if you have a machine that takes 20 minutes to boot up, Houston you have a problem.
 
todlerix said:
If my computer booted in 1 second it'd get turned off a whole lot more.
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+1

and sleep doesn't work perfectly for everyone... there's always something different after my PC wakes up (like monitor calibration is lost or doesn't initialize my external sound card, etc..)
 
My computer boots fast enough. But when booting my Areca is powering up, checking etc. This cost a lot of time. But hey, when it runs, it runs ;)
 
ShadowVlican said:
and sleep doesn't work perfectly for everyone... there's always something different after my PC wakes up (like monitor calibration is lost or doesn't initialize my external sound card, etc..)
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Yeah, some drivers and boards have problems. Thankfully none of my systems have problems with sleep mode. :p
 
OK, but if let's say my Windows 7 booted this fast, how the heck am I going to hit F8 fast enough to get into safe mode? : p
 
To all those who say they don't need to reboot....did you actually do any HW changes to those PCs? Or driver updates? While Vista and 7 really took down reboot counts for drivers, they did not eliminate them. And for HW changes you NEED to power off.
I am usually the 1st support for family members and friends, and I really don't enjoy waiting 1-2 minutes (basically do nothing) until the new HW starts and then install the driver and wait another 1-2 minutes because it needed a reboot (even 5 minutes/boot on bloated and old systems). While you may not be bothered because you do (if you do) this to 1 PC, but those who do "occasional work" on many PCs are really affected by boot times.
My worst fears in support are: 1.windows reinstallation; 2.boot times; 3.Virus/Malware scans. At least for the scans I can "prepare" psichologically. But for the boots, they are small in many places. And I'm not talking about this+last years hardware.
 
SXO said:
OK, but if let's say my Windows 7 booted this fast, how the heck am I going to hit F8 fast enough to get into safe mode? : p
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Actually, I was just thinking....depending on your genre of gaming, you might be real good at button mashing. ;) Problem solved.
 
SXO said:
OK, but if let's say my Windows 7 booted this fast, how the heck am I going to hit F8 fast enough to get into safe mode? : p
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Wel....just keep it pressed when powering on. In all my history, if the BIOS did not clear the keyboard buffer (not seen any), bootmgr/ntldr would catch it. I think the NT range does not wait for user input at boot. Only 9x waits 2 seconds.
 
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