Linux Could Boot Up in Under a Second

The boot speed of an operating system is a major feature in today's market, either for commercial operating system or free distributions. What if there is a possibility to improve the boot up speed of a Linux OS to under a second?

Before jumping out of your seats and say that it's impossible, we have to explain that the technology is in its infancy and has been applied only on SoM.

Computers on a Module (CoM) or System on a Module (SoM) are basically a single-board computer, with all the functions o f a normal computer, but without all the ports (not to mention smaller and weaker hardware).

Logic PD is a company that builds such systems (DM3730 and AM3703) and they use Linux for them. They have developed a boot technology called Zip, which is capable of reducing the boot time of an SoM to under a second.

In an interview with electronicdesign.com, Kurt Larson, director of product management at Logic PD, explained how the Zip technology works.

“We do a number of things. This includes optimization of the bootloader and linux kernel. We prioritize mission-critical drivers so they are loaded first. We also deploy the application GUI as soon as possible,” said Larson.

"In the process, we delay all non-essential tasks until after the target application is fully running. This allows the system to respond within a second with less critical operations available later in the sequence," he further explained.

This may not sound like much, but Logic PD thinks that there is a future for Zip technology, outside of the SoM platform.

There are a lot of other embedded platforms out there, including Android. What if users could be able to boot up a phone in just a second or two? Users could close the phone completely and boot it up in a flash. This has major implication on battery consumption alone.

What if this kind of technology will be implemented, on full-size personal computers or laptops in the future? For more information about Zip, check out the official website.

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Via: Linux Could Boot Up in Under a Second