Improve boot time tiny core linux

[malicske]

Hello,

This is another thread for improving boot times. I hope you are not tired of it yet!
I need a distro with firefox, alsa and flash. I also included Xfce4
I've looked around this forum and on the internet and have undertaken the following:

 1) Remasterd tiny core, extract all the extensions into the tinycore.gz (60MB)
 2) added tiny core boot codes: embed noswap quiet noicons host=lichtSystem user=licht kmap=be-latin1 tce=sda6/tcSX
 3) added kernel boot codes: noapm hda=none hdb=none hdc=none hdd=none floppy=none noisapnp nofirewire nopcmcia

Results:
 -1) tiny core base default: 10s
  0) tiny core with all extensions downloaded, installed via: onboot.lst: 19s
  1) remastering: 17s
  2) boot codes: 14s (the tce=xyz did miracles!)
  3) kernel boot codes 13s

I would like to get it below 5s. But under 10 is also good.
Are there any suggestions?
From what I see, booting the kernel takes a while. Takes up to 7s, while booting my kernel in debian takes 3,5s.

I'm using a dell laptop, core 2 due 2,2 GHz and 4Gb of ram. My disk can read upto 75MB/s

Thank you

[robc]

you can try using a persistent local on your harddrive. That way you are just booting the base and mounting the drive location to the /usr/local directory.
There is also the tclocal=/mnt/sda1 boot code that should do this for you.  One note, you lose the fresh restart state of TC since the /usr/local directory is persistent.

[curaga]

If you're not on 3.8.2 yet, do update, it boots faster. The kernel part of the boot is significantly improved in 4.x, too.

[malicske]

If you're not on 3.8.2 yet, do update, it boots faster. The kernel part of the boot is significantly improved in 4.x, too.

Thx for the tip, running a remaster now with 3.8.2 and will test it this evening and come back with a timing.

[malicske]

If you're not on 3.8.2 yet, do update, it boots faster. The kernel part of the boot is significantly improved in 4.x, too.

Thx for the tip, running a remaster now with 3.8.2 and will test it this evening and come back with a timing.

It seems I was already on the 3.8.2 so no improvement there.

A little update:
Remastered with the 3.8.4 and added a new boot parameter a received from a member: floppy=0,irq

What I have now:
 ** TC 3.8.4 remastered with: alsa, firefox, flash, wireless, wl, xfce4, xfi, leafpad, ntfs-3g, xarchiver, zip, unrar, gparted and openssh.   => size: 66,6 MB

 ** Boot code:  noapm hda=none hdb=none hdc=none hdd=none floppy=0,irq noisapnp nofirewire nopcmcia embed noswap quiet host=lichtSystem kmap=be-latin1 tce=sda1/tce

Final boot time: <9s

So my first objective complete, distro boots faster then 10s!!! Ready to go www

Who knows, some person may get something from this info 

Thanks guys, very nice distro. I have been playing around with slitaz lately wich also has a nice structure and very small!! (lzma) But I find the modular approach and the persistence waaaay more advanced, easier and practical. Just saying :-)
On the other hand, slitaz has a very small 30 mb iso, with a full workable and nice looking distro. Which is also nice :-)

[vinnie]

Uhm, where do you find boot code like "noisapnp nofirewire nopcmcia" ? 

[Rich]

Hi vinnie
This is where I usually check when looking for information about boot codes:
http://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
It does list   noisapnp,  but I don't see the other two. The documentation for the  hd=  codes is a
bit skimpy, I have my doubts as to whether  "none"  is considered a valid parameter.

@All: On more than one occasion I've seen people try to use boot codes that don't show up in any
         documentation. Just entering   noide   because you know what it means does not mean the
         kernel will act on it. If none of the modules use that boot code, it will be silently ignored.
         Also, a module may or may not return an error message if you supply invalid parameters
         for a boot code, so be sure of your syntax.

[vinnie]

uhm, ok, thanks for code rich 

[malicske]

Uhm, where do you find boot code like "noisapnp nofirewire nopcmcia" ? 

I looked at the boot, see it looking for pnp and not finding it, loosing 2 secs boot time. Searching the web trying nopnp, didn't work then see it was isa, so using noisapnp.
Applying that to other hardware :-) and looking on the internet for other possibilities.

But the post of Rich is true. I did not investigate it enough to see if these bootparameters all work and are correct.
So thank you for your addition Rich!

[tweetyhack]

Sorry to bring this back up but you might want to recompile the kernel with just what you need as well.

[curaga]

FWIW, in 4.x we ship the ubuntu patches that make isapnp async.

[floppy]

Sorry to bring this back up but you might want to recompile the kernel with just what you need as well.

Good Idea. Where can I find a HOW TO ? (for TCL)
My target:
- only variable usb (I have a PCMIA card and integrated USB; but put USB card reader or multi USB for connecting an USB camera  sometimes)
- the rest is FIX (HDDs, CFs on IDE, CDROM, RAM, Grafic, sound)
I would put in any case a "safety" version of TCL-"Standard" in the boot menu in case I would change something in the PC (then the kernel would not boot)

[tweetyhack]

I don't know if there is any documentation but I would start by downloading the linux sources, configure, and compile(fairly simple), and remaster TC(haven't tried). You'll need gcc, make, patch, and some other packages. I wish it was easier. Here's a good starting point: http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Good-and-quick-kernel-configuration-creation-1403046.html. Your mileage may vary. I'll be doing this in the next week or 2 so if you run into any problems, just post. We'll get it done together.

[Rich]

Hi tweetyhack

You'll need gcc, make, patch, and some other packages.

Please don't try to patch together the tools you need, install  compiletc.tcz  if you wish to compile
source code.

[floppy]

I'll be doing this in the next week or 2 so if you run into any problems, just post. We'll get it done together.

Thanks for the proposal. No hurry. This is only on my todo list for my desktop.
My first priority is currently making working (again) the front mic of a K51AE (ASUS notebook) with Ubuntu10.04 for skyping with family oversea (NO chance to move to TCL.. this is my wife notebook).