Fbsplash

From Gentoo Linux Wiki

Fbsplash is set of userspace utilities that control the framebuffer console and integrate with the system startup procedure to draw boot splash screens. Fbsplash scripts and utilities for gentoo are distributed as part of the media-gfx/splashutils package.

[edit] Prerequisites

In order for the fbsplash to do anything useful you will first need to configure and setup the Framebuffer. Also read the initramfs kernel configuration chapter for instruction on enabling initramfs support, which is needed for a splash initramfs image.

[edit] Kernel Configuration

If you intend to use a Framebuffer splash you'll need to make sure the driver is built-in, and not built as a module. You will also need to enable Framebuffer Console support and Support for the Framebuffer Console Decorations. If the Enable Tileblitting option is turned on in Support for frame buffer devices in the kernel configuration, the framebuffer console decorations option will be invisible. Please make sure to turn it off.

Device Drivers ->
    Graphics support ->
        <*> Support for frame buffer devices  --->
        <*> Framebuffer Console support
                [ ] Enable Tile Blitting Support
            Console display driver support  --->
                [*] Support for the Framebuffer Console Decorations

If you want to get the F2 key working to switch to verbose and silent when using a splash screen, enable the Event Interface,

Device Drivers --->
    Input Device Support --->
        <*> Event Interface

[edit] Installation

Make sure you enable the fbcondecor USE-flag. Also note that there are themes that require the png and truetype USE-flags, so enabling them is generally a good idea.

[edit] Themes

Themes can be obtained by emerging media-gfx/splash-themes-gentoo, media-gfx/splash-themes-livecd and media-gfx/bootsplash-themes,

The media-gfx/bootsplash-themes package will install to /etc/bootsplash, but it will convert the themes automatically to splashutils compatible themes and moves them to /etc/splash/ as well, so there is no need for any manual conversion.

If you wish to set/preview a theme without booting you can use splash_manager. Note these commands must be run as root user (or sudo).

This will change the theme on tty1 to livecd-2007.0. You can choose any theme in /etc/splash that matches your current resolution. Now to see the theme go to tty1 by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1.

If you want to preview a theme in silent mode without reboot, then try

Please note, don't run this command under X window.

For more reference please refer to

[edit] Generating the splash

To generate the initramfs splash image, we use splash_geninitramfs. The syntax is,

The themes are located in /etc/splash. So to generate a initramfs splash image with the gentoo theme with a resolution of 1024x768,

The /boot/initramfs-bootsplash initramfs image is now created.

If you already have a initramfs source directory, and want to just add the boot splash to it, use the copy switch instead,

Replace /path/to/initramfsdir with the path to your initramfs source directory. This will copy all required files to your initramfs source directory.

If you already have a initramfs image, and want to append the boot splash to it, use the append switch,

Replace /path/to/initramfsimage with the path to your initramfs image.

Finally, if you want to check the content of the initramfs image,

[edit] Configuring Bootloader

Fbsplash requires its own kernel command line option, which allows you to specify which theme should be used. In this case, the theme is gentoo_natural. The other required option need to be verbose or silent. If silent is set, it will hide all the bootup information. Otherwise, you will be shown all the bootup information on system startup. In the example below we use the verbose option and the theme natural_gentoo. Note that we assume you have configured your Framebuffer correctly and already set your video= options. Also note the console=tty1 (or CONSOLE=/dev/tty1) option, this is also a requirment for the splash to display. Finally the actual initramfs image, adding a new initrd line below the kernel line tells GRUB to load the initramfs image aswell. Make sure to replace (hdX,Y) with your root device.

...
kernel /vmlinuz... video=... splash=verbose,theme:natural_gentoo console=tty1
initrd (hdX,Y)/boot/initramfs-bootsplash
..

To see full documentation of the kernel parameters specific to splash you need to look in /usr/share/doc/splashutils*/kernel_parameters which should be included in splashutils. You should be able to see it by typing (this assumes that you have emerged splashutils).

[edit] fbcondecor

To automatically set a background on framebuffer consoles at boot, you can use the fbcondecor init script :

You can select which tty(s) to set a background image to through the FBCONDECOR_TTYS variable and to set the theme of each tty through the FBCONDECOR_TTY_MAP variable.

# On which TTYs should fbcondecor be enabled? Defaults to RC_TTY_NUMBER.
# FBCONDECOR_TTYS="1 2 3 4 5 6"

# Allows to set different themes on different consoles
# format: "<console>:<theme> <console>:<theme> (...)"
# FBCONDECOR_TTY_MAP="1:emergence"

[edit] Unpatched Kernel

If you happen to be using a vanilla kernel you will not have the Support for the Framebuffer Console Decorations option available, there are a few small steps you need make to enable this. First, you need to download the patch for your kernel from the developer of fbcondecor, Spock, site.

Apply the patch. Don't worry if the kernel version doesn't match exactly, as this patch is not that intrusive:

Replace XXXXX with the version you require.

[edit] Troubleshooting

[edit] Genkernel

Genkernel suports putting a splash into the initrd for early boot display of a splash screen, however, it will print lines over the splash, seemingly ignoring the "CONSOLE=/dev/tty1" from the kernel boot line.

To correct this, change in genkernel's initrd.defaults:

CONSOLE=/dev/console

to:

CONSOLE=/dev/tty1

Rebuild your initrd with "genkernel ramdisk --splash=name-of-splash --splash-res=your-resolution.

[edit] External Links

fbsplash Website