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Tips&Tricks Changing that horrendous mandrake boot-splas


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sisob

Senior user

Joined: 02 May 2002

Posts: 207

Location: Ireland

 

Post Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2002 9:18 pm Post subject: Changing that horrendous mandrake boot-splash screen

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I've written a nice script to change the boot-splash screen to any jpeg image you want

 

if this forum accepted attachments i'd post it but It'll be on my site soon

 

anyone interested

 

 

DOlson

Moderator

Joined: 16 Apr 2002

Posts: 2393

Location: Canada

Post Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2002 10:49 pm Post subject:

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Hehe. I'll most likely try it. But can you tell me which boot screen? Mine is all text-based... Grub too... I'd love to get a pic for Grub like RH and other distros...

 

 

spiedra

Senior user

Joined: 30 May 2002

Posts: 686

Location: Orlando, FL

Post Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2002 12:35 am Post subject:

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I tried changing my splash screen for kde 3, but wasn't able to. Still had the same old screen. I was able to do it with v 2.2, but it doesn't matter, i've seemed to have settled on Fluxbox.

 

 

sisob

Senior user

Joined: 02 May 2002

Posts: 207

Location: Ireland

Post Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2002 9:26 am Post subject:

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IT's the screen that is there during init and kerenl boot

 

Enterprise kernel users might not have it Smile

 

It only works if you can boot in vga=788 or vga=791 or vga=794 modes(pass those arguements to the the kernel at boot time to try it out)

 

I've even made my own funky boot screen - there's nothing like using a console with a jpeg background - and booting could take as long as it wants - it looks soo pretty

 

anyone know how to take console screenshots - i could show you what i mean

 

 

Tristan

Frequent user

Joined: 02 May 2002

Posts: 74

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2002 2:03 am Post subject:

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sisob I got the same thing happening, with a script to write a random jpg out of a specified directory into the bootsdplash. SO much nicer than the amateurish MAndrake default.

 

However I haven't been able to change the very first lilo OS chooser graphic, which still looks shit. Does anyone know how to do this?

 

 

frew

Senior user

Joined: 01 Jun 2002

Posts: 214

Location: Mississippi

Post Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2002 2:54 am Post subject:

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coooooool I wanna see the random script! i wanna see the random

script!

 

 

Tristan

Frequent user

Joined: 02 May 2002

Posts: 74

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2002 4:21 am Post subject:

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OK, here is my random script for MDK8.2. You'll have to run it as su root obviously. You'll need to change the location of your jpg directory, and the name of the temp png file too. Let me know how you go.

 

----

   #!/bin/sh

  #Tristan's Random Bootsplash Script

  clear

  echo 'Script to Create a Random Bootsplash.'

  echo ' '



  echo 'Creating main picture...'

  chbg -once -mode tile -randomize -R -pattern *.JPG -pattern *.jpg

  /home/tristan/Graphics/ -to_file -out_file_width 800 -out_file_height

  600 -out_file /home/tristan/pic.png



  echo 'Converting to jpg...'

  convert -quality 100 /home/tristan/pic.png /home/tristan/pic.jpg



  echo 'Displaying picture...'

  ee /home/tristan/pic.jpg



  echo 'Continue with this pic? Y/N'

  read cont



  if [ "$cont" = "y" ]; then



  echo 'Copying temporary jpg to

  /usr/share/bootsplash/themes/Mandrake/images...'

  mv /home/tristan/pic.jpg

  /usr/share/bootsplash/themes/Mandrake/images/bootsplash-800x600.jpg



  echo 'Creating image...'

  cd /usr/share/bootsplash/scripts

  sh make-boot-splash Mandrake

  cd /boot



  echo 'Removing old initrd...'

  rm initrd.img



  echo 'Creating new initrd...'

  mkinitrd initrd.img 2.4.18-6mdk



  echo 'Updating lilo...'

  lilo



  echo 'Done, changes will take effect at next boot.'

  else

  echo 'Aborting...'

  rm -f /home/tristan/pic.jpg

  fi

  echo 'Cleaning up...'

