Quicker boot times?

jon_k · 06-05-2006, 11:13 PM

What would you guys suggest to streamline the boot process?

Are there any specific distros you would suggest?

I think I'm going to go with Ubuntu as a base install, then recompile the kernel to be lean, and install something like XFCE for a quick windowmanager.

Change · 06-06-2006, 10:57 AM

Check out XUbuntu, it's Ubuntu with XFCE instead of Gnome. Saves you a bit of trouble in removing unnecessary Gnome stuff and getting XFCE installed.
http://www.xubuntu.org

f1vlad · 06-06-2006, 11:23 AM

I'll try this tonight too, last night installed FEDORA CORE, it's too slow bootup compared to Windows XP

sumit_b · 06-07-2006, 10:47 AM

Make sure you turn off all unnecessary services. Do a

Code:

chkconfig --list | grep 3:on

to see which services are started at boot time. You can get rid of a whole bunch of 'em, especially in a car environment.

blk · 06-11-2006, 04:19 PM

check out initng, it's quite a boost for me, have a running myth frontend (on ratpoison-wm, so quite minimal) in about 30sec from grub.
what it does is basically heavily parallelize the boot process, to not idle around

jon_k · 06-12-2006, 02:20 AM

Thanks for the comments. The chkconfig or other proprietary redhat-only commands wont work as I'm on debian.

I've basically parallized the booting process, and stripped all unneeded init scripts.

Seems to work.

bugmenot13 · 07-17-2006, 11:51 AM

Wouldn't using a flash drive for the booting system really speed up the process?

Kinda make an embedded Linux, using the HD only for data storage.

shotgunefx · 07-17-2006, 12:00 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by jon_k

Thanks for the comments. The chkconfig or other proprietary redhat-only commands wont work as I'm on debian.

I've basically parallized the booting process, and stripped all unneeded init scripts.

Seems to work.

I've found some aspects a real PITA with Debian. Some things are not as transparent as they could be. Like, how the hell do I stop modules from being loaded? They're are multiple places to blacklist them and none seem to work.

For instance, I have firewire, but no desire to use it or load it, figure I might be able to shave off a second or so taking out all the related modules, but for the life of me, I can't make it do it outside of renaming the modules. /etc/modutils/aliases is not cutting it.

You might want to look at bootchart, it's in apt for testing (don't think it's in stable, but not sure), it's a good tool for timing boots and showing what's taking up all the time.

What is everyone else getting for boot time? I'm at 35 seconds. Not bad, not great.

OTOH, suspend/resume is taking almost the same amount of time as a boot. I'd really like to hear some tips in that department.

Change · 07-17-2006, 01:01 PM

Bootchart is in testing and unstable, if you're running stable you can get the bootchart source package and compile it for your system.
See here: http://lyre.mit.edu/~powell/debian-h...ld-source.html
(an easy way to make sure all dependencies are met for the source package is apt-get build-dep packagename)

shotgunefx · 07-17-2006, 01:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Change

Bootchart is in testing and unstable, if you're running stable you can get the bootchart source package and compile it for your system.
See here: http://lyre.mit.edu/~powell/debian-h...ld-source.html
(an easy way to make sure all dependencies are met for the source package is apt-get build-dep packagename)

Any thoughts on preventing the xx1394 modules loading? Is it hotplug doing it?

I keep cutting services and what not but I can't get past 33 seconds. I think most of it is hotplug. (Not sure if I'm reading the bootchart correctly)

Change · 07-18-2006, 01:01 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Any thoughts on preventing the xx1394 modules loading? Is it hotplug doing it?

I keep cutting services and what not but I can't get past 33 seconds. I think most of it is hotplug. (Not sure if I'm reading the bootchart correctly)

Hm. List of Hotplug-related files here: http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man8/hotplug.8.html

More documentation here: http://linux-hotplug.sourceforge.net/

Aha, there's an /etc/hotplug/blacklist file that can be used to specify modules you never want loaded: http://www.bangmoney.org/presentations/hotplug/

rocken · 07-18-2006, 01:21 PM

Fedora's early-login for gdm works well, its much faster than a full boot up to login. This is one of the reasons I use fedora, and I ditched debian b/c the bootup is too long and no way around it.

Change · 07-18-2006, 01:43 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by blk

check out initng, it's quite a boost for me, have a running myth frontend (on ratpoison-wm, so quite minimal) in about 30sec from grub.
what it does is basically heavily parallelize the boot process, to not idle around

runit is another init replacement, and there's even a Debian package for it: http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/199
(Downside to runit is that it seems to work quite differently than init/initng, but initng is currently only in Debian experimental)

shotgunefx · 07-18-2006, 05:28 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Change

Hm. List of Hotplug-related files here: http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man8/hotplug.8.html

More documentation here: http://linux-hotplug.sourceforge.net/

Aha, there's an /etc/hotplug/blacklist file that can be used to specify modules you never want loaded: http://www.bangmoney.org/presentations/hotplug/

Thanks, it gets confusing with the various subsystems. modutils/udev/hotplug.

I think I'll have to read up a bit more on coldplug too.

Don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I fixed my sound getting borked on resume. I had ampd and acpi both running. Getting rid of ampd fixed it.

Change · 07-19-2006, 03:17 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Thanks, it gets confusing with the various subsystems. modutils/udev/hotplug.

I think I'll have to read up a bit more on coldplug too.

Let me know what you find about hotplug. My system appears to be loading modules from /etc/modules and then hotplug loads and attempts to load the same modules all over again...time to get to the module tweaking!