# LiveCD Gensplash

## Snowlock

I thought I would try the LiveCD kernel, because I like the graphical display that it produces when booting and the gentoo bar along the bottom.

I am booting up perfectly fine via the instructions found here, but I don't get the fancy boot screen etc.

I have done a splash screen before (pain in the arse), but is there some reason why it's not working?

my grub.conf

```

default      0

timeout     30

title=Gentoo (LiveCD Kernel (2005.0))

root (hd0,0)

kernel /gentoo root=/dev/hda3
```

any ideas? has anyone gotten the nifty boot screen to work?Last edited by Snowlock on Sun May 15, 2005 11:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## Gherald

 *Snowlock wrote:*   

> I thought I would try the LiveCD kernel, because I like the graphical display that it produces when booting and the gentoo bar along the bottom.
> 
> I am booting up perfectly fine via the instructions found here, but I don't get the fancy boot screen etc.
> 
> I have done a splash screen before (pain in the arse), but is there some reason why it's not working?
> ...

 

You need the initrd line in grub.conf, and the corresponding file in /boot

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## Snowlock

I added the initrd line, but it halted upon boot.

Has anyone done it... and could possibly post their grub.conf?

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## revertex

```
emerge splash-themes-livecd
```

look here at Tips and tricks section:

http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/20050418-newsletter.xml

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## Snowlock

I don't know... I have tried all the guides all over again (pain in the arse), but I cannot get things working...

Has ANYONE gotten the liveCD splash to work? If so... can someone post detailed instructions?

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## thewally

Hi...

 *Snowlock wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Has ANYONE gotten the liveCD splash to work? If so... can someone post detailed instructions?

 

I got it  :Very Happy: 

this is my grub.conf

```

default 1

timeout 10

title=Gentoo GNU/Linux 2.6.11-r6

root (hd0,4)

kernel /kernel-2.6.11-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/hda1 gentoo=nodevfs vga=0x305

title=Gentoo GNU/Linux 2.6.11-r8

root (hd0,4)

kernel /kernel-2.6.11-gentoo-r8_wal01 root=/dev/hda1 gentoo=nodevfs vga=791 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr splash=silent,theme:livecd-2005.0

initrd (hd0,4)/boot/fbsplash-livecd-2005.0-1024x768

```

I've used gensplash. It's more powerfull then bootsplash...

For gensplash take a look here, for project's page, and here for the guide...

Enjoy it...

The Wally

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## Snowlock

I think part of my problem is the fact that I'm using Genkernel, because I don't think I'm advanced enough to compile manually

I first emerged splashutils and the livecd-2005.0 splash theme, like so:

```

emerge splash-themes-livecd

```

Then, I did a genkernel like this:

```

genkernel --menuconfig --gensplash=livecd-2005.0 all

```

Finally, my grub config looks like this

```

default 0

timeout 5

title=Gentoo (LiveCD Kernel (2005.0))

root (hd0,0)

kernel /kernel-2.6.11-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc real_root=/dev/hda3 splash=verbose,theme:livecd-2005.0 video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr,1024x768-32@60

initrd /initrd-2.6.11-gentoo-r8

```

and still... no luck... I'm an idiot... I don't know why this is so hard...

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## revertex

Snowlock,

do you have another fbsplash like emergence working?

i tryed livecd-2005.0, but it seems that it doesn't work with splashutils-0.9.1.

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## Snowlock

I have done an emergence theme before, but not at the moment. Let me see what I can do...

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## Snowlock

ok, when I genkernel it clearly recognizes that I want the livecd-2005.0 theme because it says:

```
Installing gensplash with theme [livecd-2005.0]
```

something along those lines

but still... no splash screen. I am getting the high-resolution penguin etc, but not splash screen.

I have yet to try an emergence

----------

## Snowlock

I simply redid genkernel like this:

```
genkernel --menuconfig --gensplash=emergence all
```

then changed the 'theme' option within the grub.conf to say:

```
 theme=emergence
```

and everything works... so anyone know what gives? why doesn't livecd-2005.0 work?

