The Gentoo Framebuffer, Bootsplash & Grubsplash How-To

[Murph001]

[stkaplan]

A few questions:

1) Can I enable the high-resolution feature without the background image? I just want the black background, but I like this text size.

2) If I do 1280x1024 on a widescreen laptop, will it distort the text size to fit the screen? If so, is there a way to specify a widescreen resolution in the vga= parameter?

3) (off-topic) Is there a way on these forums to search a specific thread for keywords? That would have been really useful...

[elMariachi]

thx Murph001.. i made nearly the same mistake.

But now another dump question (well, i hope it isn't):
As I've read somewhere in this thread there are some problems with the "silent bootsplash". (This is the image with progress bar, isn't it?). Well, it doens't work on my box too. So my question is: Is there any was to get this really cool progress bar running while booting? (not the gentoo one, but one from bootsplash.de)

Thx a lot

[ScaredFreakyGuy]

[stkaplan]

Cool, that works, thanks.

[Headrush]

The patch is already in gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.7-r6 for those trying to patch it.

[firex]

bootsplash didn't work with vga=0x31B if i use vga=0x31A it works but after start of X my console show only colored boxes i have
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)
kernel:
2.6.7-gentoo-r7
nvidia-kernel-1.0.6106
nvidia-glx-1.0.6106

my X working 1280x1024x24 it is equal to vga=0x31B
whats wrong?

[scap1784]

Hey is there any documentation on how to use splash anywhere and for some reason I can't get any of my homemade jpgs to work only the default. All my homemade ones have been made with photoshop... Any help would be great.

- Scap

[scap1784]

Here are the errors that I am getting

[eyoung100]

For those of you who whowho finished this HOWTO please take a look at this
RAMDISK: Can't find valid RAM Disk, Starting at 0

Chances are you'll need to complete my instructions at the bottom of page 1

[eyoung100]

[scap1784]

I am sure that the images are in jpg format I saved them optimized for web.

-Scap

[Dinini]

[Quantumstate]

Speakin' of which, I just made a rather nice splash image, with a black-to-blue gradient and the Gentoo chrome 'g', in non-silent mode.

Only thing is, it doesn't seem to be possible to attach files here. WTF?

[Medrakil]

Not all phpBB forums allow you to attach files. You'll have to upload it somewhere and give us a link...

[Quantumstate]

That's unfortunate. Many contributions are surely lost as a result.

It's a complete bootsplash theme now. I've donated it to KDELook as Bootsplash - Gentoo Quantum Chrome:

[img:2157083d3f]http://kdelook.org/content/m1/m14123-1.png[/img:2157083d3f]
(What's wrong with [img] tags?)

[OhSh33t]

Just built a Gentoo server running 2.6.7-gentoo-r8.

Used Adobe Photoshop 6.0 to get the pics to fit correctly. Having never messed with Phothoshop before, this took a little time trying to figure out what the minimum requirments were in regards to whats posted in the FAQ. I.E. 96x96Resolution was the key. Then just adjust the screen size to what I have listed in grub.

Here they are:
The Honey and I
BadboyBill
DeepNessBlurred
ExplodingStar
MassiveCollision
Inevitable

Is there any way to make the Frambuffer screen more transparent? It has like a darkblue film over the background picture obscuring the picture. Would be nice to atleast make the blue film lighter some how.
Thanks,
_________________
JB

[Quantumstate]

Photoshop?!? Have you seen Gimp2 lately? Had all I needed. Only stumbling block was when I needed to copy layer characteristics. There's no "Copy Layer", but you drag from the Layers panel n-drop.

Transparency is controlled with the last two digits:
box noover 20 20 1260 900 #04045498

You might like 50 rather than 98.

Control color with the 040454 portion.

[OhSh33t]

[Quantumstate]

[Quantumstate]

"Photoshop intuitive", "Linux not intuitive". {smolder, smolder}

I guess this is why $millions are spent on Photoshop training and hundreds of books have been written on how to use it? Seems to me that dragging and dropping layer characteristics is more intuitive (once you learn to expect it) than the mechanical Photoshop Layers|Copy Layer/Paste Layer.

