Faster startup and shutdown
Saturday, 4. October 2008, 05:18:23
Linux boots in 5 seconds.
Well, it's about time! This recent focus on bootup and shutdown times is quite welcome.
I remember when my old 1MHz Apple 2 used to boot up within about 5 seconds off a floppy disk. Sure, things were less demanding then, but CPU and I/O were also much slower. I'm quite certain that my old 386-33 used to boot Windows 3.1 to a usable point much quicker than my 2.2GHz Core2 Duo boots WinXP.
Glossing over the details, what it amounts to is that my computers are effectively slower in use than they used to be. All the progress in hardware performance has been more than offset by slowdowns in software.
It's not just desktop PCs either. My ADSL modem router takes several minutes from switch-on until it's ready to work. The reason is that it's using a general-purpose operating system, an embedded Linux. The problem is it's not a general-purpose computer. It's very much an application specific computer. It should be ready to work in a second or two. It's a similar deal with my network printer adapter, and my Wifi APs.
When I compare those devices with some network enabled things I've built myself (an NTP server and UPS monitor, both Ethernet TCP/IP devices), using no operating system, each of those boxes is fully operational less than a second after switch on. I don't expect that sort of performance from a general-purpose computer, but I do expect that sort of thing from a specialised box.
Getting back to the 5 second boot. This is exactly the sort of thing that Linux needs. It makes it a point of distinction compared to any other desktop operating system out there. People want to DO things with their computer, not sit and wait for it to boot. If people could walk up to their desk, turn their computer on, and have it ready to do things by the time they sat down in front of it - they would flock to such a thing.
It also makes it so much more appealing to embedded developers. I'd be stoked if my ADSL modem, NAS and Wifi APs could be operational in 5 seconds. In fact, the guy who did the 5 second boot admit they could make it boot even faster. Plus embedded devices probably won't need to launch an X-Window manager!
Well, it's about time! This recent focus on bootup and shutdown times is quite welcome.
I remember when my old 1MHz Apple 2 used to boot up within about 5 seconds off a floppy disk. Sure, things were less demanding then, but CPU and I/O were also much slower. I'm quite certain that my old 386-33 used to boot Windows 3.1 to a usable point much quicker than my 2.2GHz Core2 Duo boots WinXP.
Glossing over the details, what it amounts to is that my computers are effectively slower in use than they used to be. All the progress in hardware performance has been more than offset by slowdowns in software.
It's not just desktop PCs either. My ADSL modem router takes several minutes from switch-on until it's ready to work. The reason is that it's using a general-purpose operating system, an embedded Linux. The problem is it's not a general-purpose computer. It's very much an application specific computer. It should be ready to work in a second or two. It's a similar deal with my network printer adapter, and my Wifi APs.
When I compare those devices with some network enabled things I've built myself (an NTP server and UPS monitor, both Ethernet TCP/IP devices), using no operating system, each of those boxes is fully operational less than a second after switch on. I don't expect that sort of performance from a general-purpose computer, but I do expect that sort of thing from a specialised box.
Getting back to the 5 second boot. This is exactly the sort of thing that Linux needs. It makes it a point of distinction compared to any other desktop operating system out there. People want to DO things with their computer, not sit and wait for it to boot. If people could walk up to their desk, turn their computer on, and have it ready to do things by the time they sat down in front of it - they would flock to such a thing.
It also makes it so much more appealing to embedded developers. I'd be stoked if my ADSL modem, NAS and Wifi APs could be operational in 5 seconds. In fact, the guy who did the 5 second boot admit they could make it boot even faster. Plus embedded devices probably won't need to launch an X-Window manager!




