Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

[Merritt]

Hey guys..

I'd really love to have this for my bootsplash:

http://www.kde-look.org/content/show...?content=26409

Unfortunately, it seems that this bootsplash is not compatible with the program Kubuntu uses. So, the question becomes: Can it be converted to work with Kubuntu? Can I edit a bootsplash theme that is similar, aka the scrolling lines of loading text, and simply change the background image to Shodan? Or could I make my own bootsplash theme, how hard is that and how do I go about it?

Thanks for your time!

[disturbedite]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

thats a good question, i wouldn't mind having that one too...

[marshallbanana]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

From that link:

Re: Debian
by denver on: 08/30/2006, 0:17
You need to compile youre kernel with fbsplash or bootsplash support and replace Usplash. There is a nice HowTo on ubuntuforums.org. just search for "fbsplash" and there should be a few threads on how to do it. Cant give you a direct link because im having trouble accessing the forum...my internet connection is Slow.

I'm guessing said threads should point you in the right direction, eg. here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...light=fbsplash
Warning, looks like it is a lot of work as you must install bootsplash or fbsplash, a gentoo specific thing before you can use it (replacing *ubuntu default, usplash).

That said the download from kde-look contains the jpegs for the background, so I imagine there is some easier way to use these as part of your splash.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Ah, good, I've got my Ubuntu Hacks book right in front of me.
Here we are. Splash screens, page 185.

Oh, a note first: usplash does that splash screen with the progress bar. That's where you'll be seeing it if you do this.

First up: Packages. You'll need gcc and libbog1-dev.
Now there seem to be some restrictions on the image. It must be 640x480, 16 colors, and in PNG format. Convert it however you like. Six of those colors are specially used, so that makes it even less.
Well, once you've got that out of the way, see if you like the quality of the image. If you don't mind, continue.
Next up is to make the PNG into a binary. Why? I don't know, but it says to. Here's how:

pngtobog1 [image].png > [image].c
gcc -Os -g -I/usr/include/bog1 -fPIC -c [image].c -o [image].o
gcc shared -W1,-soname,[image].so [image].o -o [image].so

This'll give you the binary of the image. The book recommends naming it anything but usplash-artwork.so, as that's the name of the current splash image. It suggests placing the binary image into /usr/lib/usplash (the usplash directory) and creating a symlink named usplash-artwork.so to your image.
Finally, you need to regenerate your initramfs: "sudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-$(uname -r)". Next time you boot, you'll see this image.

The book includes a little table of the special colors. I've reproduced it here:

Color index	Use

0		Main, text backgrounds
1		Progress bar color
2		"OK" text color
4		Progress bar background color
8		Description text color
13		"Failed" text color

[dibl]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Possibly you can use 800 x 600 -- I'm not completely clear on that point, it seems to suggest that is possible. I know the grub menu splash is limited to 640x480. Here's what I found about it:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/US...omizationHowto

I tried it this morning, almost but not quite -- the screen was black where it should have showed Shodan. I'll try again when I have 20 minutes and space for a reboot.

[Merritt]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Thanks for all the info guys, and do let me know how it goes dibl. I'd love to have Shodan as my bootsplash, but that process is a little beyond me. I'm still a Linux newbie, and I fear killing my system when I mess with things like this. If you can get it working it would allay my fears.

[Merritt]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Ookay, I must've done something wrong here:

kristen@Merritt:~$ cd /home/kristen/Desktop/NewFolder
kristen@Merritt:~/Desktop/NewFolder$ pngtobog1 digital_shodan.png > shodan.c
bash: pngtobog1: command not found
kristen@Merritt:~/Desktop/NewFolder$ gcc -Os -g -I/usr/include/bog1 -fPIC -c shodan.c -o shodan.o
kristen@Merritt:~/Desktop/NewFolder$ gcc shared -W1,-soname,shodan.so shodan.o -o shodan.so
gcc: shared: No such file or directory

[SheeEttin]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Heh, I guess that's what I get for retyping something I could've found on the Internet.

That bog1 should be a bogl (that's an L, not a 1), and it should be "-shared", not "shared".

The relevant part of the process can be found here under chapter 5, "Change the Ubuntu Splash Screen". (The remainder I've posted above.)

[dibl]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Merritt, I got as far as making a correct image file for Shodan -- 640x480, 16-color .png format. If you want it, shoot me an e-mail and I'll send it to you. I did not ever get the splash to work correctly, however -- not sure what I didn't do quite right.

[Merritt]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Alright, I fixed the commands and I believe I successfully created the binary. Put it in the usplash directory. Next, however... I don't know what a symlink is. So I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that...


And dibl.. I did manage to create my own shodan image. Pretty easy with GIMP, couple clicks to resize and reduce the colors, then save as png. Looks fine that way too, since it is a fairly simple image. Thanks though! If I get this working, I'll send you the binary I made.

[dibl]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Great!

Actually, if you'll share the secret sauce that makes it work, that would be even better!

Thanks.

[Merritt]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

Alright... Here's what I ran to get my binary:

kristen@Merritt:~/Desktop/NewFolder$ pngtobogl digital_shodan.png > shodan.c
kristen@Merritt:~/Desktop/NewFolder$ gcc -Os -g -I/usr/include/bogl -fPIC -c shodan.c -o shodan.o
kristen@Merritt:~/Desktop/NewFolder$ gcc -shared -W1,-soname,shodan.so shodan.o -o shodan.so

"digital_shodan.png" being the reduced size and color image I made... I chose "shodan" for the following images arbitrarily.

I put shodan.so in the usplash directory, and found out how to create a symlink. Had to backup the one with that name that was already there, just incase, and made the link to the image of shodan.

Ran:

kristen@Merritt:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-$(uname -r)
Password:
Running depmod.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic
Not updating initrd symbolic links since we are being updated/reinstalled
(2.6.20-15.27 was configured last, according to dpkg)
Not updating image symbolic links since we are being updated/reinstalled
(2.6.20-15.27 was configured last, according to dpkg)
Running postinst hook script /sbin/update-grub.
You shouldn't call /sbin/update-grub. Please call /usr/sbin/update-grub instead!

Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic
Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done


Few too many errors in there for my liking (lol), but I tried a reboot anyways. The normal black screen with a blue loading bar was replaced with the basic scrolling text of things being loaded and configured, however there was no image of shodan. So... something obviously went wrong with "sudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-$(uname -r)", but I'm not sure what. I'd like your opinion before I screw around by myself, Shee.

P.S. - If getting this command to work will put shodan as the background of those console loading messages, is it possible to change the text color as well? I'm not sure the white really does it for me, but it'd be nice to have the option. Thanks for all your help too, by the way!

[dibl]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

You got EXACTLY the same result that I did! If I knew what was wrong, I would say it ....

[SheeEttin]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

I wasn't entirely sure if it'd work from the beginning, and it may not work at all.

I'm going to try it myself and see what happens. Care to post that edited image?

[dibl]

Re: Make this Bootsplash work with Kubuntu?

If Merritt doesn't post it by the time I get home from work, I'll post it tonight. I re-looked at the ubuntu.com link above, and it appears we followed the detailed instructions for Dapper, but maybe should have looked in the /usr/share/doc/usplash-dev/examples/README file for details applicable to Edgy (and presumably Feisty).