I have emerged splash-themes-livecd, so that's not it

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## Snowlock

Well, I've gotten the 'emergence' & 'Gentoo' themes to work, but I can't seem to get the 'livecd-2005.0' theme.

Since the other two work perfectly, I'm going to give up and assume the 'livecd-2005.0' theme is broken????

Not sure that's quite accurate because it does work with the live cd's... but I certainly cannot get it to work... :Rolling Eyes: 

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## Snowlock

shameless *bump*

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## awx

Snowlock,

I'll give you a bump too. I just installed Gentoo on my first PC and wanted the exact same thing you did. I followed the instructions that you gave and got it to work successfully with both emergence and the LiveCD theme.

I'm using a genkernel:

```
genkernel --udev --gensplash=livecd-2005.0 all
```

The only change I needed was to set the grub kernel config to be vga=0x317 or lower. My machine and monitor definitely support 1024x768-32x75 but it would never boot graphically with anything higher than 0x317.

Sorry I can't be of more help but I just wanted to let you know that I followed your instructions and they worked for me. I didn't even need to use the LiveCD kernel.

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## Snowlock

so you're using the vesafb, and not vesafb-tng...

I could try the regular vesafb... I'll post back

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## awx

Yes, I tried the tng route but never made any progress with it. I can't remember if I dropped it down in resolution though. I know after tng failed I started experimenting with the vga instead and started getting results and never went back.

I have an SiS video chipset in my machine so it's less mainstream. I don't have any idea if it affects this situation but I just wanted to let you know what I did on the off chance it might help you narrow down your problem.

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## Snowlock

My chipset / video is SiS as well...  :Rolling Eyes: 

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## pilla

Moved from IG

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## mOjO_420

i've been beating my head on the wall after upgrading 2.6.10-r5 to 2.6.11-r8 and also decided at that time to switch to the livecd-2005.0 gensplash... after reading the forums for an hour today... (my new kernel wasnt mounting proc  :Surprised:  ) i finally decided to comment out the initrd in my grub.conf and it booted right up... never had a problem with splashutils or splash_geninitramfs before but it appears that:

```
 2.6.11-gentoo-r8 + splashutils 0.91 + livecd.2005.0 Gensplash == crashy crashy
```

i lack hard proof or the knowledge to debug but I just have that general feeling at this point... 

can you try another gensplash theme to see?

i'm going to try another splash and then if it works i'm going to maybe try the experimental branch of splashutils (there is also a different themes ebuild for the dev branch that i want to check out).

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## mkrisch

 *mOjO_420 wrote:*   

> i've been beating my head on the wall after upgrading 2.6.10-r5 to 2.6.11-r8 and also decided at that time to switch to the livecd-2005.0 gensplash... after reading the forums for an hour today... (my new kernel wasnt mounting proc  ) i finally decided to comment out the initrd in my grub.conf and it booted right up... never had a problem with splashutils or splash_geninitramfs before but it appears that:
> 
> ```
>  2.6.11-gentoo-r8 + splashutils 0.91 + livecd.2005.0 Gensplash == crashy crashy
> ```
> ...

 

i think you need the newer splashutils for the livecd.2005.0 theme, like 1.1.9.x.  also, i don't use the gentoo-sources kernels, so i don't know whether they have the right fbsplash patch version, or which one you need.

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## Headrush

 *mkrisch wrote:*   

> i think you need the newer splashutils for the livecd.2005.0 theme, like 1.1.9.x.  also, i don't use the gentoo-sources kernels, so i don't know whether they have the right fbsplash patch version, or which one you need.

 

Wrong. I have the livecd-2005.0 theme working perfectly with splashutils-0.9.1 using the old vesa driver.

I don't use genkernel and have read problems with people getting splashutils working when using it.

