Text bootsplash for MX-14.2-pae

[dolphin_oracle]

should be ready now. If the link doesn't work, let me know. I did have some trouble with youtube this morning. I'm not on my usual machine I use for videos, so I might have messed something up.

[richb]

Sorry, I should read the whole post before commenting.

Loading OK.

[Adrian]

I was able to see the video, good job.

[BitJam]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. IMO dolphin_oracle's video http://youtu.be/Mm3Ytk9ypFU is the best way to evaluate the new look. You can just sit back and watch as he boots in three different scenarios starting with full tsplash and early background then ending with the default boot we currently use. The video does a much better job of showing you what it looks like than static screen shots.

As I said before, more work will need to be done to put this into production. This work might include some small changes to the installers to disable some of this during the install.

Size-wise, tsplash is just a script so it does not take up much room in the initrd. I added feh (155K uncompressed) to the squashfs to display the early background image. I did not add the entire feh package, just the executable. I used an existing wallpaper for the early background. If we want to use a custom image, perhaps with some text on it, then that will add to the size increase as well.

BTW: for people who have created a modified LiveUSB, try booting to runlevel 3. I still do the tsplash then I switch to virtual console 2 at the end of the boot process. IMO this is nicer than switching to virtual console 1 which is still filled with boot text.

[Jerry3904]

Having done it the hard way multiple times, I am glad you put this together for people to evaluate, thanks.

[kmathern]

The text bootsplash looks good.



I have one minor issue (and it's not really a problem with the bootsplash).

My display has a 1600x900 resolution.

Using the preselected "vga=795" mode (which I think is for a 1280x1024 resolution) results in a "Unsupported Video Mode" screen (or words to that effect) and it then displays a list of other modes to try.

It works okay if I change the 'vga=795' to 'vga=980'.

Could a 1600x900 resolution be added to the list of resolutions that are offered when you press the F6 key?

Currently the F6 key offers a 1440x900 resolution and a 1600x1200 resolution, maybe insert a 1600x900 between those two.

[BitJam]

I have one minor issue (and it's not really a problem with the bootsplash).

My display has a 1600x900 resolution.

Using the preselected "vga=795" mode (which I think is for a 1280x1024 resolution) results in a "Unsupported Video Mode" screen (or words to that effect) and it then displays a list of other modes to try.

Leaving that vga cheat in the boot parameters was a goof on my part. Sorry about that. The only additional boot parameters should be "console=tty1 tsplash".

It works okay if I change the 'vga=795' to 'vga=980'.

Could a 1600x900 resolution be added to the list of resolutions that are offered when you press the F6 key?

Does vga=980 give you 1600x900? If so, I would be glad to add it to the F6 list. The following command should show you the current resolution:

Code: Select all

cat /sys/class/graphics/fb0/virtual_size

I suggest you use "nomodeset" to make sure the resolution does not get changed during the boot process.

[kmathern]

Does vga=980 give you 1600x900? If so, I would be glad to add it to the F6 list.

Yes it does.

The following command should show you the current resolution:

Code: Select all

cat /sys/class/graphics/fb0/virtual_size

It shows 1600x900

Code: Select all

$ cat /sys/class/graphics/fb0/virtual_size 
1600,900

And here's the output of the `hwinfo --framebuffer` command, '0x03d4' hexadecimal equals '980' base 10.

$ sudo hwinfo --framebuffer
[sudo] password for kent:
> hal.1: read hal dataprocess 3621: arguments to dbus_move_error() were incorrect, assertion "(dest) == NULL || !dbus_error_is_set ((dest))" failed in file ../../dbus/dbus-errors.c line 282.
This is normally a bug in some application using the D-Bus library.
libhal.c 3483 : Error unsubscribing to signals, error=The name org.freedesktop.Hal was not provided by any .service files
02: None 00.0: 11001 VESA Framebuffer
[Created at bios.464]
Unique ID: rdCR.Vbz39Eqzdy1
Hardware Class: framebuffer
Model: "(C) 1988-2010, Advanced Micro Devices KALINDI"
Vendor: "(C) 1988-2010, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc."
Device: "KALINDI"
SubVendor: "AMD ATOMBIOS"
SubDevice:
Revision: "01.00"
Memory Size: 16 MB
Memory Range: 0xc0000000-0xc0ffffff (rw)
Mode 0x0300: 640x400 (+640), 8 bits
Mode 0x0301: 640x480 (+640), 8 bits
Mode 0x0303: 800x600 (+832), 8 bits
Mode 0x0305: 1024x768 (+1024), 8 bits
Mode 0x0310: 640x480 (+1280), 15 bits
Mode 0x0311: 640x480 (+1280), 16 bits
Mode 0x0313: 800x600 (+1664), 15 bits
Mode 0x0314: 800x600 (+1664), 16 bits
Mode 0x0316: 1024x768 (+2048), 15 bits
Mode 0x0317: 1024x768 (+2048), 16 bits
Mode 0x0321: 640x480 (+2560), 24 bits
Mode 0x0322: 800x600 (+3328), 24 bits
Mode 0x0323: 1024x768 (+4096), 24 bits
Mode 0x03d1: 1600x900 (+1600), 8 bits
Mode 0x03d2: 1600x900 (+3200), 16 bits
Mode 0x03d4: 1600x900 (+6400), 24 bits
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

[Stevo]

It looks great. How would it be to have the text as large as possible for all screens, maybe by selecting a 640x480 mode? That would even fit on my old 1024x600 netbook's display.

[BitJam]

How would it be to have the text as large as possible for all screens, maybe by selecting a 640x480 mode? That would even fit on my old 1024x600 netbook's display.

640x480 is the current default. If you use a vga=xxx boot parameter then the fonts will be smaller. Also, many systems now support Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) which means right around the time udev starts, the resolution changes spontaneously to the highest possible value making the fonts as small as possible. There is no easy cure for this except to disable KMS with the "nomodeset" (et al.) cheat but we've tried that as a default in antiX and people don't like it.

As I said before, I goofed and the boot parameters I used for testing, including vga=795, made it into the xdelta3 patch. I will update it.