Searching about smartbooks, I'm sure I'll talk about them in future posts, the fast boot (also known as instant on) concept comes into my mind.

It's easy to understand, "I want my computer ready in seconds". At the moment I only know a way to get this, talking about a generic computer. This way is called linux.

Severals attempts have been done, most of them with laptops and preferably netbooks. The challenge is to boot in no more than 20 seconds.

Currently, many linux distros are working on this task, new ext4 filesystem eases this aim. The fastest generic distros boot within 20-40 seconds. Other specific distros get ready in 10 seconds or less. Some of them are,

• HyperSpace: launched by Phoenix, the BIOS company. Surprisingly there is a version that allows dual operating system running at the same time.
• SplashTop: ASUS is leading this project. Only works with some asus motherboards.
• xPud: sponsored by Kairo Technologies, a chinese company. As far as I know it is under development.

Usually these distros provide a functional desktop, with most used applications like a browser, media player, instant messenger and so on.