# Frame buffer splash does not work

## IcEonFirE

Hi

I had reffered to http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_fbsplash to install ramebuffer splash I chose livecd-2007.0 as theme. When I issued the command splash_manager --theme=livecd-2007.0 --cmd=set --tty=1 it outputed :

Can't open /dev/fb0 or /dev/fb/0

Error: Theme 'livecd-2007.0' doesn't seem to provide a config file for the current resolution ().

I made sure that all necessary kernel (2.6.20-r :Cool:  options are present. here's also

the contents of grub.conf file:

title=Gentoo Linux (2.6.20-r :Cool: 

root (hd0,1)

kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/hda4 acpi=on apm=off splash=silent,fadein,theme=livecd-2007.0 quiet vga=778

CONSOLE=/dev/tty1

initrd (hd0,1)/boot/fbsplash-livecd-2007.0-1024x768

However, only console is apprearing, any suggestions please ?

Thanks

----------

## VinzC

What does zgrep '^CONFIG_FB' /proc/config.gz (or grep '^CONFIG_FB' /usr/src/linux/.config) tell you?

----------

## IcEonFirE

grep '^CONFIG_FB' /usr/src/linux/.config:

CONFIG_FB=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_FILLRECT=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_COPYAREA=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_IMAGEBLIT=y

CONFIG_FB_MODE_HELPERS=y

CONFIG_FB_VESA=y

CONFIG_FB_VESA_STD=y

CONFIG_FB_SPLASH=y

----------

## VinzC

Does /etc/init.d/splash start work actually? Have you tried vesa-tng?

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## mikegpitt

Did you ever solve this?  I have this problem on some older machines.  Exact same setup as other machines that work, which makes me think that it's caused by the hardware.

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## Drone4four

The guide IcEonFirE originally  linked to is dead.  Here is the updated link to the Gentoo wiki [How To] guide for getting fbsplash working.

```
 localhost # zgrep '^CONFIG_FB' /proc/config.gz

CONFIG_FB=y

CONFIG_FB_BOOT_VESA_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_FILLRECT=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_COPYAREA=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_IMAGEBLIT=y

CONFIG_FB_SYS_FILLRECT=m

CONFIG_FB_SYS_COPYAREA=m

CONFIG_FB_SYS_IMAGEBLIT=m

CONFIG_FB_SYS_FOPS=m

CONFIG_FB_VESA=y

CONFIG_FB_CON_DECOR=y

localhost # grep '^CONFIG_FB' /usr/src/linux/.config

CONFIG_FB=y

CONFIG_FB_BOOT_VESA_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_FILLRECT=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_COPYAREA=y

CONFIG_FB_CFB_IMAGEBLIT=y

CONFIG_FB_SYS_FILLRECT=m

CONFIG_FB_SYS_COPYAREA=m

CONFIG_FB_SYS_IMAGEBLIT=m

CONFIG_FB_SYS_FOPS=m

CONFIG_FB_VESA=y

CONFIG_FB_CON_DECOR=y

localhost splash # /etc/init.d/splash start

bash: /etc/init.d/splash: No such file or directory

localhost # exit

exit

drone4four@localhost ~ $ 

```

The guide recommends you try out a theme before using it.  The guide says: *Quote:*   

> If you wish to set/preview a theme without booting you can use splash_manager.
> 
> ```
> splash_manager --theme=livecd-2007.0 --cmd=set --tty=1
> ```
> ...

 

But, like IcEonFirE, I get an error message:

```

localhost splash # splash_manager --theme=livecd-2007.0 --cmd=set --tty=1

Can't open /dev/fb0 or /dev/fb/0

Error: Theme 'livecd-2007.0' doesn't seem to provide a config file for the current resolution ().

localhost splash # 

```

How do I get fbsplash working?

Here are the contents of my /etc/splash/ directory:

```

drone4four@localhost ~ $ su

Password: 

localhost drone4four # cd /etc/splash/

localhost splash # ls

73labAllstar         GeeXboX-Xmas          Raziel

ASP                  Gentoo                Redmond

ASPLinux             Gentoo-Hornet         Rojo

AquaMatrix           Gentoo-LiveCD-2004.0  Rollmops

ArchLinux            Gentoo-LiveCD-2004.1  Rustenguin

ArchPool             Gentoo-LiveCD-2004.2  SMGL

ArchRelief           Gentoo-LiveCD-2004.3  Shodan

AthlonXP             Gentool               Slack

Ayo                  GoGentooGo            Slack-3D

BabyTux              Ignite                Slack-Black-Tux

Berry                Jollix                Slack-Blue

Black                Juicy                 Slack-Glass

Burek                Junior                Slack-Gray

CCux                 Kanotix               Slack-Gray-B

CLEE                 Keramik               Slackware

CM                   KillBillTux-Grey      Slackware2

CRUX                 KillBillTux-Yellow    SlackwareLinux

CaixaMagica          KnoppMyth             Slide

Cargal               KnoppixKDE            Spinner

Compact              KnoppixLT             Stargate-Tux

Cybercity            Konsole               SuSE

Cynapses             KuruminOrgBR          SuSE-7.2

DangerGirl           Leopard               SuSE-7.3

Dark-0.1             Lila                  SuSE-8.0

Dark-2-0.2           Linux                 SuSE-8.1

DarkBlue             Lunar                 SuSE-8.2

DebBlue              MaiHoshino            SuSE-Home

DebBlue-Gnome        Mandrake-10.0         SuSE-SLES

DebBlue-Gnoppix      Mandrake-9.2          SwirlPool

Debian               Master                ThinkLinux

Debian-Mist          Matrix                TuxInfo

Debian-Sarge         Metal-Tosh            TuxInfo-Connectiva

Debian-Tux           MetallTux             TuxInfo-Debian

Debian-Tux-Gnulinex  Misspingus3           TuxInfo-Mandrake

Debian-Wave          Misspingus4           TuxInfo-RedHat

Debian2              Momonga               TuxInfo-Slackware

Debian3              Morphix               TuxInfo-SuSE

Deflorist            MyLittleTux           TuxNTosh

DimmuBorgir          MythTV                TuxSplash

Dolphin              NewFreepia            Ubuntu

Dragon               NewLinux              UnitedLinux

ERPOSS3              NewLinux-Deb          UrbanVisions-Debian

ElvinTooka           NewTux                UrbanVisions-Mandrake

Emergance            NightWorld            UrbanVisions-SuSE

Enterprise           Notes                 VDR

Enterprise-spot      OfficeDesktop         Vortex

EvenNewerTux         OpenSchool            WarmAqua

FarCry               OpenXchange           Warty

Fedora               PLF1                  acKme

FedoraCore2          PLF2                  dotf

Flower               PLF5                  emerge-world

Freepia              Pativo                emergence

FrozenBubble         Pho                   gentoo

Frugalware           Popcorn               iRu

GANT                 PowerBook             libertnl

GNU                  Psychotoxic           livecd-2007.0

Galantine            Pyro                  luxisri.ttf

GalaxySlack2         QiLinux-LiveCD-1.1    natural-gentoo

GeeXboX              RH9                   natural_gentoo

GeeXboX-Halloween    RadiantStar

GeeXboX-OMC          Ratatouille