  rm -f /usr/share/bootsplash/scripts/Mandrake

  rm -f /home/tristan/pic.png rm -f /home/tristan/pic2.png

  exit

 

 

sisob

Senior user

Joined: 02 May 2002

Posts: 207

Location: Ireland

Post Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2002 6:32 pm Post subject:

_________________________________________________________________

 

 

here's my script:

 

It assumes you have a script installed properly similarly to the bootsplash-themes rpm. It creates a new initrd so that you can try out different themes - and even have lilo options for each one

 

i havent bothered with the lilo bground cus i use grub

 

I also created my own REALLY cool splash - i'll post an rpm soon

 

-------

   #!/bin/bash



  # --------------------------------------------------------------

  # Check for root

  # --------------------------------------------------------------



  ROOT_UID=0 # Only users with $UID 0 have root privileges.

  if [ "$UID" -ne "$ROOT_UID" ]

  then

  echo "Must be root to run this script."

  exit $E_NOTROOT

  fi

  clear



  THEME=$1



  # --------------------------------------------------------------

  # Splash install function

  # --------------------------------------------------------------



  main()

  {

  echo ""

  echo "---------------------------------------"

  # install splash

  if /sbin/mkinitrd /boot/initrd-$1.img $(uname -r) 2> /dev/null

  then

  cd /usr/share/bootsplash/scripts

  ./switch-themes $1

  ./make-boot-splash /boot/initrd-$1.img

  echo ""

  echo "/boot/initrd-$1.img has been created using $1 as"

  echo "the splashscreen when you boot in the current console

  resolution."

  CONTINUE=0

  else

  echo ""

  echo "I failed to create the initrd file!"

  echo "The file /boot/initrd-$1.img already exists."

  echo "Would you like me to delete it and continue installing the

  splash screen?(yes/no)"

  read DELETE

  if [ $DELETE = "yes" ]

  then

  rm -f /boot/initrd-$1.img

  CONTINUE=1

  else

  echo "You will need to re-run the script after deleting or renaming

  /boot/initrd-$1.img"

  CONTINUE=0

  fi

  fi



  }



  # --------------------------------------------------------------

  # Starting program

  # --------------------------------------------------------------



  echo "Welcome to sisob's installsplash"

  echo "Feedback to sisob@eircom.net"



  # --------------------------------------------------------------

  # check for input

  # --------------------------------------------------------------



  if [ "$1" == "" ]

  then

  echo ""

  echo "-----------------------------"

  echo "You must provide a theme name"

  echo "usage: $0 theme"

  echo ""

  exit

  fi



  # --------------------------------------------------------------

  # start loop to allow for file deletion

  # --------------------------------------------------------------

  CONTINUE=1



  while [ "$CONTINUE" == "1" ]

  do

  main $1

  done

 

 

scaley187

Senior user

Joined: 01 May 2002

Posts: 206

Post Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2002 7:52 pm Post subject:

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Tristan,

 

I've been sucessful at changing the lilo boot splash by following this tutorial at:

 

http://www.13thfloor.at/Software/lilo-splash

 

You just need to get this gimp plugin and then follow the directions...

 

Oh and I made a little init splash screen as well. It would be nice if we could put them all somewhere so people could download or view them or whatever. Any ideas?

 

scaley

 

 

Tristan

Frequent user

Joined: 02 May 2002

Posts: 74

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2002 1:14 am Post subject:

_________________________________________________________________

 

 

As usual Scaley comes to the rescue! I'll try the link out. I actually have a few free Mb on my server and can host init splash and boot splash images if I get enough interest.

 

 

Tristan

Frequent user

Joined: 02 May 2002

Posts: 74

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2002 9:43 am Post subject:

_________________________________________________________________

 

 

Scaley I had a look at the gimp script and saved a nice pcx file ready to go as my initsplash. The only problem - there is no mklilomsg in MDK8.2 Shocked Which version did you use and where did you get it from?

 

 

scaley187

Senior user

Joined: 01 May 2002

Posts: 206

Post Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2002 6:11 pm Post subject:

_________________________________________________________________

 

 

Tristan,

 

It's going to take me a bit to figure out just again where I got that (I'm at work now). So hopefully, I'll have it for you soon.

