[LinuxBIOS] MACH BOOT

[Jun OKAJIMA]

Maybe you already know this?

MACH BOOT is a very fast CD booting Linux.
It boots Linux desktop in less than 10 sec from CD.

Check it out please.
http://www.machboot.com/

Then, why I mail here?

The current issue for making boot faster is, not a Linux issue
but BIOS issue. Linux can boot less than 10 sec, but BIOS
uses more than 20 sec!.

ANY HELP?. Of course, using Linux BIOS is one choice.

--- Okajima, Jun. Tokyo, Japan.

http://www.machboot.com/
http://www.digitalinfra.co.jp/
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20070917

[Alan Carvalho de Assis]

Hi Jun,

2007/10/6, Jun OKAJIMA :
> Maybe you already know this?
>
> MACH BOOT is a very fast CD booting Linux.
> It boots Linux desktop in less than 10 sec from CD.
>
> Check it out please.
> http://www.machboot.com/

It is fantastic, very good results.
> Then, why I mail here?
>
> The current issue for making boot faster is, not a Linux issue
> but BIOS issue. Linux can boot less than 10 sec, but BIOS
> uses more than 20 sec!.
>
> ANY HELP?. Of course, using Linux BIOS is one choice.

I think using LinuxBIOS is the best choice. Using LinuxBIOS and Linux
with graphical aplications (kdrive and matchbox) built in inside BIOS
Flash I got < 10s startup (with no optimizations). You just need get a
supported board
(http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Supported_Motherboards) and make a
try.
>        --- Okajima, Jun. Tokyo, Japan.
>
>
> http://www.machboot.com/
> http://www.digitalinfra.co.jp/
> http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20070917

Cheers,

Alan

[Jun OKAJIMA]

> 2007/10/6, Jun OKAJIMA :
> > Maybe you already know this?
> >
> > MACH BOOT is a very fast CD booting Linux.
> > It boots Linux desktop in less than 10 sec from CD.
> >
> > Check it out please.
> > http://www.machboot.com/
>
> It is fantastic, very good results.
> > Then, why I mail here?
> >
> > The current issue for making boot faster is, not a Linux issue
> > but BIOS issue. Linux can boot less than 10 sec, but BIOS
> > uses more than 20 sec!.
> >
> > ANY HELP?. Of course, using Linux BIOS is one choice.
>
> I think using LinuxBIOS is the best choice. Using LinuxBIOS and Linux
> with graphical aplications (kdrive and matchbox) built in inside BIOS
> Flash I got < 10s startup (with no optimizations). You just need get a
> supported board
> (http://www.linuxbios.org/index.php/Supported_Motherboards) and make a
> try.

I checked the video. It looks great. Good work.
But, your way limits functionality. You can use only Tiny/X and busybox and...
If you use Firefox, using CD-ROM is necessary, right?

So, combining your way and my way would be a right choice.

And, the problem is not only BIOS, but a firm ware of CD-ROM also.
In some drives, to recognize a medium and start reading requies more than 10 sec.
I mean, to start reading uses more time than booting Linux itself.
To solve this, probably so-called "LinuxFirmware" would be necessary...

I need ATAPI commands like these.
SET_MEDIA( media_type="CD-R", media_format="SINGLE_SESSION" )
START_SPIN( speed="MAX", wait=0)
If you can send these commands in the early stage of BIOS booting,
it gets more faster to start reading a medium.

--- Okajima, Jun. Tokyo, Japan.
            http://www.machboot.com/

[Peter Stuge]

On Sun, Oct 07, 2007 at 01:08:06PM +0900, Jun OKAJIMA wrote:
> I need ATAPI commands like these.
> SET_MEDIA( media_type="CD-R", media_format="SINGLE_SESSION" )
> START_SPIN( speed="MAX", wait=0)
> If you can send these commands in the early stage of BIOS booting,
> it gets more faster to start reading a medium.

That could certainly be added (configurable) both to FILO and GRUB2.

//Peter

[Alan Carvalho de Assis]

Hi Jun,

2007/10/7, Jun OKAJIMA :
> I checked the video. It looks great. Good work.
> But, your way limits functionality. You can use only Tiny/X and busybox and...
> If you use Firefox, using CD-ROM is necessary, right?

Yes, this is a good approach. You can place the Linux kernel on the
BIOS and rootfs can still on the CDROM. I don't make tests but I think
read from BIOS Flash (LPC = ~16.7 MB/s) is more faster than read from
48X CDROM (48 x 150KB/s = ~ 7MB/s)
> So, combining your way and my way would be a right choice.

Yes, once we don't have BIOS flash more than 2MB then this combining
is the right choice.
> And, the problem is not only BIOS, but a firm ware of CD-ROM also.
> In some drives, to recognize a medium and start reading requies more than 10 sec.
> I mean, to start reading uses more time than booting Linux itself.
> To solve this, probably so-called "LinuxFirmware" would be necessary...
>
> I need ATAPI commands like these.
> SET_MEDIA( media_type="CD-R", media_format="SINGLE_SESSION" )
> START_SPIN( speed="MAX", wait=0)
> If you can send these commands in the early stage of BIOS booting,
> it gets more faster to start reading a medium.

Hmm, so this is the trick to get Linux booting in 10s :-)
You will get best results using LinuxBIOS.
>     --- Okajima, Jun. Tokyo, Japan.
>         http://www.machboot.com/

Cheers,

Alan

[Uwe Hermann]

On Sun, Oct 07, 2007 at 01:08:06PM +0900, Jun OKAJIMA wrote:
> I checked the video. It looks great. Good work.
> But, your way limits functionality. You can use only Tiny/X and busybox and...
> If you use Firefox, using CD-ROM is necessary, right?

CDROM is one possibility, a disk or USB thumb drive is possible too.
> So, combining your way and my way would be a right choice.
>
> And, the problem is not only BIOS, but a firm ware of CD-ROM also.
> In some drives, to recognize a medium and start reading requies more than 10 sec.
> I mean, to start reading uses more time than booting Linux itself.
> To solve this, probably so-called "LinuxFirmware" would be necessary...

Yeah, but CDROMs are too slow per definition. If you want the greatest
boot speed you need something faster, dunno, maybe a fast USB thumb drive
or CompactFlash card or so.

Uwe.