EXTREME PI BOOT OPTIMIZATION

Summary from the TLDR Web Dev newsletter

This article goes over a developer's journey in optimizing the boot time of a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W for a solar-powered WiFi camera. The goal was to minimize energy consumption by reducing both the boot time and the power draw during boot. Various hardware and software techniques were explored, including disabling unnecessary components, adjusting kernel settings, and creating a custom Buildroot system with a stripped-down kernel. By implementing these optimizations, the boot time was reduced from over 12 seconds to less than 3.5 seconds, resulting in a fivefold reduction in energy consumption.