 

scaley

 

 

dahvaio

Newbie

Joined: 11 Jun 2002

Posts: 14

Post Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2002 7:08 pm Post subject:

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Just go to kde-look.org and and there are alot of splash screens available to use. I use the keramik theme and rotate my splash whenever I get bored with my current one...

 

 

Languid Heap

Newbie

Joined: 10 Sep 2002

Posts: 2

Post Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 10:59 pm Post subject: LILO boot

screen background image

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Hey all, was just playing around with making my own background image for boot selection in LILO.

 

To set the stage, I'm using Mandrake 9.0 and LILO 22.3.2 -- if your specs are different you should check your docs, as i know that some of this differs with earlier versions of LILO. I found all of the documentation on this process in /usr/share/doc/lilo-22.3.2/README.bitmaps.bz2 (just issue a "man" or "vim" command on that file to read it).

 

**NOTE** when making changes to LILO, it's a *very* good idea to save a backup of your lilo.conf file before you get started. Additionally, you should make sure that you have some way of booting into Linux (emergency boot disk, mandrake CD, etc.) in the event that something goes terribly wrong. That said, here's what i did to make a custom LILO boot selection background image...

 

My version of LILO uses only Bitmaps for the background image (more on this in that README), so the image you use needs to be a 640x480 Bitmap in 16 colors. My best results were with exporting a vector graphic with fewer than 16 colors to bitmap. Be prepared for uglification if you're trying to use a photo for your LILO background image. Wink

 

Now that you've got your bitmap, you need to put the LILO header information into that image so that LILO can use it. As root, issue this command "lilo -E yourbitmap.bmp"

 

This command will walk you through setting up all the LILO boot options such as layout, colors, and position of the timer and your boot selections (linux, windows, floppy, linux-nonfb, etc.). Note that when specifying colors, you are drawing from the pallette of 16 colors present in your bitmap.

 

When you're finished specifying those options, press W to write the header info to your bitmap. There's also an option to write that info to a separate .dat file which, in my case is basically a backup for those prefs we've just specified. Read more about the .dat file in the README.bitmaps file. The .dat file will be saved with the same name as your bitmap. Copy the .dat and .bmp to your /etc directory. Open up your lilo.conf file in your favorite editor and add the line "bitmap=yourbitmap.bmp" If you have "message=/boot/message" in your lilo.conf, you will get a conflict error. Just use a "#" to comment out the "message=/boot/message" line in the event that you get this error.

 

Still as root, issue "/sbin/lilo" to write the changes to your lilo.conf file. Reboot, and delight in your own custom boot selection screen Very Happy

 

I had to do a bit of tweaking in order to figure out corrresponding number for each color, and to get the layout/positioning just right. But it was SO worth it Smile

 

As always, use at your own risk, YMMV, etc.

 

--

Lang

 

 

 

Editor's note: This thread was originally posted at the old MUB (Mandrake User Board at club-nihil). This post is the result of a 99% automatic backup, so due to its nature some text may be lost (improbable but possible).

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  • 1 year later...

Sisob,

 

I have been looking for a way to activate the bootsplash screen in my Mandrake-9.2 system.

I found your script here and used it. Now have the nice Mandrake (9.2) bootsplash screen.

Thanks for setting me on the right path.

 

However although it worked it is out of date and not entirely correct any more.

e.g. It created an extra useless and probably incorrect initrd....img file.

 

To activate or switch a boot splash theme in Mandrake-9.2 only one line is needed:

switch-themes <theme>

 

If <theme> is the current theme the inird.img will be rebuild.

If <theme> exists and is not the current theme the bootsplash configuration file is updated and the initrd.img is rebuild.

 

The scripts ?/sbin/mkinitrd? and ?/make-boot-splash? used in your script are (now) called from within script ?switch-themes?.

 

Regards,

Luc :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

at the risk of sounding redundant, i thought i'd add an easy to understand way to change the bootsplash screens for logout & bootup in MDK9.2. no offense, but i found the above explanations to either be outdated or a bit incomplete, especially for newbie understanding.

