Arch Linux

DVNO

Member

Registered: 2014-08-10

Posts: 19

[SOLVED] Trying to make Syslinux visually pleasing...

So I setup a dualboot with Arch & Windows 8.1 using Syslinux for management. I read all through the Wiki page, set it up accordingly, and it works nicely.

There's only one thing that really bothers me, and it's the screen resolution whilst in the boot menu. It's not like I'll quit life if I don't work this out, but It'd
be nice to make it look nice. I used to have a UEFI-GPT scheme on my desktop and back then I used gummiboot, and, even though It lacked advanced
configuration and personalization, it was very simple and displayed resolution correctly. It was super bare and super perfect.

On my laptop I'm running a BIOS Legacy-MBR scheme because it came like this, I didn't change it then and it's too late to Zero it all out again.
I'm using Syslinux now; It's just as simple and easy to use, works just as well and even supports a custom background. The only thing that annoys me
is the 640x480 max res. It even has a hardware detection tool, I don't see how it wouldn't automatically set resolution to native screen size.

Is there anyway to set this, or will I have to content myself with the crappy resolution? Here's my Syslinux config file...

# Config file for Syslinux -
# /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
#
# Comboot modules:
#   * menu.c32 - provides a text menu
#   * vesamenu.c32 - provides a graphical menu
#   * chain.c32 - chainload MBRs, partition boot sectors, Windows bootloaders
#   * hdt.c32 - hardware detection tool
#   * reboot.c32 - reboots the system
#
# To Use: Copy the respective files from /usr/lib/syslinux to /boot/syslinux.
# If /usr and /boot are on the same file system, symlink the files instead
# of copying them.
#
# If you do not use a menu, a 'boot:' prompt will be shown and the system
# will boot automatically after 5 seconds.
#
# Please review the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux
# The wiki provides further configuration examples

DEFAULT windows
PROMPT 0        # Set to 1 if you always want to display the boot: prompt
TIMEOUT 50
# You can create syslinux keymaps with the keytab-lilo tool
KBDMAP br-abnt.ktl

# Menu Configuration
# Either menu.c32 or vesamenu32.c32 must be copied to /boot/syslinux
#UI menu.c32
UI vesamenu.c32

# Refer to http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/menu
MENU TITLE Fritz BootMenu
MENU BACKGROUND splash.png
MENU COLOR border       30;44   #40ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR title        1;36;44 #9033ccff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR sel          7;37;40 #e0ffffff #20ffffff all
MENU COLOR unsel        37;44   #50ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR help         37;40   #c0ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg  37;40   #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout      1;37;40 #c0ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR msg07        37;40   #90ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg       31;40   #30ffffff #00000000 std

# boot sections follow
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#
#-*

LABEL arch
    MENU LABEL Arch Linux
    LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
    APPEND root=/dev/sda3 rw
    INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img

LABEL archfallback
    MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback
    LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
    APPEND root=/dev/sda3 rw
    INITRD ../initramfs-linux-fallback.img

LABEL windows
        MENU LABEL Windows
        COM32 chain.c32
        APPEND hd0 1

LABEL hdt
        MENU LABEL HDT (Hardware Detection Tool)
        COM32 hdt.c32

LABEL reboot
        MENU LABEL Reboot
        COM32 reboot.c32

LABEL poweroff
        MENU LABEL Poweroff
        COM32 poweroff.c32

PS: "You can always use GRUB" is not a valid answer

Last edited by DVNO (2015-03-20 04:42:07)

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] Trying to make Syslinux visually pleasing...

You can skip the menu and let it pick the default. You can have a really silent boot if you want: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Silent_boot

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,645

Re: [SOLVED] Trying to make Syslinux visually pleasing...

Read the wiki. You can set the resolution. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … _boot_menu

Since Syslinux 3.84, vesamenu.c32 supports the MENU RESOLUTION $WIDTH $HEIGHT directive. To use it, insert MENU RESOLUTION 1440 900 into your config for a 1440x900 resolution. The background picture has to have exactly the right resolution, however, as Syslinux will otherwise refuse to load the menu.

PS: you can always use GRUB :-)

Last edited by 2ManyDogs (2015-03-20 02:35:34)

DVNO

Member

Registered: 2014-08-10

Posts: 19

Re: [SOLVED] Trying to make Syslinux visually pleasing...

When I think I actually read it well turns out I didn't really. Damn. Well I'm glad I didn't write "I read THOROUGHLY through the Wiki page" 'cuz It would've been even funnier. I say it 'cuz I almost did it.

Anyways, Thanks for the super quick reply guys. Marking this as solved now. You guys are awesome!