Fast booting aka “Instant On” is one of the most desirable feature for all PC users.
Apple using EFI is able to boot up in about 10 seconds in the Intel Macs.
More recently, the first batch Asus EEE 7″ netbooks running on a customized Xandros distribution is able to boot up in about 20 seconds.
There are also new quickbooting technology by Splashtop which fastboots an alternative linux OS, while the main slow boot OS such as Vista and XP boots up in the background. Phoenix Technologies also came up with their own version of a fastboot OS, Hyperspace, while booting up the incumbent OS in the background. Such alternative fastboot OS makes use of either embedded RAM on the mainboard or a partition in the HDD to load a linux operating system with minimal hardware support. The benefits to the user is such that, while waiting for the main operating system to boot, he or she can start browsing the web or use Skype within 5-10 seconds of powering up the netbook/notebook/desktop.
In September 2008, at the Linux Plumbers Conference, a 5 seconds boot was demonstrated. This was done by customizing the kernel and optimizing the readahead cache module. A video of the 5 seconds fast boot using Moblin can be viewed below.
On 14th July 2009, a one second fast boot has been demonstrated by an embedded board vendor Monta Vista. The embedded board comes with a non x86 lightweight processor. Full details here.
Many out there have the impression that fast CPU equates to faster boot up speed. Such users chased processor technologies and bought latest Intel and AMD processors with highest possible clock speed. This however, is totally untrue. With the above examples, it is demonstrated that these fast boots can and is already achieved by low powered low clockspeed devices such as the Intel Atom processor.
SGLNX believes that with fastbooting OS that is able to boot in less than 5 seconds, hibernation and suspend functions will no longer be needed since these takes a couple of seconds to resume from standby anyway. Companies developing fastboot alternatives OS such as Splashtop and Hyperspace are able only to target slow boot OS such as XP or Vista. With the release of upcoming Windows 7, that also touts fast boot speeds, the commercial pioneers of fast boots may just see its end of days.
News Source : Internetnews.com
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Tags: Apple, Asus, EEE, EFI, fastboot, Hyperspace, LPC, Phoenix, splashtop
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