Any distro with these features?

[Triple-H]

Hi

I recently got an ASUS laptop with a Core i5 processor and an ATI VGA card.

I would like to install a fast distro and keep my Win7 installed. [dual boot]

I hate Windows 7 because it boots really slow even on a 64-bit system like mine (they claim it's 60% faster, and it still takes about 2 minutes to boot). So I want a distro that boots really quick (in less than 25 seconds). Also, I need it to have the very latest drivers because my laptop is quite new, and I read that the same VGA card I have already has problems when running under Ubuntu. (Not sure though)

I like programming (Python and Processing), so I did lots of research and figured out that Fedora is pretty good for programmers (it has many programming languages and IDEs already configured in the system..no need to install anything!) + I think it's pretty secure since it is based on RedHat Linux + I read some stuff about Fedora 11 and their promise to boot in less than 20 seconds, donno about 12 though? is it true anyway?

On the other hand, some say that Fedora's package management is not very cool when compared to openSuse's decent package manager and system administration tools...etc

Linux Mint looks very elegant and it can run Ubuntu's packages [I suppose] so it's another possible choice too..

CrunchBang is also really attractive and minimal, they say it's also quite lightweight..so that's another possible choice for me too

My questions are:
- Which of the above distros is the fastest when booting? This matters the most for me.
- Which one has better support for the most recent drivers? especially for laptops?

Is there any other distro that boots faster than the above distros (in less than 25 seconds on a Core i5) and still has good hardware support and security?

I don't really care for the distro's appearance as long as it does the job

Thanks alot,

[GNU-Fan]

Debian.
If the hardware support isn't up to date, you can either compile a newer kernel or change to Debian Unstable.

Boottime is 6 to 8 seconds after Bios (and Grub) ends thanks to my SSD. But I don't think the others will be significantly slower. The harddrive is a very important factor.

[oz]

My questions are:
- Which of the above distros is the fastest when booting? This matters the most for me.
- Which one has better support for the most recent drivers? especially for laptops?

Is there any other distro that boots faster than the above distros (in less than 25 seconds on a Core i5) and still has good hardware support and security?

Boot time depends on your computer hardware speed and the number of services that are started at system boot rather than the distribution. Startup services can be adjusted for any distribution.

As for drivers, most recent distribution releases will likely have a newer kernel which should come with the latest drivers available. It's the kernel version rather than the distribution that should count most for included drivers.

[trutheality]

If you're not afraid of using the cli to set up your system you should check if archlinux has all the drivers you need.
Boot up speed is one of the main reasons I switched to it in the first place.

[Triple-H]

Debian.
If the hardware support isn't up to date, you can either compile a newer kernel or change to Debian Unstable.

Boottime is 6 to 8 seconds after Bios (and Grub) ends thanks to my SSD. But I don't think the others will be significantly slower. The harddrive is a very important factor.

That sounds like a great boot time to me! The new CrunchBang Linux will be based on Debain, so I guess I will give it a try on CrunchBang

Boot time depends on your computer hardware speed and the number of services that are started at system boot rather than the distribution. Startup services can be adjusted for any distribution.

As for drivers, most recent distribution releases will likely have a newer kernel which should come with the latest drivers available. It's the kernel version rather than the distribution that should count most for included drivers.

Thanks for explanation, but I heard some distros modify their kernel and remove some stuff to save space, is that true? If it is, even new distros may lack some essential drivers, right?

If you're not afraid of using the cli to set up your system you should check if archlinux has all the drivers you need.
Boot up speed is one of the main reasons I switched to it in the first place.

I don't think I wanna use ArchLinux because I think that the time needed to configure it for the first time will be the same time saved by its fast boots, so I prefer using a distro that doesn't need lots of configuration as ArchLinux does.

Thank you all, waiting for more replies.

By the way, I just tried CrunchBang Linux 9.04 live CD, and it worked great, except that it could not recognize my wireless adapter. Is this because of the Kernel or the distro itself?

[oz]

Thanks for explanation, but I heard some distros modify their kernel and remove some stuff to save space, is that true? If it is, even new distros may lack some essential drivers, right?

Yes, the developers of various Linux distributions often manipulate the kernel in different ways so that they might achieve the desired result for their particular distribution. Take Tiny Core for example... the entire distribution is only around 10MB so while some users might be missing something, other users would likely consider it to contain everything that is essential to them.

[reed9]

By the way, I just tried CrunchBang Linux 9.04 live CD, and it worked great, except that it could not recognize my wireless adapter. Is this because of the Kernel or the distro itself?

Crunchbang 9.04 is still based on Ubuntu 9.04. The new Crunchbang Alpha release is Debian based.

For your wireless adapter, it probably just needs firmware. Post the output of

lspci -vnn
lsmod

Other options you might look into are the Fedora LXDE spin, Linux Mint Fluxbox or LXDE editions, ArchBang, or TinyMe.

The latter two are still in development and do not have finished releases.

[Triple-H]

Yes, the developers of various Linux distributions often manipulate the kernel in different ways so that they might achieve the desired result for their particular distribution. Take Tiny Core for example... the entire distribution is only around 10MB so while some users might be missing something, other users would likely consider it to contain everything that is essential to them.

Thanks for clarifying. Let's say I got a distro with a kernel with missing drivers, would it be easy for me to add the missing drivers to the kernel of that distro?

Crunchbang 9.04 is still based on Ubuntu 9.04. The new Crunchbang Alpha release is Debian based.

For your wireless adapter, it probably just needs firmware. Post the output of

lspci -vnn
lsmod

Other options you might look into are the ......].

The latter two are still in development and do not have finished releases.

Thanks for help, I'm gonna post the output sometime later because I'm way too busy right now, sorry for that.

As for the links, thank you so much. Fedora LXDE spin and Archbang seem to be pretty attractive, gotta try them and see what happens.

Thanks a lot!

[reed9]

Thanks for clarifying. Let's say I got a distro with a kernel with missing drivers, would it be easy for me to add the missing drivers to the kernel of that distro?

All of the major distros, even in their lightweight offerings, tend to include as much hardware support as possible. It's pretty much only in the mini-distros like TinyCore or Slitaz that you find significantly reduced kernels.

If a major distro does not support a particular piece of hardware out of the box, it is usually because a) the driver or firmware is non-free and therefore they cannot or will not distribute it, b) the driver that exists is in the staging area of the kernel, which means it may be of poor quality or otherwise not quite ready, or c) the hardware isn't yet supported at all.

With few exceptions, wireless cards that do not work out of the box fall into the first category and it is relatively trivial to get them working, especially if you have access to a wired internet connection.

[jayd512]

Thanks for clarifying. Let's say I got a distro with a kernel with missing drivers, would it be easy for me to add the missing drivers to the kernel of that distro?

You could either install the needed drivers after installation, or you could re-compile the kernel to include exactly what you needed. No more, no less.
Rolling your own kernel isn't all that difficult, but it can be a little daunting the first time.