I'll grant that Linux is a bitch to set up. But once it's set up as you like it, it's a dream to use, unlike Windows which I consider to be big, dumb, presumptuous, and patronizing.

[OhSh33t]

[Quantumstate]

NP.

As you found, for bootsplash it's important to set rez to 94dpi, and that it be .jpg . Only other thing to remember about image format is do not save as progressive, for bootsplash.

Size the image to one of the 4 standards, and set rez with Image|ScaleImage. In the dialog you'll see a little 'chain' next to Resolution; break that to unlink aspect ratio (w to h). Set New Width, Height, & Rez. Select Interp.= Cubic, unless you have a gradient like my bootsplash, in which case set Linear. Cubic is preferred all-round tho. OK.

An important concept is Layers. In my case I started with a New image filled with the background color (black), which is set in the back one (of two) color boxes in the first Gimp panel. You could also start with an image for the first layer. Then using the menu I made a New Layer (in which to put the gradient), which layer I set to Transparent. Selected the Gradient tool in the first Gimp panel and got Blend Options in the panel below. For Gradient there I set ForegroundToTransparent, and in the Foreground Color box above, I set the blue. Then to make the gradient in the image, I drew the gradient line from bottom to top -- blammo.

For the chrome logo, I opened the graphic from LiveCD2004.0 Silent, into Gimp. I wanted only the chrome 'g', so had to select it somehow. Fortunately the background is a fairly uniform color, which makes it easier to select than the 'g' itself. So I will select the background, then invert the selection. I chose the magicwand ("SelectContigRegions") tool in the first Gimp box and clicked on the blue background of the source image (silent). Voila, much was selected, but not all. So I zoomed in and continued to select the background shades of blue by holding <shift> when clicking (add), until all but the 'g' was selected. Select|Invert. Now it's the 'g' selected, instead of the background. Edit|Copy. Go to my target image and Layer|New a Transparent layer. Edit|Paste. (Probably could have just drag-n-dropped, source-to-target, but doing it mechanically, got it centered) While on the 'g' layer, Filters|Enhance|Sharpen, two times (I'm a stickler for quality).

OK, you may have noticed in faked pictures before, that the faked part looks grafted-in. It just has a distinct edge quality. Well there's an advanced tool now called a convolver, which was designed just for that. Select the Blur tool in the first Gimp window, and while on the 'g' layer, run the convolver around all its edges. No need to be particularly careful. Blends it right nicely. Save as .jpg with settings on higher quality, and you're done. In this save, it'll object that it must flatten all the layers, as .jpg can't handle layers, so Export. I recommend also saving as .xcf for future tweaking.

Using layers allows you to go back later and make changes to your graphic, independent of other major parts of it. Catch is, you must at some point have saved your image in Gimp's native format, .xcf in order to go back and change it. When you are on a given layer (refer to the Layers control box), you can only make changes to that layer. I convolved in the third layer, to affect only the 'g'. Name your layers, to keep track.

You're into photos. I notice in your 'honey&I pic there's lots of stippling, due to film graininess. There are special tools to correct this in Filters. (do this before re-sizing, or it will amplify the error) Not to mention Gimp Sharpness filters, which used to be available only to intelligence analysts. Unsharp Mask is preferred for photos, if you have the settings right. Always correct the WORST problem FIRST. Levels is useful for off-color or dark photos, but use with caution, as it removes information. I've brought back black dageurrotypes with Levels.

From here, the only other major concept to have is Alpha Channels, but that's too much for now.

Hope this helps.

[firex]

i have a feeling i was ignored, ok, i try again:
bootsplash didn't work with vga=0x31B if i use vga=0x31A it works but after start of X my console show only colored boxes i have
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)
kernel:
2.6.7-gentoo-r7
nvidia-kernel-1.0.6106
nvidia-glx-1.0.6106

my X working 1280x1024x24 it is equal to vga=0x31B
whats wrong?
can anybody help me?

[OhSh33t]