I have some benchmarks on this from a few years ago and runit was definitely speedier than systemd boots (on archlinux) then. From the DW reviewers comments it seems this is still the case, at least
in the case of runit-void's speed. This mostly affects boot time, but the low overhead of a static runit vs the many binaries of system plus its own heft could make a difference on strained-for-resources machines, I suppose, but
likely not on some A/V production rig.

bougyman

On Sunday, March 22, 2015 at 10:30:26 PM UTC-5, Logen Kain wrote:
>>TBH, I never understood this argument.  All Linux distros compile
>>roughly the same sources... why would one be faster than another?

I think runit has a lot to do with it.  Even compared to Arch which I've also streamlined... Had I never saw Void before I would think that the computer must have an SSD in it.

It's some times quicker for me to "git clone" and compile packages on void than it is to download something from apt.  Seriously, Ubuntu competes with windows now for slow updating.

Before using Void, I have never seen firefox open this fast, again I used to be a fan of Arch Linux and openbox combo.

On an R61 Laptop I used to use, windows 7 (came with it refurb) ran pretty ok. I didn't use it more than a day before I started installing Linux distros.
All Ubuntu derived distros were horribly slow to install, boot, and open aplications.
Arch was pretty fast, but nothing compared to void.  Sabayon felt a little quicker than arch.

I typically used MATE at the time, or KDE.

Thinking of KDE.  When I install and start up KDE for the first time, it has always been stupid slow.  Decent boot up times after the first boot.

With Void, it was way faster than I've ever seen it boot.  Even for a first boot.

I don't know what kind of black magic Void weilds, but if it wasn't for Void, I'd agree with the idea that all distros are pretty much the same.


Perhaps I wouldn't notice much of a difference if I used SSD.