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  • Why is there no 'Instant On' operating system yet?

    Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator

    Updated: Oct 26, 2024
    Views: 1.2K
    The new Macbook Air 2013 boots in just 13 seconds and that's definitely a great achievement. But I'm wondering why are we still away from the instant on operating system? I think one way to achieve this would be to store all of the essential operating system files into always-on memory (RAM) which is powered by a tiny battery that keeps the supply on when the machine is off. As soon as the machine is turned on, all the time in reading the files from the disk will be saved and we will get an instant on operating system!

    Of course this isn't as easy as possible; or the engineers would have achieved it by now. I'm curious to know what are the problems in the above proposed technique?
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  • Apurwa.Thakur

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    Kaustubh Katdare
    The new Macbook Air 2013 boots in just 13 seconds and that's definitely a great achievement. But I'm wondering why are we still away from the instant on operating system?
    @Kaustubh-I heard Apple has has feature for years that when we Close the lid, and the OS goes into sleep mode. Open the lid and it comes back in less than 3 secs.isn't is near to instant on operating system?I think 3 sec is enough .
    or
    You want computers to start and switch off like televisions?
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  • Anoop Mathew

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    Apurwa.Thakur
    @Kaustubh-I heard Apple has has feature for years that when we Close the lid, and the OS goes into sleep mode. Open the lid and it comes back in less than 3 secs.isn't is near to instant on operating system?I think 3 sec is enough .
    or
    You want computers to start and switch off like televisions?
    Well resuming from sleep mode is easy, but resuming from shutdown state takes time. I like the easiness of the Windows 8 boot time compared to it's earlier predecessors. However, 13 seconds is even quite faster than that! I guess the development of smaller SSD HDDs can fix this solution in near future.
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  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 10, 2013

    The sleep modes are very different from what I'm talking about. I'm talking about an 'always on' operating system that just pops up right into action, along with all your previous documents, spreadsheets, photoshop graphics etc. in ready to work on mode. I think time has come that we re-think computers and the traditional turn-on, turn-off; boot etc. Come on, CS folks. I know this topic is 'out of syllabus'. But there's no punishment for being wrong here.

    Let your imagination run wild.
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  • Apurwa.Thakur

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    Kaustubh Katdare
    The sleep modes are very different from what I'm talking about. I'm talking about an 'always on' operating system that just pops up right into action, along with all your previous documents, spreadsheets, photoshop graphics etc. in ready to work on mode. I think time has come that we re-think computers and the traditional turn-on, turn-off; boot etc. Come on, CS folks. I know this topic is 'out of syllabus'. But there's no punishment for being wrong here.

    Let your imagination run wild.
    Yeah!now a days i use to put my laptop in sleep mode for whole days to keep my document still open.but in this condition power is on.

    hibernatte is another other option to consider which would completely power it down ,yet still allow you to resume exactly where you were when you hibernated it.
    then why need to use small battery in laptops to keep your syatem on for RAM.👎
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  • Abhishek Rawal

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    - No electronics component is ideal, they have delays while passing the data signals. So, it's not possible to have 'instant ON' operating system, even though you store entire OS in RAM.

    - When computer starts, the BIOS starts, BIOS is nothing but a firmware, so it is a program. Every program takes some specific time for execution. (this usually takes not more than 1-2 seconds). Now, next comes the Kernel, Kernel is nothing but a software, so it will too take some time for execution & gaining all authority for I/O peripherals from BIOS.
    This consumes the time & thus there is no "instant ON" OS.

    - An another reason, processor works sequentially which means it can execute one instruction at one specific time, but the processors are so fast in processing & switching their task that a human can't recognize that it can execute only one instruction at a time.
    So, whenever you start the computer it has trigger BIOS, then execute Kernel, after that it has to take care of I/O peripherals & memories like RAM,ROM. All this process is not possible to execute in one second, as it is processor (it performs sequentially, step-by-step) & thus it is not possible to have instant OS.

