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Moblin 2 First Impressions
nerdyH notes a DesktopLinux.com first look at the alpha of Intel's Moblin 2 toolkit for Linux distributors to create distributions for netbooks and other Atom-based kit. "A lot of notebooks and even netbooks these days run Windows, but also offer a minimalist Linux environment that boots in seconds. Now, with the Intel-sponsored Moblin project's alpha release of Moblin 2 Monday, it looks like insanely fast boots will become a standard feature of full-featured Linux desktops, too. Some of the quick-booting environments out there are enough to give anyone a lasting hatred of Linux. Like those free bicycles that liberal, well-intentioned municipalities release into the wild from time to time, hoping to get drivers out of their cars, fast-boot Linux is probably doing more to harm than help the cause. But pretty soon, even full-featured Linux will boot in seconds. That's because Intel's built some mighty whizzy read-ahead boot technology into Moblin 2."
Uh? Can we moderate the story itself as Off-Topic?
Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
Maybe it's better to note that Intel recently acquired OpenedHand and OpenedHand developers joined Intel Open Source Labs in order to work on Moblin platform. This looks like the first fruit of this acquisition.
http://lwn.net/Articles/299483/
X is still problematic. "We had to do a lot of damage to X," Arjan said. Some of the work involved eliminating the C compiler run by re-using keyboard mappings, but other work was more temporary. The current line of X development, though, puts more of the hardware detection and configuration into the kernel, which should cut the total startup time. Since part of the kernel's time budget is already spent waiting for hardware to initialize, and it can initialize more than one thing at a time, it's a more efficient use of time to have the kernel initialize the video hardware at the same time it does USB and ATA. X developer Keith Packard, in the audience and also an Intel employee, offered help. Setting the video mode in the kernel would not let the kernel initialize it at the same time as the rest of the hardware, as shown in figure 3. The fast-booting system does not use GDM but boots straight to a user session, running the XFCE desktop environment. Instead of GDM, Arjan said later, a distribution could boot to the desktop session of the last user, but start the screensaver right away. If a different user wanted to log in, he or she could use the screensaver's "switch user" button.
C Compiler? WTF?
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Being able to boot quickly really, really sucks. It's so much better when you have to wait 10 minutes for your box to boot.
Wait, what?
I'm ... confused. From the article:
fast-boot Linux is probably doing more to harm than help the cause.
Yeah, because I and everyone I know hates nothing more than being able to boot quickly.
almost anything would be an improvement over Network Manager.
What?? Personally, I prefer Network Manager to Vista's networking UI any day.
In fairness, Network Manager has actually done an amazing job
Oh, never mind then.
Yet, what really won me over, in playing around with the Moblin 2 alpha, was the insanely fast boots.
Wait, are you trying to help or harm the cause?
Fast boots could be a true advance in the history of computing.
Oh, I don't know. My Apple ][ booted into the Basic ROM quickly enough.
Having two OSes, one fast-booting and one slow-booting, is a horrible kludge. It's like a car with two steering wheels, one only for parking.
Actually it sounds more like having two cars, one that's moving fast and one that's moving slow. But these car analogies always confuse me.
I think Microsoft may have to really re-think a few things if they are going to compete on boot time with the Linux distros of tomorrow.
You might be right...
I don't know how fast Windows 7 is booting
Oh, never mind then.
I have a feeling that those declaring it's "mission accomplished" for Windows on netbooks may be getting ahead of themselves just a bit.
In fact, you could even say they're doing more to harm the cause than help it ... oh I give up.
Breakfast served all day!
An extrovert which just dumps his stream of consciousness on a webpage. And he even fails to include a link to the project's page he's talking about. Argh! This makes me pulling my hair out.
I tried to get Moblin working on my MID.
I couldn't even get the installer to boot (kernel panic).
I filed a bug ( http://bugzilla.moblin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=197 ) which, despite being a critical issue, hasn't had so much as a peep out of a developer yet (after several months).
And just three articles back ( http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/31/1859200 ) Slashdot is discussing the "Bloody Mess" that is the Intel Poulsbo driver, which it's worth noting, is provided as part of the Moblin project.
I'm thinking Moblin may need quite some more polish, and that perhaps they may be a little under-staffed?
Oh, crap. I now get to read articles on computing technology which were written by people who aren't even aware that, once upon a not-so-distant time, you could turn on your computer and be greeted with a cool blue-on-blue READY.-prompt within a second.
I'm ancient, credz nuked :-(
On the upside, I did get a cool new .sig:
--
"Fast boots could be a true advance in the history of computing."
-- Henry Kingman, 2009-01-28
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Initially, reviewers met the new technology with a blank stare. One expensive piece of meat later, and they were so happy they could've flickered and vanished right there on the spot.
Am I the only one who heard Roxette to sing "I'm gonna get blitzed for some sex"?
Seems like the author is not actually aware of how Linux works. Read-ahead has been implemented for a while (there's even a post-boot component similar to Superfetch on Windows).
This is more likely the continuation of http://lwn.net/Articles/299483/, where they improved read-ahead with some kernel-based patches among other things, rearranged the process initialization order, etc.
Also, what's with the wordf**k the author created that I (and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people) had to re-read 5 times before the point s/he was trying to put across was understood. And what's with the trollish injection of politics into a discussion about linux boot times?
Half of my linux boxes only get re-booted during a power outage, like once in 3 years. What's all the hype about?
I think it's about not everyone being you.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
(In dot format here is my experience)
8/10 Best distro I've tested so far for my notebood
Yeah, the more sensible among us have a UPS or two.
Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!
There you go buddy.