Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

dtw · 2007-06-01 13:13:08

I have just completed a set of initscripts with enhanced boot splash screen support for testing by the community. Currently only gensplash is supported but I plan to provide an implementation of splashy very soon. Support for bootsplash will almost certainly follow.

These scripts should provide a framework for all splash implementations and remove the need for customized initscripts for each splash type. There may even be the possibility of having the splash screens officially supported.

If you are happy to assist in testing the new scripts please feel free to download them and feedback here. Also, any bash experts may like to cast an eye over the gensplash scripts because I am sure that some optimizations and improvements can be made.

Initial testing has shown a virtually identical bootchart profile with the new implementation so I'm confident that there will be absolutely no loss in performance and that testing can only result in improvements.

You can grab the new initscripts-splash and gensplash packages from here:

http://code.thewrecker.net/files

Note that these two pkgs replace the old gensplashutils and initscripts-genplash pkgs. PLEASE make back-ups of your important initscripts files - don't count on pacman to be smarter than you!

You can view bootcharts from the old and new gensplash pkgs here - as you can see there is virtually no difference. It's also worth noting that the old gensplash scripts were based on old initscripts. Boot time is just under 55 seconds on a P3 1 Ghz laptop.

You can also see the diff showing the changes to the initscripts here

kano · 2007-06-03 01:11:47

I've installed them, and I'll let you know if I run into a problems next time I reboot

A quick confirmation though... SPLASH in rc.conf should be set to gensplash, right?

iphitus · 2007-06-03 02:08:45

nicely done, patch looks clean, small and nonintrusive. I like it. I've sent you a mail.

aRcHaTe · 2007-06-03 02:43:52

with all this its initscript an exclusive to arch ..awsome work

when it ill be on arch reps?

Last edited by sickhate (2007-06-03 03:04:05)

dtw · 2007-06-03 08:19:17

kano wrote:

A quick confirmation though... SPLASH in rc.conf should be set to gensplash, right?

Yes, it should indeed! I better add a note to the install script for each splash pkg telling you what to put for SPLASH.

I have finished the splashy pkg now too. No idea how it will perform yet!

fluke · 2007-06-04 15:34:16

Could you please provide a x86_64 version as well?

dtw · 2007-06-04 15:54:02

fluke wrote:

Could you please provide a x86_64 version as well?

Erm....I guess. Do I just need to add the extra ARCH?

fluke · 2007-06-04 16:13:28

Maybe.

Where's your source? Could I try to build this package and hava a test?

dtw · 2007-06-04 17:39:03

fluke wrote:

Maybe.
Where's your source? Could I try to build this package and hava a test?

Well, if even one person could confirm that these scripts work ok with gensplash then I will bump them to [community] and you can rebuild them to your heart's content...

kano · 2007-06-04 18:41:18

They work great. Rebooted and no problems.

dtw · 2007-06-04 19:00:02

OK! Let's try for two people!

hpestilence · 2007-06-05 02:57:02

I decided to try gensplash again after seeing this post. I quit using it because the Arch boot text would overwrite the quiet splash picture.

I had some problems installing the initscripts-splash package, it depended on gensplashutils in community. I had to install gensplashutils then the initscripts-splash package then pacman -Rd gensplashutils to install gensplash package.

I have to say that I'm impressed, I use a custom kernel with a mix of gentoo + arch + ck + vesafb-tng patches built with abs. Also I compile the gensplash theme into the kernel instead of using mkinitcpio. On reboot everything worked perfect, didn't have any problems at all. The splash image showed up immediately and worked all the way through until kdm started, no text overwriting the image at all.

Is there suppose to be a splash image on shutdown too? It doesn't come up for me, I noticed in /etc/gensplash.conf you can set reboot and shutdown messages.

kano · 2007-06-05 04:45:25

Actually... I'm going to take back about everything working. There seems to be some problems with gensplash(utils). Even the current 1.4.1 version in community doesn't work. 1.3 is working though.

I kinda accidently broke my system, and it's reinstalling now... heh
I'll post more info once I got everything working again.

dtw · 2007-06-05 06:48:36

kano wrote:

Actually... I'm going to take back about everything working. There seems to be some problems with gensplash(utils). Even the current 1.4.1 version in community doesn't work. 1.3 is working though.

Well, what's not working?!

dtw · 2007-06-05 06:55:02

hpestilence wrote:

I had some problems installing the initscripts-splash package, it depended on gensplashutils in community. I had to install gensplashutils then the initscripts-splash package then pacman -Rd gensplashutils to install gensplash package.