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## Jehoram

From all I have seen splashutils needs initramfs to do a boot splash screen, and I have found no way to get this to work at the same time as initrd, which genkernel uses. You need to manually configure your kernel to do this.  I don't know why genkernel has a gensplash command line option, because it just puts the required files into the initrd with is mounted way to late for it to be of any use to bootsplash.  splashutils comes with a nice little utility called splash_geninitramfs to create a ramfs image file for you so it is not as intimidating as it sounds. The following is roughly what I did to get it working.

1. Configure your kernel (beyond the scope of this message)

2. run splash_geninitramfs

```
splash_geninitramfs --res 1024x768 --generate=/usr/src/linux/usr/initramfs_data.cpio.gz livecd-2005.0

#if you will not boot this kernel in 8bpp video modes add a --no8bpp option above to save space and memory

```

3. comile and install kernel

```
make

rm -Rvf /lib/modules/(kernelversion)/kernel    (make sure kernel compiled cleanly first)

make modules_install

cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-(version)           (replace i386 with your arch if different)

cp /usr/src/linux/System.map /boot/System.map-(version)

```

 4. configure bootloader and/or reinstall bootloader

Since you are not experienced with configuring kernels yet, it is best if you copy your current working kernel in the /boot dir to /boot/kernel-good and its System.map to /boot/System.map-good and add a section in your bootloader config to start the system with this kernel so you can start linux if you don't do things just right.  If you have run genkernel on the sources you are working with before, you will have a decent starting point when you begin configuring.

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## mOjO_420

yes gentoo-sources includes the proper fbsplash patch... and i know how to use geninitramfs tool as i have been up to this point using a custom bootsplash that i load via initrd as it loads the quickest during bootup.  i agree with you on genkernel.  I have never once gotten genkernel to actually compile the gensplash into the initrd nor have i really figured out what exactly that parameter is doing because i always end up having to make my own with geninitramfs.  most of the time i use regular 'make menuconfig' and copy the kernel over manually... but since i've compiled 2.6.11-r8 i cant get any splash to load. framebuffer works as i can get that in the console but the initrd splash is just not working... looking on the forums i found a number of people complaining about livecd-2005.0 and they all seemed to have 2.6.11-r8... i couldnt find anything on bugs.gentoo.org so i'm thinking something subtle changed somewhere and i'm just not figuring it out... or like someone said maybe 2005.0 theme needs newer splash utils... but i cant even get my old fbsplash to load unless i choose my old kernel... hmph... r9 came out the other day so i'm going to go try that one now with my same config.

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## Jehoram

I have everything working with r8.  Here is my grub.conf

```
# For booting GNU/Linux

title  Gentoo Linux 2.6.11-r8

root (hd0,1)

kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.11-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/sda2 video=vesafb:1024x768-32@75 splash=silent,fadein,theme:livecd-2005.0,tty:12 quiet CONSOLE=/dev/tty1

```

my initramfs_data.cpio.gz was made with the following command line.

```
splash_geninitramfs -g /usr/src/linux/usr/initramfs_data.cpio.gz -r 1024x768 --all

```

Graphics relevent part of .config is

```
#

# Graphics support

#

CONFIG_FB=y

CONFIG_FB_MODE_HELPERS=y

CONFIG_FB_VESA=y

CONFIG_FB_VESA_TNG=y

CONFIG_FB_VESA_DEFAULT_MODE="640x480@60"

CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y

#

# Console display driver support

#

CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y

CONFIG_FONT_8x16=y

#

# Logo configuration

#

CONFIG_LOGO=y

CONFIG_LOGO_LINUX_CLUT224=y

CONFIG_FB_SPLASH=y

```

And as I said in my previous post, I had to get rid of my initrd to get the bootspash to work, I recently changed to emergence I think it looks better.

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## mOjO_420

thanks for the info.. i'll compare my .config with yours when i get home and i'll also try compiling it into the kernel. (i usually prefer the initrd approach so I can change splashes at will but oh well...)  i did try 2.6.11-r9 last night but no change.  

can you tell me what version of splash utils you are using?

tia,

mOjO

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