A continuous wave Raman laser, with only 100 m of holey fiber as the Raman gain medium, is reported in a linear cavity all-fiber configuration. Slope efficiencies of 29% with a threshold of 2.7 W and 77% with a threshold of 3.7 W were achieved with a maximum output power of 3.6 W at 1.12 mu m. The estimated holey fiber Raman gain coefficient of similar to 17 W-1 km(-1) is over 40 times larger than that of a standard telecommunication fiber. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.