Hello, I am using Debian Sarge with kernel 2.6.8-2-386(stable repository) on my Pentium M system. I would like to have my own bootsplash image(which default debian lacks) buring the booting process just like Fedora Core, Mandrake,etc. I have googled around but could not get proper steps and directions as to how to do it.

Does any one have any experience in this matter or can suggest me some good pointers for Debian boot splash.

Thanks in advance.

Splash for KDE is chosen through Control Centre=>Appearance and Themes=>Splash Screen

thanks for the reply. But I am using GNOME. Also I read somewhere that I need to patch the kernel. I am not sure if kernel 2.6.8 comes already patched for the bootsplash.

Open "Gnome Configuration Editor"=>apps=>gnome-session=>option
Here is your splash.png
Replace it with custom

I mean set path to custom image.png or .jpg

that's not what h is looking for. He is talking about a bootsplash, before it even get to load gnome or kde.

The hard way is to recompile the kernel to add support, then mess around with the userland apps. The easy way is to install splashy from the experimental repo. Try it out, it's very easy. To customize, look at under /etc/splashy.

Yes Yanik, I was looking for the splashy thing. The logo which comes up when linux boots instead of the text that appears. Although we have an option of switching to the text mode by hitting the F2 key as we get in Morphix Live CD or FC4

By experimental repo you mean testing or unstable. Can you give me the sources.lst for this?


thanks

You don't need to add it to your sources.list, just download it here:

http://ftp-mirror.internap.com/pub/d...0.1.5_i386.deb

And install it with dpkg -i splashy_0.1.5_i386.deb , there shouldn't be any dependencies.

Splashy works/looks better at 1024x768, so make sure you add vga=791 to your kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.lst

Here is mine:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-1-k7 root=/dev/hda1 ro vga=791 quiet


To customize, simply replace the file /etc/splashy/themes/default/background.jpg with your own 1024x768 jpg. There are some settings you can change in /etc/splashy/config.xml. You can change the location of the progress bar and it color/size among other things.


Try it out, it's fun

I would not recommend using Splashy as it is alpha status software & very buggy. Many systems can use Splashy without incident but I've also seen it render some Debian installations unbootable. These things should be considered by anyone before attempting to use Splashy.

If you want to use a stable bootsplash then I'd advise you follow the how-to's available at DebBlue and Oreilly's Hacks.

Try splashy first, it'll save you lots of time and troubles. And it's not buggy and alpha. It's beta near stable, see for yourself on their project page.

Yes, thanks for the correction. It is in beta.

Hey Yanik, Thanks you so much!!! It worked at first shot. I thought it would be a tedious process to get the bootsplash but with your instructions it wasn;'t. You are the man.

Btw, is there any way by which we can have option of switching back and forth between the bootsplash and the normal text that comes when we boot, just like Fedora or Morphix where we can press F1 to switch screen during the boot process.

Thank you all once again.

You can switch to a non-image boot with the F2 key.
AFAIK you can not then switch back during the same boot.

I installed splashy_0.1.5_i386.deb and everything worked fine. Now I would like to un-install it and get back my orginal debian boot screen(text base). What is the easiest way to uninstall it?

is it

dpkg --purge splashy

??

yes

Just out of curiousity, why did you uninstall it?