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[Simon Holt <question45021@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

New question #45021 on Ubuntu Eee:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu-eee/+question/45021

This isn't a question, it's a suggestion for something to do to decrease your boot time, but I can't figure out how to edit the Wiki (these newfangled computer things defeat me again! :D)

I've come across a feature on other forums called "boot booster" which I have enabled on my Eee 901 with decent results - from a cold power-on to a login window now takes about 30 seconds.  It appears that the "boot booster" completely skips the long POST, which used to take about 10-15 seconds.

It's not very difficult, here's how I did it: (Obviously, use great caution, backup your data, and if you're not sure, don't do it - this may nobble your Eee completely, I'm not responsible for any trouble you get into when your other half asks why your new toy isn't working, etc. etc.)

These instructions assume you have a single partition on your 4GB drive named /dev/sda1.

Boot from a live image (i.e. the USB key you used to install Ubuntu Eee in the first place)

Use System->Administration->Partition Editor and shrink /dev/sda1 by 16GB from the end (some sources say you only need 8MB, but I shrunk it by 16MB to be safe)

Create a new unformatted primary partition in the little chunk of free space at the end of your drive.

Run a terminal, and type the command:
sfdisk --change-id /dev/sda 2 ef

Cancel the installer, power off the Eee, then power it on again and press "F2" to get into the BIOS.  Go to "Boot" and you should see a new entry, "Boot Booster" - set this to "Enabled".

Save the settings and exit - the Eee will boot as normal
Perform a normal shutdown.

Power on again - it should go almost immediately to the grub loader, skipping the time-consuming POST.

If you don't get "boot booster" in your BIOS options, you may need to update your BIOS from the ASUS website - I'm running 1301.

Hope that helps somebody!



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