5 ms·

Man, I don't know. I only use Windows for gaming, and I'm as much annoyed by it as the next guy, but I'm always impressed with how fast it boots compared to Lin

Man, I don't know. I only use Windows for gaming, and I'm as much annoyed by it as the next guy, but I'm always impressed with how fast it boots compared to Linux (Arch with i3). Granted, apart from Steam, nothing's installed. But on Linux, not much is started in the background before I log in, either. This on a 2013 Xeon 2667v2 (ivy bridge) with a PCIe 3 NVMe.

sgtnoodle 4y ago
I run Arch. It seems like, in my case, its startup time is dominated by systemd networking coming up. It's pretty fast though.
- vladvasiliu 4y ago
  I also run Arch. `systemd-analyze critical-chain` shows that the longest Linux step is `systemd-udev-settle.service`. The UEFI step is longer still, and I don't have a classic bootloader, I use efistub. My network is handled by NetworkManager, so I think it only comes up after I log in. I'm not quite sure what udev is waiting for, but since I don't boot up my computer often enough, it never bothered me enough to go hunting. But it's just surprising to see Windows come up quicker, on exactly the same hardware (dual boot on the same NVMe).
dinvlad 4y ago
Same here - since upgrading to NVME SSD my boot times were 3-5 sec (!) with Win10, and 5-10 sec with Win11. I think there's at least something they're doing right, and normal Linux desktop has a long way to go still (mine still easily takes 1 min on the same system..) I think among the three, MacOS takes the crown though - easily takes 5 minutes to boot, at least on an enterprise system.
- FridgeSeal 4y ago
  I dual boot Windows and Linux on my home computer, Windows is quick to start (if I can keep the is reasonably clean) but Linux was still faster. Got a speedy NVME, and associated speedy hardware, and Windows would come up surprisingly quick, but man Linux was just like a light switch. The longest amount of time was spent waiting for the system to let me choose which OS I wanted. I wish I could have 2 separate power buttons, which pointed to 2 separate nvme’s, so I wouldn’t haven’t to waste time choosing, and could just boot straight into the desired OS.
  - cricalix 4y ago
    Do you remember drive caddies that fit into 5.25 bays? Hacky way: NVMe extender cable to drive bay. Split to dual connectors. Mechanical setup that acts as an interlock, where you push the desired drive into the connector, and that disconnects the other drive. Total overkill and probably not practical to make. Fun to think about though.
  - sgtnoodle 4y ago
    Your motherboard probably has a header for a chassis intrusion switch, and presumably grub is open source, so you could probably do that with a few hours of hacky coding. Or, you could use an Arduino Leonardo and simply emulate a keyboard that pushes the right sequence of keystrokes at the right time.
- knodi123 4y ago
  wow. my macbook takes about 6 seconds to get to a login screen from a cold boot. maybe you've got some network shenanigans going on due to the enterprise environment?

sgtnoodle 4y ago

I run Arch. It seems like, in my case, its startup time is dominated by systemd networking coming up. It's pretty fast though.

vladvasiliu 4y ago
I also run Arch. `systemd-analyze critical-chain` shows that the longest Linux step is `systemd-udev-settle.service`. The UEFI step is longer still, and I don't have a classic bootloader, I use efistub. My network is handled by NetworkManager, so I think it only comes up after I log in. I'm not quite sure what udev is waiting for, but since I don't boot up my computer often enough, it never bothered me enough to go hunting. But it's just surprising to see Windows come up quicker, on exactly the same hardware (dual boot on the same NVMe).

dinvlad 4y ago

Same here - since upgrading to NVME SSD my boot times were 3-5 sec (!) with Win10, and 5-10 sec with Win11. I think there's at least something they're doing right, and normal Linux desktop has a long way to go still (mine still easily takes 1 min on the same system..) I think among the three, MacOS takes the crown though - easily takes 5 minutes to boot, at least on an enterprise system.

FridgeSeal 4y ago
I dual boot Windows and Linux on my home computer, Windows is quick to start (if I can keep the is reasonably clean) but Linux was still faster. Got a speedy NVME, and associated speedy hardware, and Windows would come up surprisingly quick, but man Linux was just like a light switch. The longest amount of time was spent waiting for the system to let me choose which OS I wanted. I wish I could have 2 separate power buttons, which pointed to 2 separate nvme’s, so I wouldn’t haven’t to waste time choosing, and could just boot straight into the desired OS.
- cricalix 4y ago
  Do you remember drive caddies that fit into 5.25 bays? Hacky way: NVMe extender cable to drive bay. Split to dual connectors. Mechanical setup that acts as an interlock, where you push the desired drive into the connector, and that disconnects the other drive. Total overkill and probably not practical to make. Fun to think about though.
- sgtnoodle 4y ago
  Your motherboard probably has a header for a chassis intrusion switch, and presumably grub is open source, so you could probably do that with a few hours of hacky coding. Or, you could use an Arduino Leonardo and simply emulate a keyboard that pushes the right sequence of keystrokes at the right time.
knodi123 4y ago
wow. my macbook takes about 6 seconds to get to a login screen from a cold boot. maybe you've got some network shenanigans going on due to the enterprise environment?