Gp2x Bootup Times...

[aortey]

Hello all,

I hope this is the correct place to ask this question, but as this is my first post I trust you'll have patience if not!

So, having seen the BBC emu released today I'm excited and my GP2X purchase is all but assured, that said my main niggle isn't the firmware or manufacturing issues, time will sort those out but it is the start up times...

I hear the 2X takes 30secs to boot?!? And I wonder if this is ever gonna get reduced to a 'near normal' second or so?!? I have a Tomtom go which is a handheld Linux powered device & when I turn it on it's instantly ready to go, so I assume this could be achived with the 2X?!?

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but I'd love to know what the deal is?!?

thanks

 

[Paradox]

i think its about 20 seconds right now not 30, and i read it can be cut down to 7-10 secs?

 

[nickspoon]

It will be cut down considerably in firmware updates, it's not a hardware defect, you'll just have to put up with it until it is fixed.

5-10 seconds is the target, I believe.

 

[beg1689]

whens the last time you complained about your computer starting in 30 seconds? what the hell are u in such a rush to do? I wouldnt care if it took a minute to boot up once its done it works fine.

 

[aortey]

whens the last time you complained about your computer starting in 30 seconds? what the hell are u in such a rush to do? I wouldnt care if it took a minute to boot up once its done it works fine.

​

Who's complaining is was a question I thought that was the reason for a forum?

 

[garteth]

I seem to remember lots of other people asking the same question in the past, personally I think the boot time is acceptable. A faster boot time will certainly improve the device if it doesn't mean the loss of any functionality so I think it's something to explore.

 

[nickspoon]

whens the last time you complained about your computer starting in 30 seconds? what the hell are u in such a rush to do? I wouldnt care if it took a minute to boot up once its done it works fine.

Thing is, portable devices SHOULD take less time to boot.

My computer takes around 5 minutes so I'm not bothered.

 

[sam fisher]

its running linux!

 

[(naw)mcx]

its running linux!

​

yes....... go on

 

[sam fisher]

well it takes longer then doesnt it?

 

[RobertJ]

Yes, it takes way too long to boot up.

It is acceptable at present, but only because it should improve with future firmware updates, whether they be official or otherwise.

For a handheld device, regardless of WTF OS it runs, anything longer than 5 seconds is reason to moan about.

 

[(naw)mcx]

not really ... im used 2 long waits, the time it takes for my computer to boot up. Meh.

 

[nickspoon]

For a handheld device, regardless of WTF OS it runs, anything longer than 5 seconds is reason to moan about.

Where do I get this WTF OS?

 

[(naw)mcx]

For a handheld device, regardless of WTF OS it runs, anything longer than 5 seconds is reason to moan about.

Where do I get this WTF OS?

​

i hope ur being sarcastic

 

[nickspoon]

For a handheld device, regardless of WTF OS it runs, anything longer than 5 seconds is reason to moan about.

Where do I get this WTF OS?

i hope ur being sarcastic

Nevermind, I e-mailed Microsuck about it and they said that WTF OS will be released early 3023 and include seven different kinds of cheese.

 

[mysql101]

The boot time is a bit long, but I can deal with it.

What i'd like to see is the removal of the splash screen and see the actual linux bootup text - mounting drives, starting services, etc. Geek factor would go way up

 

[Willei]

For a handheld device, regardless of WTF OS it runs, anything longer than 5 seconds is reason to moan about.

​

I can just about live with the boot up time on the PSP, even though it's a good bit longer than 5 seconds. The way that it does something interesting on the screen while it's loading softens the blow, I'm also more likely to make allowances for it since I can hear the disc spinning away so it's obviously doing something.

To be honest, I can live with it on the GP2X as well, annoying though it is. The only real problem I have with it is that it crashes on startup from time to time, so I'm sitting there watching it for 60 seconds thinking it's still loading before I work out what's probably happened!

 

[(naw)mcx]

For a handheld device, regardless of WTF OS it runs, anything longer than 5 seconds is reason to moan about.

Where do I get this WTF OS?

i hope ur being sarcastic

Nevermind, I e-mailed Microsuck about it and they said that WTF OS will be released early 3023 and include seven different kinds of cheese.

​

only 7 cheeses ...that sucks

 

[Ferentix]

FTW OS FTW! Performs 7million MegaCheeses Per Second! And it's coming out about a millenia before WTF OS...


Anyway, the bootup time sounds like a bit of a pain, but nothing I couldn't live with. I guess it would make quick casual playing much less doable though. If someone creates a decent low power sleep mode though, that would be ideal (maybe GPH will, who knows).

 

[judge0]

WTF OS or not, here's the answer to why the system takes so long to boot.

The file system GPH decided to use for the GP2X is JFFS2. JFFS2 has some major advantages, one of which is it allows for compression of decompressed MTD images in memory. The major disadvantages are:

1) longest boot time of all file systems available ( we might be able to shave off about 3 seconds by stripping out networking, motd etc.

2) amusingly enough, when your file system gets filled up (many files in SD/NAND), it interferes with the garbage collection routines built into the kernel ( the same software added to the linux kernel by Barak Pearlmutter). Symtoms will include hanging when deleting files etc

Please don't shoot the messenger . . . It looks like we'll be stuck with long boot times for a while :blink:

BTW, this information came from here