MX Linux Forum

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:08 am**

Edit: IMO, dolphin_oracle's video is the easiest and best way to evaluate tsplash.

MX-14 has been criticized for being ugly (by some people) when seen for the first time. This might be partially due to the flood of text that is displayed while it boots. While I'm old-school we don't need no stinkin' bootsplash, I think the critics have a point (if the flood of text is part of the issue, even subconsciously). It makes no sense to display text that the user is not normally supposed to read. It certainly can look like something is wrong and they have lost control of the machine.

So I wrote a little script that covers up the flood of text with a much simpler text screen. See the screenshots below. It is not as pretty as fbcondecor (fbsplash) or Plymouth but it does have several advantages, primarily that it is small and robust (at least in theory). It does not require a framebuffer but it is able to work with a framebuffer if it exists. The primary purpose is to hide the flood of text and tell the user Don't Panic and that things are under control. It can start early in the boot process on all machines regardless of the graphics hardware and drivers.

I don't know if this is a direction we want to go in or not. The alpha-02 version is available now for testing on MX-14.2-pae LiveUSBs. I also provide an xdelta3 patch to create an iso file for either burning to CD or for running in a virtual environment such as VirtualBox. Everything you need to try it is available in my Dropbox MX-14.2-pae-tsplash-02 directory. Instructions are in the README file. It is not a finished product but it does give you a good idea of what it will look like and what the effect is. It only works on Live systems. I don't plan to make it work on installed systems.

In addition to the text bootsplash (tsplash) script I have also made a slight modification to display a background image slightly earlier when X starts so there is less time with a blank screen. I show the lighter Turbulence image so you can more easily notice when the darker xfce background shows up. Of course we can use any image for the early background and the image can have text on it.

I've attached two screen shots. The first shows what it looks like with the standard 640x480 resolution and the second one shows it at 1280x1024 (using the vga=795 boot parameter). This highlights one of the problems of a text-based approach: the characters get smaller as the screen resolution increases. You can prevent the resolution from increasing (on some systems) by using the "F5 Video Mode" --> "safe" option in the bootloader but this has some negative consequences, mostly that there is flicker and delay when switching between the virtual consoles and X-windows.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:31 am**

Looking good and works great.
The frame is the same size all the time. The text is getting smaller when the resolution changes, but as it keeps it's centered position, it looks fine and isn't disturbing at all. No flicker anywhere.
The early wallpaper is perfect, the transition to xfce is seamless, no hint of black screen or flicker.
Better than Plymouth, which never had this perfect timing.
The xtra package could need some improved instructions to use, had to extract it first and then copy to /live/boot-dev/antiX. The permissions made it impossible to extract after copying.
Henry

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:36 am**

I have no problems with the present boot/load presention, although a couple of my Mx converts were a bit
alarmed by the text display. Your "Wait etc" gets over this. A good idea.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:46 am**

I like this for brand new users to Linux and even others, like my wife or sister, who get nervous seeing all that text go by. And there is still the capability to see the text if you want to.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 7:55 am**

I really like this approach as there are many folks, my wife included, that freak out a little when confronted with the wall of text...

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:10 am**

This is an excellent approach and executed very well.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:56 am**

Nice solution, BitJam.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:57 am**

looks good to me.

quickie vid here for those that want to see the options in action but don't want to mess around with an iso/usb build.

http://youtu.be/Mm3Ytk9ypFU (video should be live now).

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:58 am**

dolphin_oracle wrote:looks good to me.

quickie vid here for those that want to see the options in action but don't want to mess around with an iso/usb build.

http://youtu.be/Mm3Ytk9ypFU (give it about 10 minutes to go live, still uploading). should be ready by 11:10 EST

Video is private. As you know, you need to make it public.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:02 am**

video is not ready yet....its unlisted but public. give it till 11:10.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:05 am**

should be ready now. If the link doesn't work, let me know. I did have some trouble with youtube this morning. I'm not on my usual machine I use for videos, so I might have messed something up.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:06 am**

Sorry, I should read the whole post before commenting.

Loading OK.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:07 am**

I was able to see the video, good job.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:49 am**

Thanks for the feedback everyone. IMO dolphin_oracle's video http://youtu.be/Mm3Ytk9ypFU is the best way to evaluate the new look. You can just sit back and watch as he boots in three different scenarios starting with full tsplash and early background then ending with the default boot we currently use. The video does a much better job of showing you what it looks like than static screen shots.

