Thank you brixtoncalling.

Last time I gave it a try and system was rendered useless
I better be happy with my current boot time, which is ~40 sec.

If you or anyone has knowledge of this software/script then please share.

Thanks.

After I added the compact action in lilo..at every boot after bios check the screen is blank for few secs then the boot messgaes appear.

The first message is- ata 01: failed to resume link (Scontrol 0)

is this normal?

bootchart is the program which was mentioned(implied) in an earlier post. It works fine for telling you how much time gets spent on each process during bootup.

@kapz, you can't run the generic kernel without using an initrd. The generic kernel does not include the modules for filesystem support, so you must use an initrd which includes the module needed for the filesystem type of your '/' partition.

You can achieve substantial time savings by compiling a custom kernel and leaving out some features. If you do not use raid, then leaving out raid support will save more time than any other feature. I'd start with the config file for the generic kernel, add in support for your root filesystem, make sure that is working and then start removing features one at a time.

Thanks for the link P42.

gnashley-: I'll give compiling one more try.. suppose if I compile a kernel and remove support for IEEE 1394 card, and in the future if the card is installed then will the system detect and use it?

Also you said that initrd is not required for custom kernel, in that case will my lilo entry for custom kernel look exactly like the entry for huge(except for the name of-course)?

Also please can anyone point to a guide to "menuconfig" ..There are a lot of options there, for instance how can I know if I need BSD Process Accounting or not?

Thanks.

Undestanding kernel options is *very* complex. That's why I suggest you start with the generic config used by Slackware. It does contain some options which are not usually needed, but not many. For maximum compatibility and flexibility, any options which are hard-coded can be simply changed to compile as modules. The main thing needed is support for the hard-drive controllers and filesystem used on your root partition. Anything else will be available as a module and loaded (hopefully) automatically if needed when udev & Co. are run during bootup.
Yes, only the name needs to change for the new kernel if no initrd is used, but be sure to create a new entry for the new kernel. That way you can always reboot with the original kernel if you remove some option which is needed. Remove/change only one or two options at a time or it will be very frustrating trying to find out which option was essential. You would probably find it much easier to simply create and use an initrd with the generic kernel and you will get help if you have questions about it. If you blindly start 'winging it' with kernel config options it will be much harder for someone to help you -even if they want to.
BSD process accounting is used by some sub-systems and leaving out won't save you much time or space -go for the raid/md stuff first.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks for the advice gnashley

Well regarding my other post that you are aware about, what option should I be fiddeling with for bootsplash logo?
I mean the progress-bar and all? On the net, and on some sites I've read that the penguin logo can be changed and any image of reso upto 1024x768 can be added, do I need that?

Am asking more and more, forgive my lack of knowledge. :| and

The penguin logo is an internal otpion in the kernel sources -I don't know if that would play wel with fbsplash. You might try some splash package which has been adapted for slack -I think AlienBob used to have usplashy or something like that. My experience is just with the old bootsplash which is not very feasable anymore.

Alright, I have compiled my kernel with only needed options and it boots fine.

However I cannot compile anything now!

I followed the guide as suggested at: http://blog.tpa.me.uk/slackware-kernel-compile-guide/ (same to same except the menuconfig part) such that I have named my kernel as 2.6.33.4-kpz.

Now the kernel boots file but X wont start, so I figured that I may have to reinstall my nvidia drivers but while doing this it shows error message, and so does virtualbox while rebuilding it's modules.

VBox Error is as follows(from /var/log/vbox-install.log):
Makefile:170: *** Error: /usr/src/linux (version 2.6.33.4) does not match the current kernel (version 2.6.33.4-kpz). Stop.
And nvidia too gives same sort of message..

Help please...

Yay the problem is now solved!! Alien_Bob's wiki helped me understand the problem.

I don't know what went wrong but all I did is: copy /usr/src/linux-2.6.33.4 to /usr/src/linux-2.6.33.4-kpz, then remove linux symlink in the /usr/src folder and create symlink in same folder for the 2.6.33.4-kpz dir and follow the steps in the guide under new folder.
Thats it! all done(I don't know why the guide didn't instruct that or if it is required to create new folder at all for headers to match)

Nice! I've managed to boot the whole system with sound under 35 secs! Had to modify init scripts to remove quota and gdm/xdm stuff etc.
Will close the thread now.

Hi,

You can use the Thread tools to mark as [Solved].

You can get it faster- bootchart shows 13 seconds on my desktop & laptop; lot's of fiddling involved(initially, now I pretty much have it down), and I boot into console(just my own preference)- no idea how much X and KDE(or whatever) might add.

Thanks! I used to edit post and select solved from dropdown list(didn't see in this one somehow), but this is better.
WoW! pretty impressive, my console boot time is 16-17 secs rest is KDM+KDE, but I don't think it can be reduced down further on the kernel side as there is nothing left to tweak in it, lsmod shows only vbox and nvidia modules and my kernel has only fs, sata and usb controllers, generic hid(only), sound, rt clock, bootsplash and one efi firmware driver loaded..and KDE won't even budge a second on it's load time, even if I disable nepomuk.