The VS2k is a bare bones uVAX-II cpu and inst very
fast but I never
 thought the boot to be unusually slow unless the dianogstic
 were running. 
  RD5x drives are painfully slow, and this is especially a problem in the
VS2000 because the integrated disk controller a) lacks DMA, and b) lacks the
T11 chip to do local processing found in a RQDXn - the uVAX CPU has to do
all the work.
  Starting DECwindows, especially, took forever...
  [Also, maybe I can cook dinner faster than you :-)]
Bob