As I said before, more work will need to be done to put this into production. This work might include some small changes to the installers to disable some of this during the install.

Size-wise, tsplash is just a script so it does not take up much room in the initrd. I added feh (155K uncompressed) to the squashfs to display the early background image. I did not add the entire feh package, just the executable. I used an existing wallpaper for the early background. If we want to use a custom image, perhaps with some text on it, then that will add to the size increase as well.

BTW: for people who have created a modified LiveUSB, try booting to runlevel 3. I still do the tsplash then I switch to virtual console 2 at the end of the boot process. IMO this is nicer than switching to virtual console 1 which is still filled with boot text.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:01 pm**

Having done it the hard way multiple times, I am glad you put this together for people to evaluate, thanks.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:14 pm**

The text bootsplash looks good.

I have one minor issue (and it's not really a problem with the bootsplash).

My display has a 1600x900 resolution.

Using the preselected "vga=795" mode (which I think is for a 1280x1024 resolution) results in a "Unsupported Video Mode" screen (or words to that effect) and it then displays a list of other modes to try.

It works okay if I change the 'vga=795' to 'vga=980'.

Could a 1600x900 resolution be added to the list of resolutions that are offered when you press the F6 key?

Currently the F6 key offers a 1440x900 resolution and a 1600x1200 resolution, maybe insert a 1600x900 between those two.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:32 pm**

kmathern wrote:I have one minor issue (and it's not really a problem with the bootsplash).

My display has a 1600x900 resolution.

Using the preselected "vga=795" mode (which I think is for a 1280x1024 resolution) results in a "Unsupported Video Mode" screen (or words to that effect) and it then displays a list of other modes to try.

Leaving that vga cheat in the boot parameters was a goof on my part. Sorry about that. The only additional boot parameters should be "console=tty1 tsplash".

It works okay if I change the 'vga=795' to 'vga=980'.

Could a 1600x900 resolution be added to the list of resolutions that are offered when you press the F6 key?

Does vga=980 give you 1600x900? If so, I would be glad to add it to the F6 list. The following command should show you the current resolution:

Code: Select all

cat /sys/class/graphics/fb0/virtual_size

I suggest you use "nomodeset" to make sure the resolution does not get changed during the boot process.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:49 pm**

BitJam wrote:Does vga=980 give you 1600x900? If so, I would be glad to add it to the F6 list.

Yes it does.

BitJam wrote:The following command should show you the current resolution:
Code: Select all
cat /sys/class/graphics/fb0/virtual_size

It shows 1600x900

Code: Select all

$ cat /sys/class/graphics/fb0/virtual_size 
1600,900

And here's the output of the `hwinfo --framebuffer` command, '0x03d4' hexadecimal equals '980' base 10.

$ sudo hwinfo --framebuffer
[sudo] password for kent:
> hal.1: read hal dataprocess 3621: arguments to dbus_move_error() were incorrect, assertion "(dest) == NULL || !dbus_error_is_set ((dest))" failed in file ../../dbus/dbus-errors.c line 282.
This is normally a bug in some application using the D-Bus library.
libhal.c 3483 : Error unsubscribing to signals, error=The name org.freedesktop.Hal was not provided by any .service files
02: None 00.0: 11001 VESA Framebuffer
[Created at bios.464]
Unique ID: rdCR.Vbz39Eqzdy1
Hardware Class: framebuffer
Model: "(C) 1988-2010, Advanced Micro Devices KALINDI"
Vendor: "(C) 1988-2010, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc."
Device: "KALINDI"
SubVendor: "AMD ATOMBIOS"
SubDevice:
Revision: "01.00"
Memory Size: 16 MB
Memory Range: 0xc0000000-0xc0ffffff (rw)
Mode 0x0300: 640x400 (+640), 8 bits
Mode 0x0301: 640x480 (+640), 8 bits
Mode 0x0303: 800x600 (+832), 8 bits
Mode 0x0305: 1024x768 (+1024), 8 bits
Mode 0x0310: 640x480 (+1280), 15 bits
Mode 0x0311: 640x480 (+1280), 16 bits
Mode 0x0313: 800x600 (+1664), 15 bits
Mode 0x0314: 800x600 (+1664), 16 bits
Mode 0x0316: 1024x768 (+2048), 15 bits
Mode 0x0317: 1024x768 (+2048), 16 bits
Mode 0x0321: 640x480 (+2560), 24 bits
Mode 0x0322: 800x600 (+3328), 24 bits
Mode 0x0323: 1024x768 (+4096), 24 bits
Mode 0x03d1: 1600x900 (+1600), 8 bits
Mode 0x03d2: 1600x900 (+3200), 16 bits
Mode 0x03d4: 1600x900 (+6400), 24 bits
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:48 pm**

