Make linux boot faster?

David2010 · 03-11-2011, 09:56 PM

Ok I have a fully customized gentoo linux box set up and its wicked fast.

Opera starts up on a cold start in 4 seconds and 2 seconds on a warm startup.

Gimp starts up in 7 seconds no matter what.

All the other programs start up in less than a second or two.

The only problem is... The startup time could be better...

It takes a little over a minute to startup all the way to the login manager.

It was a couple minutes but I tweaked it a little bit so now its just one minute.

I know one minute may not seem like much time but I live my life in a hurry so startup time does mean something to me.

The "Loading Modules" phase takes 20 seconds but I am under the impression that can't be fixed as I compiled the kernel using genkernel.

The DHCP for my wireless takes 8 seconds. I might be able to use a static IP but honestly I am not sure how to do so... :-/

The other 32 seconds are used during the general bootup starting up necessary services and other things.

The computer has a single core CPU.

Is there anything else I could do to decrease the boot time?

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A little off topic but is a 4 GB installation large for a linux distro with just a few handful of small programs and fluxbox as a window manager?

corp769 · 03-12-2011, 12:57 AM

How about your services? Do you have a lot being started up in init 5? Look at your chkconfig and turn off the ones you really don't need, that will help a lot.

Josh

comp_brad1136 · 03-12-2011, 01:05 AM

according to du -h -c / I'm using 6.6gig
I'm running debian squeeze, I have many of the games and themes installed for the kids, I have both the 32 and 64 bit wine, i have kde-base, xfce, openoffice, and quite a bit of others. This is my primary computer. So. to answer your question, if you want to put a fairly basic (but still usable) graphical system on 4gb, you should have plenty.

for your extra 32 seconds, I would look to dmeg and the init boot logs for your distro. common causes are unneeded daemons, and hangups looking for a configuration file that's not there.

ButterflyMelissa · 03-12-2011, 02:48 AM

Hi David2010

Quote:

The DHCP for my wireless takes 8 seconds. I might be able to use a static IP but honestly I am not sure how to do so... :-/

That is fairly simple...
have a look at this page:
http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/Lin...etworking.html

The rest means indeed turning off what you do not need. And, yes, if you machine looks for stuff that is'nt there, that takes time to...
Maybe some tips can be found here:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/li...ry/l-boot.html

Luck

Thor
PS :

Quote:

A little off topic but is a 4 GB installation large for a linux distro with just a few handful of small programs and fluxbox as a window manager?

Not in my book. The rest is convenient...besides, 4Gb of what? Hard drive? RAM? Where will you find anything smaller anyway?? LOL

unSpawn · 03-12-2011, 05:02 AM

Makes me wonder how much one gains (provided devices and network re-initialize properly after) from suspension slash hibernation instead of shutting down...

ButterflyMelissa · 03-12-2011, 05:30 AM

@ unSpawn

Quote:

Makes me wonder how much one gains (provided devices and network re-initialize properly after) from suspension slash hibernation instead of shutting down...

nothing, I just turn the system on and let it running...I dont even allow it to fall asleep

but hey, that's just me...

David2010 · 03-12-2011, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corp769

How about your services? Do you have a lot being started up in init 5? Look at your chkconfig and turn off the ones you really don't need, that will help a lot.

Josh

According to "rc-update show" I am starting the following at bootup:

Code:

               acpid |      default                  
           alsasound | boot                          
            bootmisc | boot                          
             checkfs | boot                          
           checkroot | boot                          
               clock | boot                          
         consolefont | boot                          
                hald |      default                  
            hostname | boot                          
             keymaps | boot                          
               local |      default nonetwork        
          localmount | boot                          
             modules | boot                          
              net.lo | boot                          
            netmount |      default                  
             preload |      default                  
           rmnologin | boot                          
      udev-postmount |      default                  
             urandom | boot                          
                 xdm |      default

I am under the assumption that I need most if not all of those.

corp769 · 03-12-2011, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David2010

According to "rc-update show" I am starting the following at bootup:

I am under the assumption that I need most if not all of those.

Yeah, you are good there man. Usually, that's the first place I point to. Sometimes I see the most useless services being on sometimes....

David2010 · 03-12-2011, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linusr@flanders

@ unSpawn

nothing, I just turn the system on and let it running...I dont even allow it to fall asleep

but hey, that's just me...

Ok so now I have a static IP and that cuts off a good 7 seconds so thats progress.

Normally I would just keep the computer turned on for a good portion of the time however this is a laptop and it obviously can't be running all the time.

corp769 · 03-12-2011, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David2010

Ok so now I have a static IP and that cuts off a good 7 seconds so thats progress.

Normally I would just keep the computer turned on for a good portion of the time however this is a laptop and it obviously can't be running all the time.

My laptop has been on for over three days now, and running without a hitch. I have a cooler pad though....

repo · 03-12-2011, 12:45 PM

Quote:

My laptop has been on for over three days now,

Why?

Kind regards

corp769 · 03-12-2011, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by repo

Why?

Kind regards

Because I was downloading something the other day and had to go into work, and besides that, I mainly use my laptop for everything, including managing my network, my server, and everything else. It is pretty much my command and control center of my house. Plus I have all of my personal documents on it, so when I do pack it up, I have everything I need. It's just how I do everything really man...

ButterflyMelissa · 03-12-2011, 01:15 PM

@ David2010

Quote:

Ok so now I have a static IP and that cuts off a good 7 seconds so thats progress.

Cool! That means you have cut 7 seconds...look at the array of services you've got up and running. Need all of them? What can you strip? For example, avahi. From their site

Quote:

Avahi is a system which facilitates service discovery on a local network via the mDNS/DNS-SD protocol suite. This enables you to plug your laptop or computer into a network and instantly be able to view other people who you can chat with, find printers to print to or find files being shared.

( avahi.org )

Is that a service you need? I can imagine that it pokes quite a lot into the computer's recource...I for one do not even have it running...

O, and I timed my boot, it's about twenty seconds or so intil I can log on. I dunnow if that's fast/slow/reasonable but I'm fine with it...

Thor

PS : keeping systems up and running is kinda how "the family" does things, my mom had hers running for over a week flat, only to reboot every so once in a while, she did'nt run Linux, of course. But all in all, Linux is supposed to have longer uptimes, it's the way it was meant to exist, I guess...

repo · 03-12-2011, 01:34 PM

You could install bootchart for performance analysis and visualization of the GNU/Linux boot process.
http://www.bootchart.org/

Kind regards

revinary · 03-12-2011, 02:22 PM

Hi David2010,

I would recommend you to build a custom kernel that fits your system. Sure it is a bit of a hassle the first time but hey: you're running gentoo - you're supposed to run a custom kernel

You'd be surprised how much you can kick out of those vanilla kernels when you know your specs -

I'm pretty sure that would noticeability decrease boot-time.

So long,

rev