Is there a way to speed up X start?

slang · 2009-01-10 15:53:15

Hi there!

I'm new to Arch Linux (used Gentoo for about 9 months and Debian for about 4 years before that) and i really like it.
So i'm not really a newbie when it comes to linux in general.
But I'm at a loss currently.
I'm running Arch on my Dell Latitude (1.6 GHz, 1 GB Ram).
When i boot into runlevel 3 (without X) it takes about 14 seconds from grub to user login.
When booting into runlevel 5 (with X), the laptop needs 47 seconds.
Is there a way to speed up X start?

I tried both setting X to start via the default runlevel in /etc/inittab as well as setting to load my login manager (slim) as a daemon via /etc/rc.conf. When loading as a daemon i tried loading it normally as well as backgrounded. Neither approach led to any remarkable increase in boot time.

Do you have any suggestions on what i could try?

Thanks for your help.

Steffen

ShadowKyogre · 2009-01-10 16:20:59

What's your terminals? vc/ or tty?

slang · 2009-01-10 16:49:17

Hi ShadowKyogre,

/etc/inittab tells me it's vc/

Regards,

Steffen

ShadowKyogre · 2009-01-10 16:54:17

Try changing it to tty.

slang · 2009-01-10 18:12:08

Hi!

I just tried it out, but switching to tty didn't make any difference on boot time.
But I'm curious.
Is it normal that booting to the X-Login screen is taking 3 times the time it takes to boot to console?
I never never noticed this fact in the last 5 years.

Regards,

Steffen

u_no_hu · 2009-01-10 19:02:24

Did you have a look at xorg log /var/log/Xorg.0.log ? and may be disabling the auto detection stuff? For me it takes about 7 secs from startx to window manager

SaThaRiel · 2009-01-10 19:26:56

You should also install hsetroot. This seems to be the program which slim uses first to set its theme.

flamelab · 2009-01-11 06:17:02

In

/etc/inittab

replace all the

"wait" words with the word "once".

PS Backup inittab first.

Intrepid · 2009-01-11 06:35:58

You're using proprietary drivers yes? Or intel? If using Nvidia, have you tried using nvidia-xconfig? My performance increased afterward. Follow Flamelab's suggestions. If that doesn't work, do your host names match in /etc/hosts with /etc/rc.conf? This is proven to slow down servers such as X11. You said you weren't a newbie, so I don't know if this applies to you. I also suggest using a different login manager. SLIM (for me) can start slowly, while entrance, kdm, and gdm are always quick.

Last edited by Intrepid (2009-01-11 06:58:23)

slang · 2009-01-11 14:13:42

Hi, all...

I tried out your suggestions, but to no avail.
I'm using X with the intel drivers, as my laptop has an i810 chipset.
I'm trying out Entrance (from svn) now. Somewhere I read that slim can slow down the start, too.
So maybe the problem lies with Slim.
Maybe it's a problem with the HAL.
I used bootchartd to map log the boot process, and when i didn't background the starting of the daemons in /etc/rc.conf, it took me 46 seconds just to get the console login prompt.
So I think the problem is with the daemons somewhere.
Maybe have to tweak the starting order a little.

I'll try it and post the results here.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Steffen

slang · 2009-01-11 15:04:53

Just for information:

i rearranged my Daemons-Line in /et/rc.conf from

DAEMONS=(@preload hal @laptop-mode @acpid @syslog-ng @network !avahi-daemon @udev @alsa @bluetooth @clamav @cpufreq @wicd @fam @fcron @gpm @i8kmon @ntpd @spamd @ifplugd @timidity++)

to

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hal @udev @fcron @fam @laptop-mode @acpid @cpufreq @i8kmon @alsa @network @ifplugd @wicd @ntpd @bluetooth @clamav @spamd @gpm @timidity++)

.
Just by rearranging the daemons, my boot time went down from 46 to 36 seconds.
I'll have some more finetuning to do, but i think i'm on the right track.

Regards,

Steffen

Last edited by slang (2009-01-11 15:05:48)

EnvoyRising · 2009-01-11 19:23:47

Just a couple of things:

1) Isn't having dbus in the DAEMONS() array redundant considering hal calls udev?
2) IIRC, when running wicd, you should disable (!) the network daemon

Not a lot, but i figure that's two less things you have to worry about starting up, even if they are backgrounded.

slang · 2009-01-12 07:30:56

Hi, EnvoyRising.
You're right.
I already removed the network daemon (but it didn't make any difference on boot time).
Have to try to remove UDEV though.

Thanks for your input!

Regards,

Steffen

XFire · 2009-01-12 07:38:02

Have you made sure that the hostname in rc.conf and /etc/hosts are the same?

bogomipz · 2009-01-12 10:27:27

XFire wrote:

Have you made sure that the hostname in rc.conf and /etc/hosts are the same?

And that the hostname is on the localhost line in /etc/hosts, that is;

127.0.0.1 localhost your-hostname

slang · 2009-01-13 07:33:14

Yes, Hostname ist the same in /etc/hosts and /etc/rc.conf
I also removed udev from the daemon list in rc.conf.
Doesn't make any difference.
I think i will tweak the daemon list some more.
Could also be Slim, i'm going to try entrance this evening.

Thank you all for your input so far.
I really appreciate it.

Regards,

Steffen

Arch Linux

#1 2009-01-10 15:53:15

Is there a way to speed up X start?

#2 2009-01-10 16:20:59

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#3 2009-01-10 16:49:17

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#4 2009-01-10 16:54:17

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#5 2009-01-10 18:12:08

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#6 2009-01-10 19:02:24

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#7 2009-01-10 19:26:56

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#8 2009-01-11 06:17:02

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#9 2009-01-11 06:35:58

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#10 2009-01-11 14:13:42

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#11 2009-01-11 15:04:53

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#12 2009-01-11 19:23:47

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#13 2009-01-12 07:30:56

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#14 2009-01-12 07:38:02

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#15 2009-01-12 10:27:27

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

#16 2009-01-13 07:33:14

Re: Is there a way to speed up X start?

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