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#1 2008-05-28 10:02:48

_Marco_
Member
Registered: 2008-04-21
Posts: 242

Speedup boot

Hi, I've read some topic lately about this
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=49202
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=31926
I've not (already) tested every suggestion but I've got a question...
"what is your boot time and what have you done to speedup it?"
('cause I've read of <15 seconds.)

I'll start with:
28 seconds (grub-to-openbox)

I modified this line in my rc.sysinit

/sbin/modprobe $mod &

as suggested in the second linked topic..

and in /etc/rc.conf I have this DAEMONS line

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hal @network @netfs @crond @alsa)

said that I leave the discussion to you smile

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#2 2008-05-28 14:49:06

Barrucadu
Member
From: York, England
Registered: 2008-03-30
Posts: 1,158
Website

Re: Speedup boot

My boot time is currently 27 seconds, but I hope to get it faster.

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#3 2008-05-28 15:29:02

SpookyET
Member
Registered: 2008-01-27
Posts: 410

Re: Speedup boot

2 minutes here to get a full working env.

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#4 2008-05-28 15:59:07

czar
Member
Registered: 2008-03-08
Posts: 115

Re: Speedup boot

I didn't read those threads but i think you can get the most substantial increase in your boot time from compiling all of your needed drivers into the kernel. Then you have no need for an initrd. Toofishes made a cutom kernel for the asus eee which does that (among other things like removing stuff you don' t need). It takes 15 seconds to boot into openbox from grub. Thanks again toofishes!!

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#5 2008-05-28 16:15:03

_Marco_
Member
Registered: 2008-04-21
Posts: 242

Re: Speedup boot

cool...
I always thought that initrd was necessary, do you know a guide that explains what to do?
(I looked in the wiki "kernel compilation" section, but I didn't find anything)
anyway when I compiled my own kernel the boot time difference with the arch one was inconsistent..

Last edited by _Marco_ (2008-05-28 17:01:34)

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#6 2008-05-28 18:15:20

dunc
Member
From: Glasgow, UK
Registered: 2007-06-18
Posts: 559

Re: Speedup boot

Some info on an initrd-less boot would be appreciated; it was going to be my next step too. Is it just a case of looking at the initcpio hooks and compiling those drivers into the kernel, or is there more to it?

For the record, I get about 20s from bootchart here - more like 40s once POST and loading the WM and desktop are taken into account. I haven't installed bootchart on the 600MHz Celeron, but it takes something like 1m 30s to the desktop with more or less the same tweaks I have here.


0 Ok, 0:1

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#7 2008-05-28 21:59:10

_Marco_
Member
Registered: 2008-04-21
Posts: 242

Re: Speedup boot

ah just for reference.. I've tryed the MOD_AUTOLOAD="no" and extremely long modules array in /etc/rc.conf (hwdetect --modules)
paradoxically my boot time is even bigger than the MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes" ... strange...

Last edited by _Marco_ (2008-05-28 21:59:28)

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#8 2008-05-28 22:23:16

Misfit138
Misfit Emeritus
From: USA
Registered: 2006-11-27
Posts: 4,189

Re: Speedup boot

Barrucadu wrote:

My boot time is currently 27 seconds, but I hope to get it faster.

15 seconds on my desktop, 27 seconds on my laptop.

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#9 2008-05-28 22:32:11

Kane
Member
Registered: 2006-10-08
Posts: 220

Re: Speedup boot

i dont use an initrd, and have compiled all my modules which are used everyday into the kernel, apart from oss4 modules and nvidia for obvious reasons tongue and i have a boot time of 20s.

To boot successfully without an initrd i think you simply need filesystem drivers and ide/hdd drivers compiled in. Someone please correct me if im wrong as i havnt tested what the bare minimum is, ive only tested with the modules i need.

(this is running on a XP 2200+ , not sure how much difference this makes compared to a newer faster system)

Last edited by Kane (2008-05-29 10:22:37)

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#10 2008-05-28 22:48:18

_Marco_
Member
Registered: 2008-04-21
Posts: 242

Re: Speedup boot

thanks kane for the clarification.. I will experiment a little then smile
(p.s. if someone have an howto anyway it would be nice )

@ misfit
I'm running arch on a laptop too so this maybe the point... thanks!

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#11 2008-05-28 23:05:54

koch
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2008-01-26
Posts: 369

Re: Speedup boot

20 seconds...


QL5ZN.png

oh, and my cpu runs at 3.44ghz not 2.66 as shown in the picture.

Last edited by koch (2008-05-28 23:08:04)

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#12 2008-05-30 14:30:26

czar
Member
Registered: 2008-03-08
Posts: 115

Re: Speedup boot

hey sorry i forgot about this thread but i have some great .pdf's on rebuilding your kernel. I'll post the link when i find it or if anyone else knows what i'm talkin about... go ahead.

