This video shows how long it takes to
boot up a Raspberry Pi to work as a web
kiosk. The two systems were configured as
closely as possible, but their hardware
were not exactly identical. So the first
run recorded here is to get a baseline
for comparison. Software for both were
configured identically with Raspbian
Buster using one of the tutorials
available online. Link is in the
description.
Despite the identical software, we can
see there's still a boot time difference
between these two systems. Sometimes one
is faster, sometimes the other is faster.
Sometimes they are neck-and-neck,
sometimes they're separated by as much
as five seconds. From this we learned the
boot time is roughly 42 seconds, with a
measurement error time margin of plus
or minus two to three seconds. The second
run recorded here is the actual test.
Raspberry pi on the right is untouched
with a Raspbian Buster web kiosk, but the
one on the left is now running Ubuntu
Core configured to run as a web kiosk
following a tutorial whose link is also
in the video description.
Ubuntu Core has been stripped of all but
the most basic features, intended for
developers to build solutions like a web
kiosk as demonstrated by the tutorial.
However even though Ubuntu Core has been
stripped down to basics, it still
required 80 seconds to boot up into a
web kiosk. Almost double the time had
taken by Raspbian Buster.
There are many good reasons to run
Ubuntu Core on a Raspberry Pi
configured as a web kiosk, but it appears
boot time is not one of those reasons. At
least not today,
there's no telling what performance
enhancements are yet to come in future
versions