It looks great. How would it be to have the text as large as possible for all screens, maybe by selecting a 640x480 mode? That would even fit on my old 1024x600 netbook's display.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:02 pm**

Stevo wrote:How would it be to have the text as large as possible for all screens, maybe by selecting a 640x480 mode? That would even fit on my old 1024x600 netbook's display.

640x480 is the current default. If you use a vga=xxx boot parameter then the fonts will be smaller. Also, many systems now support Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) which means right around the time udev starts, the resolution changes spontaneously to the highest possible value making the fonts as small as possible. There is no easy cure for this except to disable KMS with the "nomodeset" (et al.) cheat but we've tried that as a default in antiX and people don't like it.

As I said before, I goofed and the boot parameters I used for testing, including vga=795, made it into the xdelta3 patch. I will update it.

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:52 pm**

I'm a bit late testing this, but I've seen the effect on D-O's video. I agree with most that it will make it easier to persuade newcomers to try MX, and the simple text presentation looks very good. I will probably still turn it off for my own use - I've been watching scrolling text since CP/M and it gives me a sense of security.

I've tested using a USB stick and the early display on my 1920x1060 monitor is very good. The resolution change is dramatic - down to less than 1/4 of the screen, and the text jumps to top left. It's still perfectly readable and I think it's fine. Adding 'nomodeset' or using Videos Safe mode didn't seem to make any difference.

I haven't tried the following graphic, but I think it's necessary for the same newcomers. I have about 10 secs of menu and tsplash, followed by 10 secs of blank sceen. Even I get a bit twitchy at that point.

Phil

Posted: **Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:54 pm**

The resolution change is dramatic - down to less than 1/4 of the screen, and the text jumps to top left.

I had that in an earlier version that BJ sent me, but the most recent one solved that.

Posted: **Thu Jul 31, 2014 12:43 pm**

Gaer Boy wrote:I've tested using a USB stick and the early display on my 1920x1060 monitor is very good. The resolution change is dramatic - down to less than 1/4 of the screen, and the text jumps to top left. It's still perfectly readable and I think it's fine. Adding 'nomodeset' or using Videos Safe mode didn't seem to make any difference.

I haven't tried the following graphic, but I think it's necessary for the same newcomers. I have about 10 secs of menu and tsplash, followed by 10 secs of blank sceen. Even I get a bit twitchy at that point.

Phil

Just 'nomodeset' by itself doesn't stop the resolution from changing on my system.

If I use both 'nomodeset' & 'radeon.modeset=0', the resolution of the bootsplash screen (and the size of the text) stays the same for the entire time the splash is being displayed.

But I think using the 'radeon.modeset=0' cheat means I won't be able to use the radeon driver while running in X.

Posted: **Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:35 pm**

An Excellent Creation BitJam! The perfect balance between text and graphics. Thanks to you and all who help fine tune it. I am testing it...now!

Posted: **Fri Aug 01, 2014 3:25 am**

kmathern wrote: Just 'nomodeset' by itself doesn't stop the resolution from changing on my system.

If I use both 'nomodeset' & 'radeon.modeset=0', the resolution of the bootsplash screen (and the size of the text) stays the same for the entire time the splash is being displayed.

But I think using the 'radeon.modeset=0' cheat means I won't be able to use the radeon driver while running in X.

'radeon.modeset=0' on its own works for me - the resolution and text size stays the same throughout. I wasn't worried about using the radeon driver in X - it's disabled on my system anyway.

Phil

Posted: **Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:26 am**

Here is tsplash in Greek. The translations may be nonsense but that is easily fixed. This required me to work around some very strange bugs in how busybox handles unicode. This is a screenshot from Virtual Box at the default 640x480 resolution.

Posted: **Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:16 am**

Looks good (I guess), nice work.

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