Rezern

As the title says I'm looking for the front end that boots the fastest(That will be from cold boot).
The system I'm planing to use is an Intel based MB with an Atom330 and 1Gig Ram,7200rpm HDD, if thats any help.
The main feature as you might have understand is the boot time, other things will be a bonus.
So if anyone that have logged their boot times on the different front ends could post them here, so I could compare and make an decision.

Thanks

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Machinehead

Windows, Linux, OSX, etc what OS are you planning on running?

DarquePervert

1 - You need to do some research. Boot times are discussed at great length on these forums.

2 - Hardware is going to have more impact on boot times than the OS & front-end software itself.

3 - In addition, configuration and tweaking will have more of an effect than the front-end itself.

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justchat_1

I can give you startup times of each of the software front ends.....but the only real full front end and OS is OpenICE.

As far as OS startup times - you can rule out a mac...but windows or linux depends on hardware.

edit:
Depending on how fast your looking - Software load times should be factored in...for me I had an 18sec cold boot so another 5 seconds waiting for a frontend to load was significant. I think in general centrafuse and streetdeck are probably the slowest (last I used them)...roadrunner falls in the middle depending on configuration....and revFE, nGhost and OpenMobile are easily the fastest.
[Begin Ad for my software]Being the developer of OpenMobile I can tell you load time is ~200ms on a dual core[End Ad]

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nobb

For something windows based, maybe look into optimizing your hibernation times instead of booting each time. Usually on a fresh install, windows itself takes about 30 seconds to load, which is approximately the same time you can hibernate in. Heavier front ends like Centrafuse can take a while to load on fresh boot, so hibernation would be much better. If you want a fast, clean boot each time, then probably a linux solution like OpenICE is what you are looking for. The disadvantage is that it most likely wont be as easy to use, compatible, and intuitive as a windows based program.

kev000

I would have said "does not have the wealth of plugins available for windows programs". The OpenICE interface is too simple to not understand. The issues most people have are the current bugs and implementing the workarounds because the workarounds often assume you have basic familiarity with a unix command line shell.

Unless you have experience with Linux, I cannot recommend using LinuxICE until it goes final. The latest daily-live (9-17) is really close, but even then, I would wait until LinuxICE 2.0 Final to be finished for a truly awesome and fast user experience. You are always welcome to test it out and make suggestions though .

200ms for OpenMobile is fast! I don't think nGhost is as fast to start, but it's definitely sub 1s. RevFE is probably close in there as well.

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Rezern

It will be either an windows or an linux based build, all depends on what boots the fastest.
I know linux might not be as user friendly as for instance a windows based front end, but thats not a big problem.I think it all comes down to what you're used to.
If I should end up with a linux based front end I would like to have all set up for me, as I'm not as comfortably with setting up and tweaking it as for now.
I must ad that I have been looking for LinuxICE for a while now, and me like Haven't really found some good data on how long it takes to boot, guess it's just me that's not good in searching.

trader007

your hardware is awfully weak for todays standards. the atom is a turtle cpu, and 1gb ram barely cuts it anymore. linux probably will be your fastest option, even over XP or win7.

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justchat_1

i think your missing what a lot of people are saying here. Startup times depend on hardware...it may take one user 30seconds to boot windows and another user with a faster computer 25 seconds to start linux. But that doesn't help you....because its not the same hardware.

i think what your looking for is one user who tests each different front end on the exact same computer and posts times......but unfortunately we don't have that kind of data (at least not that i've seen).

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Punky

the fastest booting FE is not having to boot them at all, like nobb said, hibernation/standby.

kev000

There are no officially recorded boot times for LinuxICE yet. From my daily experience on my Atom, I would say that it boots in ~15-20s. I'll have to put some official benchmarks together though. The cool thing is that once the desktop is up, it's ready to rock. The frontend (nGhost) *is* the desktop.

__________________
LinuxICE - because my car already has enough windows (and because I like speed).
LinuxICE2 beta2 is released!!! get it now!
Follow OpenICE development

Rezern

15-20 secs cold boot is really promising, so since i already like LinuxICE I now don't anything holding me back from using that in my carputer
I have been running LInuxICE on a virtual machine just to see how it was, but couldn't determinate how fast it was.
But I really like the feature of it being ready to use when screen splashes up

nobb

How does the install and ease of use of OpenICE compare to other Linux solutions (figure Id ask you since you seem like somewhat of a linux fan)? The reason why I (and probably many others) would be very hesitant to try out a linux based system is just because of the familiarity to windows. The interface of a linux based front end might be simple, but to install it and to get everything working initially seems to be a pain in the ***. Whereas with something like windows 7, you just follow the instructions, install it and go. Linux seems that you need to do a whole whack of research and searching to accomplish anything.

And if a linux front end takes around 20 - 30s to load up, then that seems very comparable to a windows system that just hibernates.

Machinehead

I am a Windows person but I've toyed with Ubuntu. Not necessarily a front end per se but it's Linux. It's as easy to get up and running as Windows 7. I couldn't get my middle mouse roller/button working but other than that everything else worked.

It's still Linux though, which means it's fairly useless for my needs. But as least I can say I tried it.

malcom2073

Ubuntu is one of the easiest Linux distros to get in to for windows users, that is true. It's really easy and straightforward to set up and not entirely difficult to use if you read the start-up guides.

On the other hand, there is a serious lack of Linux frontends... nGhost being one of the only ones. RevFE is Linux compatable, but is not officially supported with binary releases yet.

To be honest, unless you are looking to tinker and learn a new operating system, you should probably stick with Windows (as much as I hate to say it), and run RevFE which is really really fast (as much as I love to say it). That being said, LinuxICE is making leaps and bounds in the way of a one touch and go operating system/frontend, so you should definitely check it out before making any decisions

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