HOWTO Framebuffer:Bootsplash:Grubsplash

HOWTO Framebuffer:Bootsplash:Grubsplash

Contents
    * 1 2.6.8 and newer kernels
    * 2 Objectives
          o 2.1 Benefits
          o 2.2 Drawbacks
    * 3 High resolution framebuffer & bootsplash!
          o 3.1 Kernel mode numbers
    * 4 Setting framebuffer without bootsplash!
    * 5 Smaller fonts on framebuffer for greater area!
    * 6 Extending consolefont, framebuffer and bootsplash to all 12 virtual terminals!
    * 7 Personalising your bootsplash theme!
    * 8 Taking screenshots!
    * 9 Personalizing your grub splash image!
    * 10 Trivia:
    * 11 See also

2.6.8 and newer kernels

As of 2.6.8 gensplash has taken over bootsplash.

    From the Gentoo guide on migrating from 2.4 to 2.6:

        bootsplash no longer maintained

        If you used the gentoo-sources-2.4 kernel, you may have used the bootsplash functionality in order to provide yourself with a colourful framebuffer console.

        The developer of bootsplash appears to have lost interest in his project, given some design problems. However, Gentoo developer Michal Januszewski is developing a successor, gensplash, which is included in the gentoo-sources-2.6 kernel. You can follow Michal's Gensplash in 5 easy steps document in order to familiarize yourself with how gensplash is operated."

Note: This HowTo is mainly for BootSplash, go here for GenSplash, which includes the use of Spock's fabulous bootsplash2fbsplash tool for converting old Bootsplash themes to GenSplash.


Objectives

    * High resolution framebuffer
    * High resolution bootsplash image
    * Smaller fonts on framebuffer for greater area
    * Greater choice of fonts for varied appearance
    * Personalising your bootsplash theme
    * Taking screenshots of your framebuffer and bootsplash
    * Using multimedia apps and graphical browser on framebuffer
    * Personalising your grub splash screen image
    * Extending framebuffer and bootsplash to all 12 virtual terminals

Benefits

    * Higher resolution
    * Configurable and pretty appearance
    * Multimedia and graphical browser capability on VTs
    * Framebuffer will work on any kernel version

Drawbacks

    * Slow scrolling of text output on VT's
    * Reduced or zero scroll back buffer

High resolution framebuffer & bootsplash!

Emerge media-gfx/bootsplash (graphical backgrounds for frame buffer consoles).
Warning: with the latest kernels (from gentoo-sources 2.6.8-r1) bootsplash has been replaced by gensplash and this part of the howto doesn't apply anymore ! for further information, see HOWTO gensplash.

emerge splashutils

Overwrite your old bootsplash configuration files.

etc-update

Check that the symbolic link /usr/src/linux is pointing to the kernel of your choice.

readlink -f /usr/src/linux

Some kernels such as gentoo-sources, gaming-sources and xfs-sources already have the bootsplash patch built in. Check whether your kernel supplies bootsplash and if it does not have it then patch the kernel as below.
Warning: This patch does not apply cleanly to current (Aug 22, 2004) gentoo-sources or development-sources!

bootsplash_patch

Enter the kernel configuration.

make menuconfig

For all kernel trees build these options directly into your kernel. Do NOT make them modules and do not enable nvidia or ATI specific options.

For 2.6.x kernel tree enable the following options.
Linux Kernel Configuration: 2.6.x

General setup  --->
    [*] Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers
Processor type and features  --->
    [*] MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support
Device Drivers  --->
    Block devices  --->
        <*> Loopback device support
        <*> RAM disk support
        (4096) Default RAM disk size
        [*]   Initial RAM disk (initrd) support
    Graphics support  --->
    [*] Support for frame buffer devices
    [*]   VESA VGA graphics support
        Console display driver support  --->
        [*]   Video mode selection support
        <*> Framebuffer Console support
        Bootsplash configuration  --->
        [*] Bootup splash screen

For 2.4.x kernel tree enable the following options.
Linux Kernel Configuration: 2.4.x

Code maturity level options  --->
    [*] Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers
Processor type and features  --->
    [*] MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support
Block Devices ->
    [*] Loopback device support
    [*] RAM disk support
    (4096)   Default RAM disk size
    [*] Initial RAM disk (initrd) support
Console Drivers ->
    [*] VGA text console
    [*] Video mode selection support
Console Drivers -> Frame-buffer support ->
    [*] Support for frame buffer devices
    [*] VESA VGA graphics console
    [*] Use splash screen instead of boot logo

For any kernel do NOT enable the following options or else you risk bootsplash not working or framebuffer corruption when switching VTs.
Linux Kernel Configuration: Any kernel

Device Drivers  --->
    Graphics support  --->
            < >   nVidia Riva support  (do not enable!)
        Logo configuration  --->
            [ ] Bootup logo  (do not enable!)

