Small OS Splashtop allows booting PC in seconds

24th January 2008

A young American company DeviceVM has developed a compact programming platform called Splashtop designed for integration into the BIOS of the motherboard.
Splashtop platform is based on the Linux core and is launched before the basic operating system immediately after computer turn on. Start screen Splashtop provides a choice between several basic applications, which include browser, media player, email client, instant messager, etc. Thus, if a user just needs to see his mail or a couple of web pages, he can do this through the Splashtop platform and save the time on loading the main operating system, such as Windows.
According to the developers, Splashtop allows starting work with the PC in twenty, and in some cases in five seconds after pressing the power button. Applications of Splashtop re stored in a flash memory chip, and the set of them is determined by the developer.
However, the idea proposed by the company DeviceVM, is not new. Last year the company Phoenix Technologies, a known BIOS developer, submitted a new platform called HyperSpace. This platform is based on applying virtualization technologies. Phoenix proposes to introduce in the BIOS hyper-visor HyperCore, allowing specially developed standalone applications and operating system to work independently from each other. HyperCore provides ability to start programs without booting OS, or in parallel with the main software platform.