Bootup speed for F8

[Andrew Farris]

Stewart Adam wrote:
> On Sat, 2007-12-01 at 23:40 +0100, Linus Walleij wrote:
>> Depends on how you define boot time. If you say boot is done when the 
>> system is interactive, you cut several seconds.
>>
>> "Other OS:es" obviously use this approach, the perceptual being what 
>> matters.
>>
>> Surely, this must be fixable, it'd be such a boost..
>>
>> Linus
> That's exactly what I mean - An early login can make the boot seem to
> boot much faster even if it really isn't. Waiting is what makes things
> seem long; the faster the user interacts, the faster things seem.
> 
> Stewart

Sure thats true, but perception is also just a fake improvement, and once the
user gets used to seeing the login earlier... they'll get more and more
discontent with how long it takes to be usable after they logged in (afterall
they *already logged in*).  For a great example of why this can be frustrating,
install a copy of Vista; its 'boot time' is great, but you login and wait... and
wait... and wait.  When you do see the desktop you still can't do anything
useful with it because the system is still so heavily loaded with background
processes starting.  Its much the same with xp, but vista made it even worse,
while the 'boot time' is even lower.

I have always appreciated the fact that a machine thats STARTED in linux can be
logged into quickly and be useful with minimal delay.  The general case with
windows which delays many background processes until login is that you can boot
your system and walk away to get coffee... but when you come back you'll still
sit there waiting after login before you can work.

I'm only bringing up the windows comparison for contrast, because MS has been
working hard to bring about this same early login illusion.

Making the system *actually usable* sooner is where development time and effort
should be spent rather than spending time to fake it.  If a valid argument can
be made for a method to get desktop software to begin processing earlier due to
early login then lets talk about that.  If its nothing more than login without
letting CPU cycles go toward the desktop startup then why bother?

-- 
Andrew Farris <lordmorgul at gmail.com> <ajfarris at gmail.com>
   gpg 0xC99B1DF3 at pgp.mit.edu

No one now has, and no one will ever again get, the big picture. - Daniel Geer
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