If you have problems later disable the following option in kernel
Linux Kernel Configuration: Any kernel

Device Drivers  --->
    Character devices  --->
        < > /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)

And add the following line to your /etc/X11/XF86Config[-4] or /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

Option          "NvAGP"         "1"

    * Compile your kernel as below for 2.6.x kernel.

make && make modules_install

    * Compile your kernel as below for 2.4.x kernel.

make dep && make clean bzImage modules modules_install


Install your kernel as below but do NOT unmount /boot and do NOT reboot until asked to later.

mount /boot
mv /boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage.old
cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/


If you get errors during kernel compilation or missing options during configuration do as below.

cd /usr/src/linux/
mv .config ~/kernel.config
make mrproper
mv ~/kernel.config .config
make oldconfig
make menuconfig


Assuming /boot is mounted set an image to appear during the boot process.

/sbin/splash -s -f /etc/bootsplash/default/config/bootsplash-1280x1024.cfg >> /boot/initrd-1280x1024


Or you can copy an already exisiting initrd image that is provided with the bootsplash package.

cp /usr/share/bootsplash/initrd-1280x1024 /boot/


Edit your /boot/grub/grub.conf file. The example below has been provided for your convenience. Here are the meanings of the various parameters.

    video= goes on kernel line and controls display options such as ywrap and mtrr which speed up framebuffer scrolling
    vga= goes on kernel line and controls the resolution and colour depth of framebuffer
    splash= goes on kernel line and takes either 'silent' or 'verbose' but silent boots may not work
    initrd= goes on a new line after kernel line and loads an image during the booting process.


default 0
timeout 10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
 
# With both framebuffer and bootsplash
title=Gentoo GNU/Linux 1.4 (+fb +splash)
root=(hd0,0)
kernel=/bzImage root=/dev/hda3 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x31A splash=silent
initrd=/initrd-1280x1024
 
# With framebuffer but without bootsplash
title=Gentoo GNU/Linux 1.4 (+fb -splash)
root=(hd0,0)
kernel=/bzImage root=/dev/hda3 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x31A
 
# Without both framebuffer and bootsplash
title=Gentoo GNU/Linux 1.4 (-fb -splash)
root=(hd0,0)
kernel=/bzImage root=/dev/hda3

Here is a lilo.conf example configuration courtesy of ophidia.


image = /boot/vmlinuz
 
       root = /dev/hdaX
       label = Gentoo
       initrd = /boot/initrd (/boot/initrd is symbolic link on your initrd)
       vga = 0x317
       append="video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr:2 splash=silent"     #(generally in that order) for 2.6.13 kernel onwards

   1. append="video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr splash=silent" #(generally in that order) for 2.6.x kernel

#       append="video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr splash=silent"       #                                for  2.4.x kernel
       read-only

Note that in the above grub and lilo configuration examples the keyword 'vesafb' is applicable to 2.6.x kernels. For 2.4.x kernels it should be changed to 'vesa'.
Kernel mode numbers
Here is a chart of kernel mode numbers for the 'vga=' boot parameter. Colours     640x400     640x480     800x600     1024x768     1152x864     1280x1024     1400x1050     1600x1200
4 bits      ?      ?     0x302      ?      ?      ?      ?      ?
8 bits     0x300     0x301     0x303     0x305     0x161     0x307      ?     0x31C
15 bits      ?     0x310     0x313     0x316     0x162     0x319     0x340     0x31D
16 bits      ?     0x311     0x314     0x317     0x163     0x31A     0x341     0x31E
24 bits      ?     0x312     0x315     0x318      ?     0x31B     0x342     0x31F
32 bits      ?      ?      ?      ?     0x164      ?      ?      ?

Note that 32-bit video modes do not support bootsplash images.

Look at the following reference files if you need more detailed information.

    * /usr/share/bootsplash/grub.conf.sample
    * /usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt
    * /usr/src/linux/Documentation/svga.txt

Add bootsplash to the default run level so that it starts on every boot.

rc-update add bootsplash default


Reboot and bask in the glory of bootplash wonder. To remind yourself of what kernel parameters you booted with do as below.

cat /proc/cmdline

Setting framebuffer without bootsplash!

