Index: chapter.sgml =================================================================== RCS file: /home/dcvs/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/boot/chapter.sgml,v retrieving revision 1.65 diff -u -r1.65 chapter.sgml --- chapter.sgml 30 May 2006 23:08:23 -0000 1.65 +++ chapter.sgml 3 Dec 2008 19:40:19 -0000 @@ -507,6 +507,187 @@ + + + + + + Joseph J. + Barbish + Contributed by + + + + + Boot Time Splash Screens + + The splash screen creates a more visually appealing boot + screen compared to the original boot messages. This screen + will be displayed until a console login prompt or an X display + manager offers a login prompt. + + There are two basic environments available in &os;. The + first is the default legacy virtual console command line + environment. After the system finishes booting, a console + login prompt is presented. The second environment is the X11 + Desktop graphical environment. After X11 and one of the graphical desktop environments, such as + GNOME, + KDE, or + XFce are installed, the X11 desktop + can be launched by using the startx + command. + + Some users prefer the X11 graphical login screen over the + traditional text based login prompt. Display managers + like XDM for + &xorg;, gdm for + GNOME, and + kdm for + KDE (and any other from the Ports + Collection) basically provide a graphical login screen in + place of the console login prompt. After a successful login, + they present the user with a graphical desktop. + + In the command line environment, the splash screen would + hide all the boot probe messages and task startup messages + before displaying the login prompt. In X11 environment, the + users would get a visually clearer system start up experience + resembling something closer to what a (µsoft; &windows; + or non-unix type system) user would experience. + + + Splash Screen Function + + The splash screen function only supports 256-color + bitmap (.bmp) or ZSoft + PCX (.pcx) files. + In addition, the splash image files must have a resolution + of 320 by 200 pixels or less to work on standard VGA + adapters. + + To use larger images, up to the maximum resolution of + 1024 by 768 pixels, activate the VESA + support included in &os;. This can be enabled by loading + the VESA module during system boot, or + adding a VESA kernel configuration option + and building a custom kernel (see ). The VESA + support gives users the ability to display a splash screen + image that fills the whole display screen. + + While the splash screen is being displayed during the + booting process, it can be turned off any time by hitting + any key on the keyboard. + + The splash screen also defaults to being a screen saver + outside of X11. After a time period of non-use the screen + will change to the splash screen and cycle through steps of + changing intensity of the image, from bright to a very dark + and over again. This default splash screen (screen saver) + behavior could be overridden by adding a + saver= line to + /etc/rc.conf. Option + saver= has several built-in screen savers + to choose from, the full list can be found in the + &man.splash.4; manual page. The default screen saver is + called warp. Note that the + saver= option specified in + /etc/rc.conf only applies to virtual + consoles. It has no effect on X11 display managers. + + A few boot loader messages, including the boot options + menu and a timed wait count down prompt are displayed at + boot time, even when the splash screen is enabled. + + Sample splash screen files can be downloaded from the + gallery at . By + installing the sysutils/bsd-splash-changer + port, splash images can be chosen from a collection randomly + at each boot. + + + + Enabling the Splash Screen Function + + The splash screen (.bmp) or + (.pcx) file has to be placed in the + /boot directory. + + For default boot display resolution (256-color, 320 by + 200 pixels, or less), edit + /boot/loader.conf, so it contains the + following: + + splash_bmp_load="YES" +bitmap_load="YES" +bitmap_name="/boot/splash.bmp" + + For larger video resolutions up to the maximum of 1024 + by 768 pixels, edit /boot/loader.conf, + so it contains the following: + + vesa_load="YES" +splash_bmp_load="YES" +bitmap_load="YES" +bitmap_name="/boot/splash.bmp" + + The above assumes that + /boot/splash.bmp + is used for splash screen. When a PCX + file is desired, use the following statements, plus the + vesa_load="YES" line depending on the + resolution. + + splash_pcx_load="YES" +bitmap_load="YES" +bitmap_name="/boot/splash.pcx" + + The file name is not restricted to splash + as shown in the above example. It can be anything as long + as it has type of BMP or + PCX, such as + splash_640x400.bmp + or + blue_wave.pcx. + + Some other interesting loader.conf + options: + + + + beastie_disable="YES" + + + This will stop the boot options menu from being + displayed, but the timed wait count down prompt will + still be present. Even with the display of the boot + options menu disabled, entering an option selection at + the timed wait count down prompt will enact the + corresponding boot option. + + + + + loader_logo="beastie" + + + This will replace the default words + &os;, which are displayed to the right + of the boot options menu with the colored beastie logo + like releases in the past had. + + + + + For more information, please see the &man.splash.4;, + &man.loader.conf.5;, and &man.vga.4; manual pages. + +