 

so, the method i used to change my stock MDK9.2 ugly blue bootsplash screens is as follows.

 

1. first, using Mandrake Control Center (MCC), you need to get the following package....... bootsplash-(version number)mdk. the version on the mdk cd's is 2.0.6-1mdk, which works fine. there are newer versions in some contrib sites & cooker. get whichever you want, but the usual caveats apply to cooker apps (IE: use at your own risk. they may be buggy). so, in MCC->install software, type bootsplash in the search box & install it.

 

2. now you have to make a few scripts executable. you need to be in the directory where they are located. to do so, in terminal as root, issue the following command.....

 cd /usr/share/bootsplash/scripts

hit enter

 

type

ls

hit enter

 

that will show you the scripts you need to make executable. they are as follows........

./make-boot-splash ./remove-theme ./rewritejpeg ./switch-themes

to make them executable, issue the following command for each one.......

chmod 777 ./name-of-script

(where "name-of-script" is the actual name of the script)

hit enter after each instance

 

example...

chmod 777 ./make-boot-splash

hit enter

 

3. now, the fun part. if you look in the directory /usr/share/bootsplash/themes you will see about a dozen or so themes that came with the boot splash package you installed. each of them has an image directory inside it that contains the bootsplash image files. use your preferred file browser to explore them & find one that you'd like for your new bootsplash screen. make note of the theme directory name. (not the image file itself!) now, if you're still in the /usr/share/bootsplash/scripts directory as root in terminal, yer good to go. if not, get back there & issue the following command to change your bootsplash screen..........

 

./switch-themes nameoftheme

(where "nameoftheme" is the actual name of the theme directory. this is CaP SensITivE!)

 

for example, i used the Linux theme, so the command to install that would be.......

./switch-themes Linux

 

you won't see any output after issuing the command to change themes. it will just appear to hang a few seconds, but that's ok. after issuing the command & you're back at the # prompt, it's into the home stretch.

 

as for the other scripts......... "make-boot-splash" does the same thing as "switch-themes" as far as i can tell, "remove-theme" is sorta self explanatory, & "rewritejpeg" makes the image conform to the parameters (size, colour depth, etc.) that it needs to be in order for it to work properly as a bootsplash image.

 

4. you must now update lilo for it to recognize & be able to use the new theme. to do so, in terminal as root, issue the following command.......

/sbin/lilo

hit enter

 

or, you can also do the following to accomplish the same effect..........

lilo -v

hit enter

 

5. now, reboot your computer. you should see a new splash screen upon shutdown, & a new splash screen upon boot! enjoy!

 

PLEASE NOTE since you are gonna be dicking around with your lilo.conf by doing this, it is always a good idea to make a backup of your known good lilo.conf file to a safe place, should something go horribly awry. and, use at your own risk! this worked fine for me without any problems, but i can't guarantee that for everybody this will be fool proof!

 

also, one other thing you may wish to investigate if you're so inclined. from what i'm reading, you don't necessarily have to use the prefabbed bootsplash themes. you can (supposedly) use any image you want as long as you........

 

1. use .jpg or .jpeg images

2. make sure the size fits the standard screen resolution standards (IE: 1024x768, 800x600, etc.)

3. make sure you make the proper images (you need at least three.......bootsplash, silent, & vt)

4. you place the theme in the same directory as the other themes & the images in a directory named images, & name those images per their respective screen resolutions

 

i have not yet played with making my own bootsplash theme. if/when i get around to it, i'll post an addendum to this thread.

 

hope this might have helped somebody out there.

 

{a big thanks to DragonMage for helping me out with the chmod-ing stuff! :) }

 

Chris

Edited by chris z
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  • 2 weeks later...

The easy-lazy way is to go Configuration-KDE-Look'N&Feel-Select Splash Screen

 

You can immediately choose between 3 or 4 and you can add more your self via the ADD button.

 

Apparently it has to be some KDESplash/Boot theme fle, but it must be explained and found at kde-themes.org or KDE-look, where ever they are.

 

Amazingly, pushing the HELP button reveals how you can make more splash images to add as screens.

 

This is for KDE 3.2

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