Comments on: Embedded systems boot times

By: Nigel Jones

Nigel Jones — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:39:14 +0000

Good point. Now you mention it I think this lack of timely feedback is one of the biggest irritants I have with products.

By: K1200LT Rider

K1200LT Rider — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:22:06 +0000

>> …I'm never sure if I've actually turned the thing on, or whether the remote control signal missed its mark)Even my old CRT type television is frustrating to me, because it has no indication as to whether it is on or off other than the picture itself. When the cable box (which has a power LED) is off, it's difficult to tell if the TV is on since it is just a black screen.Whether it's hardware or software, there should always be something to indicate it's state, and also something to indicate to the user the progress if any particular state takes a significant amount of time at all.

By: Nigel Jones

Nigel Jones — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:10:01 +0000

OK – I'll ensure I post my thoughts on how to minimize boot times at some point in the future.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:22:57 +0000

Nigel I would also appreciate to read a post about how to reduce boot times.tks,Douglas

By: Nigel Jones

Nigel Jones — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:11:09 +0000

Good question Kyle. For the first 60 seconds or so, a pretty picture is displayed, with no other outward sign of activity. For the remainder of the time, the usual oscilloscope display is shown, but with an hourglass. Finally a message appears that says 'Power on self test passed'. What's interesting is that the scope has an additional calibration mode that may be manually invoked. Thus I'm not really sure what the scope is doing for 75 seconds (other than irritating me!).

By: Kyle Bostian

Kyle Bostian — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:18:03 +0000

Does the scope have a self test? If so, how much of the 75 seconds is boot time, and how much is self test of the oscilloscope specific features? I used to have a TDS640 and it had a pretty extensive self-test. I could imagine that some of the tests may need time to settle before making a go-no go decision. In general, though, I would agree – it would be difficult to tolerate a scope sitting like a zombie for 75 seconds before showing a sign of life.

By: Denton Gentry

Denton Gentry — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:06:37 +0000

I would appreciate a posting on reducing boot times. I mostly work with 32 bit CPUs (MIPS, PowerPC) running Linux, and really enjoy reading about perspectives from a different part of the embedded market.