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#13 2008-05-30 15:36:01

_Marco_
Member
Registered: 2008-04-21
Posts: 242

Re: Speedup boot

great!
thanks for the good news czar smile

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#14 2008-05-30 16:17:50

Shadowmeph
Member
From: West Coast Canada
Registered: 2008-05-19
Posts: 208

Re: Speedup boot

SO are you saying that you ( actually me) can rebuild the kernel so that it speeds up the boot process

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#15 2008-05-30 16:23:19

_Marco_
Member
Registered: 2008-04-21
Posts: 242

Re: Speedup boot

removing useless modules and removing the initrd (theoretically) yes, only rebuilding the kernel doesn't give (almost ?) any improvement in speed...

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#16 2008-05-30 16:44:15

Barrucadu
Member
From: York, England
Registered: 2008-03-30
Posts: 1,158
Website

Re: Speedup boot

I decreased my boot time by roughly 6 seconds recompiling the kernel and stripping out a load of things I didn't need.

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#17 2008-05-30 16:51:08

Shadowmeph
Member
From: West Coast Canada
Registered: 2008-05-19
Posts: 208

Re: Speedup boot

how do I figure out what I need and what I don't need ( I know sounds like a silly question) I am used to that MS operating system I used to use nLite/vLite and other to strip out things I didn't need to make smaller faster os. but with Linux ( which I like allot ) I am not sure which is what

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#18 2008-05-30 23:00:10

vsk
Member
Registered: 2008-05-27
Posts: 70

Re: Speedup boot

There's a good program called hwinfo that I used as a guide to compile my own kernel on Ubuntu. The essential idea is that if you can't see yourself using it (like bluetooth, or 30 different video drivers, ad infinitum), dont compile in support for it.

Unfortunately, I forgot to compile in support for PTY (yeah, I know, don't laugh at me) so no process on runlevel 5 could use any type of shell.
That sucked.
That was about 2 months ago, before I heard of Arch - but now that I looked over a couple threads regarding rc.conf and rc.sysinit, my boot time is around 10 - 20 seconds less than what it was with Ubuntu... But still far too long!!! ~35 seconds!!

I've read a post somewhere on these forums about a guy with a P3 with 500mhz booting in 15!! I've got a P4 with 2.6 GHz!! How do you people do it??

I've tried mkinitcpio as well, everything except compiling my own kernel and bypassing initrd.

Is it really worth it? Some people say the speed results are negligible..

Last edited by vsk (2008-05-30 23:04:27)

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#19 2008-05-31 01:03:02

koch
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2008-01-26
Posts: 369

Re: Speedup boot

vsk wrote:

Is it really worth it? Some people say the speed results are negligible..

IMHO the time you need to boot your system is not very important but it is nice to have a system that boots fast.

what is fast?

for me (and my hardware and my system-configuration) 18-20 seconds are fast but loading my bios takes more time than loading arch. i have a e6750 overclocked @3.44 ghz and a p35-ds3 mainboard with 2x1 ghz ddr2 800 ram@4-4-4-15.
guys with a p3 can boot their systen faster depending on the config.

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#20 2008-05-31 10:22:35

_Marco_
Member
Registered: 2008-04-21
Posts: 242

Re: Speedup boot

@koch: I have the same "bios turtle" problem on my desktop .. very irritating

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#21 2008-05-31 14:48:03

Barrucadu
Member
From: York, England
Registered: 2008-03-30
Posts: 1,158
Website

Re: Speedup boot

I reduced my BIOS load time as much as I could by specifying the hard drive as the first boot device, rather than checking the floppy and CD drives first.

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#22 2008-05-31 19:54:27

czar
Member
Registered: 2008-03-08
Posts: 115

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#23 2008-05-31 20:10:09

Misfit138
Misfit Emeritus
From: USA
Registered: 2006-11-27
Posts: 4,189

Re: Speedup boot

Using a static IP shoud also shave a couple seconds off; dhcpcd takes a few extra seconds to grab an IP.

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#24 2008-05-31 21:34:03

_Marco_
Member
Registered: 2008-04-21
Posts: 242

Re: Speedup boot

Thanks czar smile

@misfit
since dhcp is done (at least for the interfaces listed in /etc/rc.conf, eth0 only for me) by the network daemon (correct me if I'm saying an heresy) I've put the network daemon in background (@network) ... so even dhcp is done "in background" and you don't lose seconds ...
...
imho

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#25 2008-05-31 23:32:15

koch
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2008-01-26
Posts: 369

Re: Speedup boot

Barrucadu wrote:

I reduced my BIOS load time as much as I could by specifying the hard drive as the first boot device, rather than checking the floppy and CD drives first.

normally i have only one boot device configured so this is not the problem. when i have to boot from cd i change it in bios.
unnecessary things like game ports, etc. are disabled.
i have no floppy so this is disabled completely.

i don't know exactly how long it takes until grub menu shows up but i think it takes more time than booting arch.

will do a google search about this the next days. this weekend i have to work a lot so i don't  wanna think about this.
saturday and sunday it will be about 26 hours so i drink a beer or two now and go to bed.


edit:

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng @netfs @hal @fam @network @alsa @crond)


QL5ZN.png

Last edited by koch (2008-05-31 23:37:27)

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