One-second Linux boot demonstrated

Super speedy

15 July 2009 9:32 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Boot times for operating systems are given a lot of attention when a new one is released. When the Windows 7 beta appeared, much was made of its sub-30 second boot time. However, a Linux build has appeared which claims to boot in one second.

It's been produced by a company called MontaVista who make embedded Linux systems, and it's so far only been demonstrated on the Freescale Semiconductor MPC5121e hardware that it was designed for.

Jim Ready, CTO of MontaVista, said: "The achievement of one second boot from cold power to operational status is a breakthrough in embedded Linux performance. It's always been thought that embedded Linux could never perform at this level of speed and efficiency".

While this is an embedded system, meaning it only has to load minimal drivers and programs, it could still have a positive impact on boot times for desktop Linux in the long term. For now though, this is just a tech demo.

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