bootup speed with HORM, OS size issues

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I am pushing to a project in WinXpe (more drivers, could run Windows
executables, better growth plan), whereas others in my group think maybe we
should go WinCE for boot-up speed, which I am hoping is not a show stopper.
Any one have any opinions on that?

Here is what I have learned thusfar. I am currently developing/testing on a
standard PC (w/ hard disk)just to get a feel for WinXpe and HORM. The bootup
time I am getting with HORM is around 25 seconds, but I know that is somewhat
(largely?) dependent on the size of the WinXPe, which is huge, given that it
was made based off a TAP done on the PC and then nothing was removed to make
it leaner.

The target hardware for our system will be a PC-104 card with a compact
flash disk or disk on chip (no hard disk can be used due to environmental
issues).
Our OS size should be reasonably small as the embedded application doesn't
need a lot of drivers.

Q1: If I run TA or TAP on the target hardware and build my OS image by
importing the pmq file in Target Designer, what components will get dragged
in 'automatically' that I can likely remove? Is there any document/article
anywhere on how to make a very small WinXPe OS? The PC-104 manufacturer may
provide me with an OS as part of their introductory 'kit', but I want to know
how to build the leanest OS by myself.

Q2: Are there any rules of thumb on the a) size of partition needed for the
hibernate.sys file to reside in, b) the size of compact flash/ disk on chip
needed as a result of the size of the WinXpe OS

Q3: Any ballpark guesses on how fast I should be able to boot up, using
HORM, assuming I am able to get the size of the OS reasonably small? Are
read speeds on compact flash/disk on chip comparable to a hard disk? I'm
really hoping to get the bootup under 10 seconds.

Q4: Is the processor speed on the pc-104 card important is the boot-up
speed? The pc-104 card is a small percentage of the hardware cost on this
project, so I can get a really fast cpu if that would help.

Any other general suggestions on how to make the fastest booting system
possible would be appreciated.
 
Take a look below...

HTH,

--
John Coyne
eMVP
Windows Embedded Black Belt
Arrow Electronics, OCS division



When replying directly to this message remove the NOSPAM_ from the address
hanleyh1 said:
I am pushing to a project in WinXpe (more drivers, could run Windows
executables, better growth plan), whereas others in my group think maybe
we
should go WinCE for boot-up speed, which I am hoping is not a show
stopper.
Any one have any opinions on that?

Here is what I have learned thusfar. I am currently developing/testing on
a
standard PC (w/ hard disk)just to get a feel for WinXpe and HORM. The
bootup
time I am getting with HORM is around 25 seconds, but I know that is
somewhat
(largely?) dependent on the size of the WinXPe, which is huge, given that
it
was made based off a TAP done on the PC and then nothing was removed to
make
it leaner.

The target hardware for our system will be a PC-104 card with a compact
flash disk or disk on chip (no hard disk can be used due to environmental
issues).
Our OS size should be reasonably small as the embedded application doesn't
need a lot of drivers.

Q1: If I run TA or TAP on the target hardware and build my OS image by
importing the pmq file in Target Designer, what components will get
dragged
in 'automatically' that I can likely remove? Is there any
document/article
anywhere on how to make a very small WinXPe OS? The PC-104 manufacturer
may
provide me with an OS as part of their introductory 'kit', but I want to
know
how to build the leanest OS by myself.
Click to expand...

this really depends on the devices and required subsystems that your PC/104
SBC contains... as a general rule importing the pmq file directly into TD is
going to make your image pretty big, as it brings EVERYTHING in that it
finds, including dependencies, if you have your dependency check set to auto
resolve. Better way to do this is bring the pmq file into Compoent Designer,
and make a re-useable Component out of it... 2 fold - 1. you will most
certainly build this image more than once, so a little work on the front end
is going to save you a TON of time in the long run, and 2. within CD you can
select the items from the pmq file that you want, so it doesn't get so
big... also set your initial dependency check to not auto resolve, and then
mititgate what you do and don't want from the list...
Q2: Are there any rules of thumb on the a) size of partition needed for
the
hibernate.sys file to reside in, b) the size of compact flash/ disk on
chip
needed as a result of the size of the WinXpe OS
Click to expand...

the hiberfil.sys file is as large as your physical RAM is. (just like
Hibernate in XP Pro)
Q3: Any ballpark guesses on how fast I should be able to boot up, using
HORM, assuming I am able to get the size of the OS reasonably small? Are
read speeds on compact flash/disk on chip comparable to a hard disk? I'm
really hoping to get the bootup under 10 seconds.
Click to expand...

I have personally seen REALLY TIGHT configurations in the ~10-15 second
range... using VGA, and such, so it stands to reason that you will be able
to trim it down. if you are running minimal configs and tune your platform
well.
Q4: Is the processor speed on the pc-104 card important is the boot-up
speed? The pc-104 card is a small percentage of the hardware cost on this
project, so I can get a really fast cpu if that would help.
Click to expand...
CPU is always a factor, as is RAM... if you have the real-estate and power
budget I say the more the merrier! :-) Seriously, if you are using something
like a GX-1 now, you will see performance/boot improvements with something
in the Pentium/celeron family... if power and heat are concerns there are
ULV Celerons out there that are rated for fanless operation...
Any other general suggestions on how to make the fastest booting system
possible would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

My main suggestion is to again, componetize your pmq file, so that you can
best tune the config. Also the possiblity of a custom shell (like your
application) depending on what you're doing can boost performance... here's
a link on compoentizing device drivers...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...p/html/xehowhowtocomponentizedevicedriver.asp
 
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