The Other Issue With Ubuntu 11.10: Boot Speed

[phoronix]

Phoronix: The Other Issue With Ubuntu 11.10: Boot Speed

Besides Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" continuing to regress when it comes to increased power usage for many different systems, another area where Ubuntu 11.10 has regressed is with its boot speed. A clean install of Ubuntu 11.10 is definitively slower than previous Ubuntu Linux releases. Here's another look at the Ubuntu Oneiric boot performance along with some other new metrics to share as the official Ubuntu 11.10 release approaches later in the week.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=16509

[Obscene_CNN]

Why do people gripe about Ubuntu's speed? Its not a fast distro and was never meant to be, its one that is easy to use.

If you want speed you have to

1) Compile your own kernel and optimize it for your processor.
2) look at what drivers you need and build as many as you can into the kernel (i.e. not as a module)
3) leave out unneeded stuff from the kernel
4) Compile your core libraries and optimize it for your processor.
5) Compile your key programs and optimize them for your processor.
6) eliminate as many unneeded background processes as possible.

[oliver]

Why do people gripe about Ubuntu's speed? Its not a fast distro and was never meant to be, its one that is easy to use.

If you want speed you have to

[strike]1) Compile your own kernel and optimize it for your processor.
2) look at what drivers you need and build as many as you can into the kernel (i.e. not as a module)
3) leave out unneeded stuff from the kernel
4) Compile your core libraries and optimize it for your processor.
5) Compile your key programs and optimize them for your processor.
6) eliminate as many unneeded background processes as possible.[/strike]Gentoo.

There, fixed that for you

[bug77]

It's not a fast distro and was never meant to be, its one that is easy to use.

A couple of years ago Canonical announced they were specifically targeting boot time improvements (10s for a SSD laptop, I think). So at least in this respect, Ubuntu is supposed to be fast.

[Obscene_CNN]

There, fixed that for you

If your going to compile your own you will want to compile and optimize it for your processor. (Note GCC auto detect doesn't detect all processor instruction sets on all processors and doesn't set the the l2 cache size optimization on all processors)

for a good write up see http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Hardware_CFLAGS

[tweak42]

I think the point Canonical was making setting a boot speed benchmark was to demonstrate that linux can do it better than windows. To attract new novice users they know they have to do it better than windows or they will ask what's the point of switching? Maintaining that speed while supporting a wide variety of hardware and a friendly desktop experience is a tough balancing game. It's challenge that they are constantly pushing forward (with the occasional stumble, hiccup and regression).

I understand the obsession with boot speed is kinda pointless, but if you look at benchmark articles comparing the next version of windows with the old, they always have a boot time benchmark.