Ubuntu's Latest Alpha: 15-Second Boot Time
In looking at the first Alpha release of Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx OS, or Ubuntu 10.04, the boot time on a PC built with an Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 at 2.80 GHz and 2 GB of RAM clocked in at 20 seconds. Compared to Windows 7 on the same PC (30 seconds) and Fedora 12 (37 seconds with significantly more security baked in), Lucid Lynx appeared well on its way to hitting that goal in the near term.
Now that Alpha 2 of Lucid Lynx is available (it was posted late last week) it's easy enough to install that code onto the same PC test bed and measure the results. This version of the Ubuntu 10.04 beta booted up in -- wait for it -- 15 seconds. If you were around during the days of Windows 3.1, the concept of a 15-second boot time would be almost unfathomable. Come to think of it, it would be tough to imagine during the days of Windows Vista.
The Ubuntu community looks pretty darn serious on making its desktop OS lightning fast. The official launch of version 10.04 is April 29. Mark it down.