Whoops. I fixed that now.

hpestilence wrote:

I have to say that I'm impressed, I use a custom kernel with a mix of gentoo + arch + ck + vesafb-tng patches built with abs. Also I compile the gensplash theme into the kernel instead of using mkinitcpio. On reboot everything worked perfect, didn't have any problems at all. The splash image showed up immediately and worked all the way through until kdm started, no text overwriting the image at all.

That's good!

hpestilence wrote:

Is there suppose to be a splash image on shutdown too? It doesn't come up for me, I noticed in /etc/gensplash.conf you can set reboot and shutdown messages.

No, there's not. It's hardly worth it. Arch stops all the daemons then kills every process, which would include the splash scripts. With modern equipment this happens in one to two seconds, which is hardly worth the hassle in my opinion.

hpestilence · 2007-06-05 07:22:55

Yeah I noticed that Arch was way faster shutting down than Gentoo was. My comp shuts down in about 4 seconds lol. I don't really miss it

kano · 2007-06-05 08:02:17

dtw wrote:

kano wrote:
Actually... I'm going to take back about everything working. There seems to be some problems with gensplash(utils). Even the current 1.4.1 version in community doesn't work. 1.3 is working though.
Well, what's not working?!

There's more details in the fbsplash thread going in the kernel forum, but basically, with gensplash(utils) 1.4.x, the splash is not working until it kicks in with the initscripts.

gensplashutils 1.3 is working still though.

pkraw · 2007-06-05 17:53:17

Now, that I've managed to run fbsplash in verbose mode, I can say that gensplash daemon - included in gensplash package presented here of course - is not working .

I think it's due to lack of 'splash_util -c on' statement in /etc/rc.d/gensplash. I'd ran it manually after trying to /etc/rc.d/gensplash start and it worked.

dtw · 2007-06-05 20:33:40

fbsplash.install fixes made and rolled out across the board

kano · 2007-06-05 21:08:40

Tested new gensplash and initscripts-splash.
Both working perfectly.

aRcHaTe · 2007-06-05 23:38:16

well i tested the packages
http://code.thewrecker.net/files and it screw the boot process..can anyone make it clear what youve done? really apreciated

the wiki tuto workes for this?

Last edited by sickhate (2007-06-05 23:40:19)

dtw · 2007-06-06 01:19:30

sickhate wrote:

well i tested the packages
http://code.thewrecker.net/files and it screw the boot process..can anyone make it clear what youve done? really apreciated

I doubt it based on what you have said.

sickhate wrote:

the wiki tuto workes for this?

No.

aRcHaTe · 2007-06-06 02:11:51

dtw wrote:

sickhate wrote:
well i tested the packages
http://code.thewrecker.net/files and it screw the boot process..can anyone make it clear what youve done? really apreciated
I doubt it based on what you have said.
sickhate wrote:
the wiki tuto workes for this?
No.

yes it was..im not liyng...im using kernel26ck and does it need to be compiled with fbsplash? so wjy dont patch the kernel ? i allready tryed top patch it..all went fine but on the menuconfig there is no fbsplash config

the tuto wasnt suposed to be splashy wiki?

hpestilence · 2007-06-06 05:12:47

http://home.comcast.net/~hpestilence/fb … 1-ck.patch

This is the patch I used, maybe it will help.

kano · 2007-06-06 05:15:59

Yes, you need a fbsplash patched in and enabled. If you're having trouble getting your own to work, I'd recommend using a kernel that already has the patch like kernel26viper (in the AUR) or kernel26fallen (in repo in my sig)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-06-01 13:13:08

Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#2 2007-06-03 01:11:47

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#3 2007-06-03 02:08:45

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#4 2007-06-03 02:43:52

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#5 2007-06-03 08:19:17

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#6 2007-06-04 15:34:16

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#7 2007-06-04 15:54:02

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#8 2007-06-04 16:13:28

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#9 2007-06-04 17:39:03

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#10 2007-06-04 18:41:18

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#11 2007-06-04 19:00:02

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#12 2007-06-05 02:57:02

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#13 2007-06-05 04:45:25

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#14 2007-06-05 06:48:36

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#15 2007-06-05 06:55:02

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#16 2007-06-05 07:22:55

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#17 2007-06-05 08:02:17

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#18 2007-06-05 17:53:17

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#19 2007-06-05 20:33:40

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#20 2007-06-05 21:08:40

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#21 2007-06-05 23:38:16

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#22 2007-06-06 01:19:30

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#23 2007-06-06 02:11:51

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#24 2007-06-06 05:12:47

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

#25 2007-06-06 05:15:59

Re: Improved boot time splash screen support for Arch Linux

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