Pimp my GRUB
in [Setup]
|
From: Manuel Rodriguez on 7 Feb 2010 16:06 Bootloader GRUB has similar behavior like a mini-operating-system: it can draw images (splashscreen), can boot from network (ifconfig compiled into) and print files to screen (command cat). Is it possible to compile a webbrowser like w3m into grub, so i have a boottime of 2 seconds?
From: Nico Kadel-Garcia on 7 Feb 2010 17:30 On Feb 7, 4:06 pm, Manuel Rodriguez <a...(a)gmx.net> wrote: > Bootloader GRUB has similar behavior like a mini-operating-system: it > can draw images (splashscreen), can boot from network (ifconfig > compiled into) and print files to screen (command cat). Is it possible > to compile a webbrowser like w3m into grub, so i have a boottime of 2 > seconds? Oh, dear god. I think not: grub needs to load the *kernel*, and starts reading your "init" scripts, and starts up the "init" deamon to run serial lines and services in /etc/inittab. All of that usually takes some time to do, and would otherwise leave your system without an active network (which makes your webbrowser pointless). It's certainly possible with many configurations to be booted more quickly. Between LinuxBIOS to speed the boot loading, and various parallelization tools to speed init scripts, you can shrink that time quite a bit. And stripping pointless services would help quite a lot, as well.
From: Doug Freyburger on 8 Feb 2010 12:52 Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote: > Manuel Rodriguez <a...(a)gmx.net> wrote: > >> Bootloader GRUB has similar behavior like a mini-operating-system: it >> can draw images (splashscreen), can boot from network (ifconfig >> compiled into) and print files to screen (command cat). Is it possible >> to compile a webbrowser like w3m into grub, so i have a boottime of 2 >> seconds? > > Oh, dear god. I think not: grub needs to load the *kernel*, and starts > reading your "init" scripts, and starts up the "init" deamon to run > serial lines and services in /etc/inittab. All of that usually takes > some time to do, and would otherwise leave your system without an > active network (which makes your webbrowser pointless). In other words you think it's the wrong tool for the job. I tend to agree. > It's certainly possible with many configurations to be booted more > quickly. Between LinuxBIOS to speed the boot loading, and various > parallelization tools to speed init scripts, you can shrink that time > quite a bit. And stripping pointless services would help quite a lot, > as well. On the other hand, what if the goal is not a fast start but a specialized box that does nothing but a web browser as far as a user can tell? If the topic were "Pimp my initrd" with a goal of including needed network connectivity, web browser and as little else as possible in the initial ram disk, that's not a bad question. Lots of commercial products start out as a stripped down Linux box booting to do little else but control some custom hardware. Why bother with custom hardware if the goal is a canned browser and what you have is a pad device? That's the direction I think should be taken - Leave grub alone as a method of getting out of the ROM BIOS. Work with initrc, stage1, stage2 and so on.
From: Douglas Mayne on 10 Feb 2010 11:36 On Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:06:09 -0800, Manuel Rodriguez wrote: > Bootloader GRUB has similar behavior like a mini-operating-system: it > can draw images (splashscreen), can boot from network (ifconfig > compiled into) and print files to screen (command cat). Is it possible > to compile a webbrowser like w3m into grub, so i have a boottime of 2 > seconds? > Not likely in two seconds, and not likely with grub; however, a default root filesystem could be loaded into memory in a few seconds. p.s. I am just wondering if you have tried some of the solutions that I have recommended to you on earlier threads? I am guessing not, possily due to some problem with google groups. When/if you post a reply then it may be more obvious that some real communication has taken place. -- Douglas Mayne
From: Peter Köhlmann on 10 Feb 2010 12:45
Douglas Mayne wrote: > On Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:06:09 -0800, Manuel Rodriguez wrote: > >> Bootloader GRUB has similar behavior like a mini-operating-system: it >> can draw images (splashscreen), can boot from network (ifconfig >> compiled into) and print files to screen (command cat). Is it possible >> to compile a webbrowser like w3m into grub, so i have a boottime of 2 >> seconds? >> > Not likely in two seconds, and not likely with grub; however, a default > root filesystem could be loaded into memory in a few seconds. > > p.s. I am just wondering if you have tried some of the solutions that I > have recommended to you on earlier threads? I am guessing not, possily > due to some problem with google groups. When/if you post a reply then > it may be more obvious that some real communication has taken place. > You do realize that you answered a rather dumb troll, do you? "Manuel" is killfiled by most posters in german linux newsgroups Seems he needs new playgrounds now -- Individualists unite! |