Speed Up Boot Time

[opticyclic]

Are there any easy special tricks to speed up the boot time?
Coming from Linux Mint (GNOME), I could get to the Desktop from cold in less than 25 secs.
Now in openSuse 11.3 (KDE4.5) it takes more than twice that.

Is this a function of KDE or have Ubuntu done something that openSuse hasn't to speed up the boot?

[gropiuskalle]

KDE and GNOME are desktop environments, they start *after* the actual boot process.

Current SuSE versions still use the classic SysVinit-boot, which waits for each process to finish before starting the next one, while Ubuntu (and its derivates like Mint) uses upstart, which is able to handle jobs parallel. I think with the next version openSUSE will also use an alternative to SysVinit, until then all you can do to minimize boottime is disabling certain services (for example with YaSTs runlevel editor). However, one should have quite a good idea about the respective services before dealing with them, also the saved time is not that very spectacular.

[oldcpu]

Are there any easy special tricks to speed up the boot time?
Coming from Linux Mint (GNOME), I could get to the Desktop from cold in less than 25 secs.
Now in openSuse 11.3 (KDE4.5) it takes more than twice that.

Is this a function of KDE or have Ubuntu done something that openSuse hasn't to speed up the boot?

I think Linux Mint likely uses initramfs (or dracut) instead of initrd which openSUSE uses. I believe both initramfs and dracut promise to offer a faster boot than the initrd that openSUSE uses.

There is discussion developers as to the merits of changing from initrd to initramfs or dracut, but this far from what I have read, this 'push' / 'discussion' is developer driven, and not user driven. To understand the advantages of one method vs the other requires average to advanced Linux knowledge, and it is not a subject area that most of us delve into.

Here is a link to a Unbuntu article on comparing initrd to initramfs and another Ubuntu article on intramfs. Talk is dracut will be an improvement over initrdfs .

Best I know, neither of these (initramfs nor dracut) are something one easily backports into an existing openSUSE version.

[oldcpu]

KDE and GNOME are desktop environments, they start *after* the actual boot process.

Current SuSE versions still use the classic SysVinit-boot, which waits for each process to finish before starting the next one, while Ubuntu (and its derivates like Mint) uses upstart, which is able to handle jobs parallel. I think with the next version openSUSE will also use an alternative to SysVinit, until then all you can do to minimize boottime is disabling certain services (for example with YaSTs runlevel editor). However, one should have quite a good idea about the respective services before dealing with them, also the saved time is not that very spectacular.

Ahh ... an interesting read ... this mention of 'upstart' appears it could be more relevant to boot time than what I posted on initramfs and dracut.

There is also a blog entry by Andreas Jaeger here on systemd: this openSUSE Lizards with the intention of using Systemd is a replacement for SystemV init in a future openSUSE release: upstart - event-based init daemon

[DenverD]

opticyclic wrote:
> Is this a function of KDE or have Ubuntu done something that openSuse
> hasn't to speed up the boot?


one thing i _think_ ubuntu does is load only the services its user set
are likely to use...but, openSUSE has a different, and more advanced
set of users...so, more services are loaded by default...of course
that takes some time..

of course, your question is on the mark because compared to Ubuntu's
gnome, KDE4 is positively an oinker...put a stop watch on how long it
takes to finish the stuff from initiation of Gnome loading, and
compare it to KDE's time and i guess you will find a _large_
proportion of that "more than twice"..

install an openSUSE with Gnome and trim down to the services loaded by
Ubuntu and i guess you will be a lot closer to the same speed....that
is to say, they may well have a few seconds advantage to a
_comparable_ system..

--
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
I feel annoyed that I can't put my wide range of languages on stupid
Facebook. For example, I speak Sarcasm, fluently spoken and written,
and Various Forms of Geek..

[robin_listas]

On 2010-12-26 20:36, gropiuskalle wrote:

> Current SuSE versions still use the classic SysVinit-boot, which waits
> for each process to finish before starting the next one, while Ubuntu
> (and its derivates like Mint) uses upstart, which is able to handle jobs
> parallel.

Not entirely correct, openSUSE also start those processes in parallel,
since 11.0 at least.

--
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" at Telcontar)

[hcvv]

IMHO the OP may differ from what the others think "booting" is. Gropiuskalle has allready pointed to this and his and oldcpu's posts are about boot.

DenverD and maybe the OP are talking about starting of a desktop environment which is definitely not boot, but only done after login of one (or more ?) users in the GUI (and the system is then finished with booting).

Maybe the OP should decide where he wants the speedup and reword his question so we all talk about the same phenomenon.

[robin_listas]

On 2010-12-26 19:36, opticyclic wrote:
>
> Are there any easy special tricks to speed up the boot time?
> Coming from Linux Mint (GNOME), I could get to the Desktop from cold in
> less than 25 secs.
> Now in openSuse 11.3 (KDE4.5) it takes more than twice that.

Are you speaking of boot up time or desktop startup time? They are
different things.

For strictly boot time something can be done, for desktop not that I know.

--
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" at Telcontar)

[oldcpu]

IMHO the OP may differ from what the others think "booting" is. Gropiuskalle has allready pointed to this and his and oldcpu's posts are about boot.

DenverD and maybe the OP are talking about starting of a desktop environment which is definitely not boot, but only done after login of one (or more ?) users in the GUI (and the system is then finished with booting).

Maybe the OP should decide where he wants the speedup and reword his question so we all talk about the same phenomenon.

Indeed, if one wants a fast desktop boot, then install LXDE. ... Mind you having typed that, I note from grub to desktop, Ubuntu-1010 is about twice as fast to boot as openSUSE-11.4 M5's LXDE. But once runnnig, because of the kernel enhancements, I find openSUSE 11.4 M5's LXDE is marginally faster than Ubuntu 1010's LXDE.

Still, if speed is a real factor, then IMHO one should not be looking at openSUSE nor looking at Ubuntu.

[opticyclic]

For me, "booting" is the whole process from pressing the "on" button to getting to a usable Desktop.
Therefore, I include the Desktop Environment in "booting".
However, the time to the login screen takes the most time and not much happens after login so maybe the Desktop Environment isn't so important.
Then again, maybe more graphically intense Desktop Environments need more services started as part of the boot so maybe it is important