Linux tips and tweaks
Use Adaptive Readahead Daemon for a speed boost
What you are probably wondering is what on earth is Adaptive Readahead Daemon? It is basically a utility that runs in the background and it monitors what programs you run. It analyses this information and this enables it to predict what you might want to run next.
It can then preload the binaries and dependencies for the next program into memory before you even click the menu or icon or type the program name to run it. Since most of the program is already in memory it loads super fast.
The idea is that by preloading your most common applications it makes the system snappier and more responsive.
The author's website is at sourceforge.net/projects/preload/ and you can download the files from there and install it yourself. However, there may be an easier way to get it depending on which Linux distro you use. In Ubuntu for example, go to Ubuntu Software Centre and search for it. (Actually, if you search for preload it will come up with Adaptive Readahead Daemon.) One click and it downloads and installs.
Check your distro's repository, Synaptic Package Manager or whatever it uses. It may well be there.
Does it speed up the system? It probably depends on how you work and whether you use a small number of large applications that take a while to load.
If you use lots of small applications it might not make any difference. Try it, you can always uninstall it if there isn't any noticeable benefit.