To have a framebuffer only without bootsplash for greater area remove bootsplash from your default run level and reboot.

rc-update del bootsplash default

Remove or comment out this line from your chosen menu entry in grub.conf.

initrd=/boot/initrd-1280x1024

Smaller fonts on framebuffer for greater area!

Open /etc/rc.conf and change the following variable. For Gentoo 2005.0 you find it in /etc/conf.d/consolefont

CONSOLEFONT="default8x9"

To see what other fonts are available for use look in the following location and add the name without the extension to /etc/rc.conf.

/usr/share/consolefonts

Extending consolefont, framebuffer and bootsplash to all 12 virtual terminals!

Open /etc/init.d/consolefont and change all instances of

for x in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

to

for x in {1..12}

If you cannot find "for x in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" in /etc/init.d/consolefont then it might be possible that you have to change /etc/conf.d/rc Change

RC_TTY_NUMBER=11

to

RC_TTY_NUMBER=12

Open /etc/conf.d/bootsplash.conf and change the following variable as below.

BOOTSPLASH_TTYS="0 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11"

For the above changes to take effect you can either reboot or restart the above init.d scripts as below. Voila!

/etc/init.d/consolefont restart
/etc/init.d/bootsplash restart

Personalising your bootsplash theme!

Create your own directory structure called 'personal'.

mkdir -p /etc/bootsplash/personal/images/
cp -r /etc/bootsplash/gentoo/config /etc/bootsplash/personal/

Change the symbolic link for the default theme.

rm /etc/bootsplash/default
ln -s /etc/bootsplash/personal /etc/bootsplash/default

Open /etc/conf.d/bootsplash.conf and change it as below.

BOOTSPLASH_THEME=default

Copy images of your choice and of correct resolution and depth into /etc/bootsplash/personal/images/. Make sure images have a resolution of 96x96 and not 300x300. Note that this is not image size but rather 'pixels per inch'. For more information look here. Open /etc/bootsplash/default/config/bootsplash-1280x1024.cfg and change paths below to point to your images.
File: /etc/bootsplash/default/config/bootsplash-1280x1024.cfg

jpeg=/etc/bootsplash/default/images/bootsplash-1280x1024.jpg
silentjpeg=/etc/bootsplash/default/images/silent-1280x1024.jpg

To have your image appear during boot add it to /boot otherwise omit this step.

mount /boot
/sbin/splash -s -f /etc/bootsplash/default/config/bootsplash-1280x1024.cfg >> /boot/initrd-1280x1024

Or with a newer version do:

mount /boot
/sbin/bootsplash_initrdgen default
cp /usr/share/bootsplash/initrd-default-1280x1024 /boot/initrd-1280x1024

Note: you can replace default with any themename you want. Reboot, test and post feedback.
Taking screenshots!

emerge fbgrab
fbgrab ~/console.png

Personalizing your grub splash image!

emerge gimp
wget http://dhruba.codewordt.co.uk/files/grub-image.scm -P ~
mv ~/grub-image.scm /usr/share/gimp/1.2/scripts/

use ftp://ftp.yi.se/pub/games/quakeworld/users/hardcampa/bootsplash/grub-image.scm for backup porposes

Start gimp and open an image of your choice. Right click on the image, select File, Grub Boot Image and save in your home directory. A sample image is provided in instructions below for you to try. Other images can be found here which is a very useful resource.

wget -P ~
mv ~powered-by.xpm.gz /boot/grub/

Modify /boot/grub/grub.conf to point to the new image.

splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/gentoo-boot.xpm.gz

To create images of the correct kind either follow the command line instructions at linux.tkdack.com duplicated below for convenience or use the gimp plugin.

convert -size 800x600 file.jpg -resize 640x480 -colors 14 -profile '*' file.xpm
gzip file.xpm

Trivia:

For trivia first emerge aalib, svgalib and DirectFB. You can set additonal USE flags for MMX and SSE for DirectFB.

    * Mplayer on framebuffer: Try 'emerge mplayer' and then 'mplayer -vo fbdev '.

Try out this link: HOWTO Mplayer on Framebuffer

    * Graphical browser on framebuffer:

emerge links
chown root:root /usr/bin/links2
chmod +s /usr/bin/links2
links2 -g -driver directfb.

Other drivers are X, vesa, svgalib and fb. Try them all and see what works best for you. How did links go for you? For the fb driver you may have to enable gpm. Edit the gpm config file and start it through the init.d script.
Note: If you have the 2.6.8 version of the linux kernel, this will not work. Check out gensplash for a suitable replacement.