Hi, new here and new to the world of Linux.

What are the similarities and differences in boot processes of these two operating systems ?

Thanks

here's a noticable difference...........

when I boot windows.......Norton Anti-virus takes 30+ seconds to
scan all files before the GUI loads...........

Linux does not need to do this at all...........

Norton AV is a 3rd party software, right ? That cant be considered as a diff.

that's correct. Plus you can turn off the inital NAV scan. I think one of th main differences is that windows os is now the gui. They are essentially one i the same. In linux when you boot up it starts the kernel, which goes through it's littany of checks and balances. Each distro can have different things added that increases the boot time (kudzu in RH/FC, /sbin/ldconfig in slackware, etc.). Then you need to add in the X system. But on the other hand, when you are presented with a log in screen in windows the computer is continuing to load things in the background since there is only one gui. In linux it waits to for you to log in and specify a gui to use. plus you factor in all the config files. Also once you are presented with your desktop in windows it continues to load things for up to a minute. Linux is ready go.

If anyone can add to this please. By the way, here my respective boxes

Work (Windows 2K Pro):
Dell Dimension Desktop
P4 2.4 GHZ
512 mb DDR
80 gb HDD

Home (Slackware w/ DLG):
(I built this one myself)
Athlon XP 2400+
1 gb SDRAM
40 gb hdd
NVIDIA Gefore2 400 MX

Nice post Justin !

Anybody else have an opinion on this ?

Not another one of those ... :/

Moved since it's not really a Linux-question.

You mean its already discussed ? I've searched the forums twice, going through 9-11 pages of results.

If its already discussed, a link would help.

I think trickster was on about it being another one of those 'which is better, Linux or XP?' threads which can run and run.

It's not really a Linux question in that it doesn't address a problem you are having and want to either share a solution or ask for help on.

The boot processes for both M$ and the various Linux distros are heavily documented elsewhere and the details are certainly beyond my grasp.

The bottom line is that once Linux finishes booting, it lets you log on and then stays up forever whereas XP continues to load files after the GUI logon and can get a bit flaky after a few days or not depending on the moon and the tides - XP it seems is a bitch whereas Linux is just bitchin'. ;-)

He he that last line was pretty funny

Thats one difference by otchie. Appreciate your help.

Linux does things one at a time and when it's done you can log in. Windows just runs everything at the same time and is still doing that when you're already logged in. Windows seems faster to startup, but that's just an illusion.