Aug 25 2011, 02:14 AM
QUOTE(G-17 @ Aug 25 2011, 02:10 AM)
Depends how much time you're willing to put in, and how much functionality you want. Slitaz installed on a HD with FAST_BOOT_X is probably the fastest thing around. Problem is, it's a small project and has small repos, hence you'll need to do a lot of source installations for apps you prefer. It also lacks support for some hardware, particularly new stuff (especially wireless chipsets).
If you want a mature project with package management and big repos, then GRML is the way to go if speed is everything for you (yes, it blows Arch + quick-init away). See my post on this thread (gutterslob) for details, though it's recommended you have some experience in administering and maintaining a Debian Sid rolling release beforehand. In addition (if you know how), you can rebuild all your installed packages, which gives a tad more responsiveness.
The final method is installing a source based distro like Crux, Gentoo, Sorcerer or LFS. It's fairly time consuming, and you'll probably screw up on your first try. The upside is you'll have a distro and apps perfectly suited to your particular machine thanks to compile flags and other optimizations performed during installation, though the difference in speed is pretty minimal compared to the GRML method above, in my experience. I personally prefer sorcerer because of the syntax (also cos I was involved in it previously), but I'm biased.
Boot:
Slitaz = 5 - 6 sec on standard HDD. probably faster on SSD, but I've not tried.
GRML (using my method above) = 7 - 10 sec, depending on hardware, all standard HDD. 4-5 seconds on my SSD.
Arch + quick-init = around 9-10 seconds, but highly unstable system.
Arch + systemd + e4rat = 10 - 11 sec. Much more stable than quick-init.
Sorcerer or Crux = around 7 - 11 second mark.
Task Processing:
Dunno what you mean, but if it's memory footprint, I can go as low as ~40mb on fresh boot (for 32 bit architecture) on a laptop with wireless and bluetooth drivers installed, minimal daemons loaded and a lightweight WM on any of the above-mentioned distros. Lower still if it's a desktop that doesn't need restricted gfx drivers. A bit less than double that if 64bit.
Of course, all times are for systems without bloated crap like plymouth, GDM. I also don't use desktop environments and prefer lightweight window managers like Openbox, EvilWM, ScrotWM, xMonad...etc. It'll definitely take longer on Gnome or KDE.
Opening programs:
Source based distros have the lead here, thanks to cflags and such. the downside is that compiling takes a long time (try 5 hours for Firefox on a 5 yr old pentium... give or take), but they still aren't much faster than my GRML or Arch installed apps. Some apps on Gentoo or Sorcerer can use less memory, like mplayer for example, if you compile it without all the stuff you'll never use (like IR remote support, etc).
Hope this helps.
Love this , G-17 , ya shud go for editorial for magazine or sumting , everything you wrote is a piece of art If you want a mature project with package management and big repos, then GRML is the way to go if speed is everything for you (yes, it blows Arch + quick-init away). See my post on this thread (gutterslob) for details, though it's recommended you have some experience in administering and maintaining a Debian Sid rolling release beforehand. In addition (if you know how), you can rebuild all your installed packages, which gives a tad more responsiveness.
The final method is installing a source based distro like Crux, Gentoo, Sorcerer or LFS. It's fairly time consuming, and you'll probably screw up on your first try. The upside is you'll have a distro and apps perfectly suited to your particular machine thanks to compile flags and other optimizations performed during installation, though the difference in speed is pretty minimal compared to the GRML method above, in my experience. I personally prefer sorcerer because of the syntax (also cos I was involved in it previously), but I'm biased.
Boot:
Slitaz = 5 - 6 sec on standard HDD. probably faster on SSD, but I've not tried.
GRML (using my method above) = 7 - 10 sec, depending on hardware, all standard HDD. 4-5 seconds on my SSD.
Arch + quick-init = around 9-10 seconds, but highly unstable system.
Arch + systemd + e4rat = 10 - 11 sec. Much more stable than quick-init.
Sorcerer or Crux = around 7 - 11 second mark.
Task Processing:
Dunno what you mean, but if it's memory footprint, I can go as low as ~40mb on fresh boot (for 32 bit architecture) on a laptop with wireless and bluetooth drivers installed, minimal daemons loaded and a lightweight WM on any of the above-mentioned distros. Lower still if it's a desktop that doesn't need restricted gfx drivers. A bit less than double that if 64bit.
Of course, all times are for systems without bloated crap like plymouth, GDM. I also don't use desktop environments and prefer lightweight window managers like Openbox, EvilWM, ScrotWM, xMonad...etc. It'll definitely take longer on Gnome or KDE.
Opening programs:
Source based distros have the lead here, thanks to cflags and such. the downside is that compiling takes a long time (try 5 hours for Firefox on a 5 yr old pentium... give or take), but they still aren't much faster than my GRML or Arch installed apps. Some apps on Gentoo or Sorcerer can use less memory, like mplayer for example, if you compile it without all the stuff you'll never use (like IR remote support, etc).
Hope this helps.
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