    - By The Way Ubuntu 13.04 boots in 8 seconds, beat that ! 😁
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  • Jeffrey Arulraj

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    Battery life will be a problem in this scenario if your computer OS runs through out the time it will consume a hell lotta battery

    I think it will be easily achieved by using Dual batteries one for the processor and the other for all other performance of the laptop this will easily solve your issue as the Battery time will be enhanced and also your quick start up can be achieved
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  • KenJackson

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    Apparently the Apollo spacecrafts back in the '60s and '70s had instant-on computers. The RAM was nonvolatile core--each bit was a little iron donut that stored it's state magnetically. So it didn't have to boot each time it powered up.

    Ironic, isn't it? It was instant-on, but slow as molasses.
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  • Ashraf HZ

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    Lol, biggie.. I think you've raised this up a few times over the past few years 😛

    Come on folks, more creative responses needed!
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  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 10, 2013

    Right, but technology has evolved rapidly. When we first discussed this there were no SSDs. Instead of 'always on' system, I'm wondering if we can have an 'instant on' operating system. Someone's gotta solve that problem!

    Any Apple engineers here? 😀
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  • Phenomenal

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    As Abhishek mentioned,the processor is the fastest component of a system.
    If we need to decrease the booting time,we need to increase the speed of all the components involved in the process including the RAM and the secondary memory.

    With technologies like multiple cores,parallel processing and SSDs, the boot-up time has definitely improved and like every other technology - it can always be improved.
    I think we also need to consider the growth of processing power v/s the growth of memory speeds.
    Processor technology is developing much faster than the memory technology which creates this bottle-neck.The memory components aren't matching up to the CPU speeds.


    My Questions :

    Is it possible to have both Static and Dynamic memory in one memory module?
    The static part can store the essential OS files - it can be programmed only once since it's static and the updates and other features can be stored in the secondary memory.Is this feasible?
    Also,why is the battery life of devices so limited and when can we expect a laptop to work for 24 hours with a single-charge assuming 100% usage - is it the battery technology or the system architecture that needs more optimization for making this happen?
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  • Jeffrey Arulraj

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    Phenomenal
    My Questions :


    Also,why is the battery life of devices so limited and when can we expect a laptop to work for 24 hours with a single-charge assuming 100% usage - is it the battery technology or the system architecture that needs more optimization for making this happen?

    Battery is a storing tank in any device in case of a laptop the mains power cannot be directly used to power the internal operations of the circuitory

    The laptop is designed to step this voltage and current level to the level handled by the battery and the other internal components of the COmputer

    No storing device is ideal so it is a worthy Project you can work on
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  • KenJackson

    Member • Jul 10, 2013

    Software alone can't ever produce an instant-on computer. Since current computers use volatile memory, the software has to be loaded into the RAM before it can begin doing anything.

    We need non-volatile RAM so the software is already loaded when power is applied. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferroelectric_RAM" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Ferroelectric Ram</a> or FRAM (#-Link-Snipped-#, #-Link-Snipped-#) has been almost bursting forth on the scene for years now. I don't know what the holdup is. But we'll have our instant-on computers if it ever becomes available at a reasonable cost.
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  • Ashraf HZ

    Member • Jul 11, 2013

    KenJackson
    Software alone can't ever produce an instant-on computer. Since current computers use volatile memory, the software has to be loaded into the RAM before it can begin doing anything.

    We need non-volatile RAM so the software is already loaded when power is applied. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferroelectric_RAM" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Ferroelectric Ram</a> or FRAM (#-Link-Snipped-#, #-Link-Snipped-#) has been almost bursting forth on the scene for years now. I don't know what the holdup is. But we'll have our instant-on computers if it ever becomes available at a reasonable cost.
    MRAMs & PRAMs can be viable alternatives. Though PRAMs seem to have the upper hand with Samsung as its champion, so costs should come down soon.
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