MontaVista boasts 1-second Linux boot

It's getting to where a fellow can't enjoy a nice relaxing boot time these days. The latest perpetrator of the conspiracy: Linux application tool vendor MontaVista, which said today that it is demonstrating an embedded Linux system that boots in just one second.

MontaVista's Linux demo goes from a cold boot into a sample, "fully operational" vehicle dashboard application in a single second, the company said. It will be showing off the speedy boot performance at the Virtual Freescale Technology Forum this week.

The demo in question is an embedded OS built around specific hardware, so it does forgo drivers and processes required with your typical production version of Linux. Nevertheless, it's a performance worth some bragging rights.

"The achievement of one second boot from cold power to operational status is a breakthrough in embedded Linux performance," said MontaVista CTO Jim Ready in a statement. "It's always been thought that embedded Linux could never perform at this level of speed and efficiency. We're proud to be the first embedded Linux vendor to achieve and demonstrate this demanding level of performance."

The application uses MontaVista Professional Edition Linux designed for the Freescale MPC5121e hardware built on Power Architecture technology. MontaVista says the boot performance was achieved through careful turning of the software stack starting with the bootloader, a highly optimized kernel that's kept uncompressed in NOR flash, and loading only required drivers.

A video of the one-second Linux boot demonstration is available below: ®