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Linux booted in one second
Boot times have shortened to around 30 seconds with Windows 7, but now there's some Linux jockeys who have figured out how to cold boot a computer from nothing to operational status in one second. Yes, it's a tech demo, and they're booting an embedded system with minimal drivers, so it's not a full Windows-like environment. But this proves that short boot times are indeed possible.
Of course, you can bring your Mac or PC out of sleep mode almost instantly, but that's not the same thing as cold-booting an entire operating system in one second. Google talks about short boot times for its upcoming Google Chrome OS (which has Linux underpinnings), but are they talking about a 1-second time? We think not. Maybe they could get together with these guys from MonteVista for a few speed tips.
See a video of the quick boot:
Via Pocket Lint
By oldguy9999 at 3:11 PM ON 07/15/09
When I worked at Phoenix (BIOS company) 8 years ago, they could boot to an email client AND a web browser in about 8 seconds. A certain giant OS company threatened to put us out of business if we ever released it.
By Giggity at 3:47 PM ON 07/15/09
I had a friend that modified the linux OS to do a 15s boot w/ a full firewall & antivirus setup in a locked mode a few years ago.
He was working on secure network servers for traffic routing at his company.
Still, 1s is impressive...so it your 8s for email & browsers oldguy9999.
I wish I could get my Windoz running in 30s.
Its not really the OS...just all the extra cr@p that has to run...like firewall, antivirus and other misc system tray junk.
By noah at 7:06 PM ON 07/15/09
oldguy, you can do that today, and no the certain OS company did not say that.
By kubiaka at 7:12 PM ON 07/15/09
I would just like to see an antivirus solution that would run at boot (scan memory) then unload itself completely and run as a scheduled task whenever specified. The key here is for it to completely remove itself when it has completed it's assigned task.
By MatthiasF at 1:12 AM ON 07/16/09
Oldguy, that was a travesty and could have ushered in the era of netbooks sooner.
Noah, he's right. Microsoft did pressure Phoenix to not provide a BIOS based OS in 2002.
During 2003, Phoenix conceeded and Microsoft appeased them by throwing research money at them.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-24563723_ITM
Later, after Linux and virtualization started taking hold, Phoenix rebranded their OS and filed a suit against Microsoft's policy on Window's use on virtual machines.
I'm hoping someone starts an open source project to create a standardized BIOS library so the rest of us can adapt the ROM to our own uses.
By Maj at 1:38 PM ON 07/16/09
A lot of good things never happened because of monopolies.
Anyways, what's with the fixation on boot times? Why not focus more on not having to reboot in the first place?
By MatthiasF at 3:39 AM ON 07/17/09
In order to update primary components of an OS, like kernel and what not, or recover from power/error failure quickly, boot times are important.
This company in particular is targeting automobile computers. So, showing that their computer can boot Linux in the time it takes to unturn the ignition key, is fairly impressive.
Means car computers might be able to handle more complex tasks in the future.
By vipul at 12:15 PM ON 08/19/09
amazing !!
By saran at 12:26 PM ON 08/19/09
I like it
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