Faster Boots

If you’ve installed Linux in the “stock” format from any of the major Linux distributions, you’ve probably installed more than is necessary to run your system. Worse yet, some of the extraneous programs are set to run on boot. This can sap resources unnecessarily and slow the boot process on your Linux box. On the other hand, once you’ve optimized the boot process, your machine will be lickety-split quick in booting. My newly installed RedHat box is a flat 14 seconds from Lilo to Gnome.

A good way to check and configure the startup programs in Mandrake and RedHat is the ntsysv program. From a console, log in as root and execute the following command:

    /usr/sbin/ntsysv

You’ll see a nice text-based screen with many of the programs that can run at boot listed. Beside each is a set of square brackets, many of which will contain an asterisk. These are the programs that are currently set to run on boot. To navigate through this screen, use the arrow keys. To check or uncheck an item, navigate to the item and press the [space] bar. It’s that easy to speed up your boot time in Linux.

As always, this tweak comes with a disclaimer. If you’re not sure what a particular startup service does, leave it its current state. No harm, no foul. If you take the time, you’ll understand the function of many of these processes. And, after all, if Linux is all about speed and power, it has to start at boot, right?