```

Gentoo developer Michał Januszewski seems to be an expert on fbsplash according to his website.  I'll be sure to contact him if I don't get a response from the forum community in this thread. Here is a blog post by Michał Januszewski on his release of splashutils-1.5.4.   

edit: added contents of splash directory

edit: added three sentences on Michał Januszewski

edit: grammar

----------

## Drone4four

I tried installing the gentoo splash theme chooser which I found at opendesktop.org.  When I run gentoo_splash_chooser.py, I get this error:

```
drone4four@localhost ~/Desktop/gui 4 Mar/gentoo_splash_chooser-0.9/gentoo_splash

_chooser $ python gentoo_splash_chooser.py 

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "gentoo_splash_chooser.py", line 2, in <module>

    from qt import *

ImportError: No module named qt

drone4four@localhost ~/Desktop/gui 4 Mar/gentoo_splash_chooser-0.9/gentoo_splash

_chooser $ 
```

For the record, I have PyQt4 installed:

```
drone4four@localhost ~ $ emerge -s pyqt4

Searching...    

[ Results for search key : pyqt4 ]

[ Applications found : 1 ]

*  dev-python/PyQt4

      Latest version available: 4.6.2

      Latest version installed: 4.6.2

      Size of files: 6,816 kB

      Homepage:      http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/intro/ http://pypi.python.org/pypi/PyQt

      Description:   A set of Python bindings for the Qt toolkit

      License:       || ( GPL-2 GPL-3 )

```

----------

## Drone4four

I spoke to Michał "spock" Januszewski over e-mail. spock suggested I try  fbset -i.  Here it is:

```
localhost drone4four # fbset -i

open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory

localhost drone4four # exit

exit

drone4four@localhost ~ $
```

spock responded and said that that output means I don't have an active framebuffer device.  spock said that I needed to append a vga=XXX to my kernel command in my grub.conf.

Therefore, in my grub.conf, I changed this:

```
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.30-gentoo-r4 root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/sda5
```

to this:

```
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.30-gentoo-r4 root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/sda5 vga=0x318
```

spock referred  me to kernel documentation for the vesafb at Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt  for  information on how to use vesafb, for example, how to change the resolution of the framebuffer.

I rebooted Gentoo and presto, vesafb was running at 1024x768!  However, I still got an error message when running the splash_manager command:

```
# splash_manager --theme=livecd-2007.0 --cmd=set --tty=2 

/usr/bin/splash_manager: line 174: fbcondecor_ctl: command not found

/usr/bin/splash_manager: line 176: fbcondecor_ctl: command not found

```

So I Googled “/usr/bin/splash_manager: line 174: fbcondecor_ctl: command not found”

and discovered this as a resource.  As suggested there, I added

```
media-gfx/splashutils fbcondecor fbcondecor_ctl
```

to the the contents of my /etc/portage/package.use file and then I ran 

```
emerge --newuse -1v splashutils

```

Now 

```
splash_manager --theme=livecd-2007.0 --cmd=set --tty=2
```

runs without a hitch.

Further, fbset -i now shows meaningful output:

```

localhost # fbset -i

mode "1024x768-76"

    # D: 78.653 MHz, H: 59.949 kHz, V: 75.694 Hz

    geometry 1024 768 1024 768 32

    timings 12714 128 32 16 4 128 4

    rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,8/24

endmode

Frame buffer device information:

    Name        : VESA VGA

    Address     : 0xf5000000

    Size        : 6291456

    Type        : PACKED PIXELS

    Visual      : TRUECOLOR

    XPanStep    : 0

    YPanStep    : 0

    YWrapStep   : 0

    LineLength  : 4096

    Accelerator : No

localhost  # exit

drone4four@localhost ~ $ 

```

spock said that if I wanted a framebuffer at a resolution at 1280 x 800 or 1920 x 1200 I should use the uvesafb driver in the Linux kernel.  For more information on how to do that, there is this guide courtesy of spock and this Arch Linux resource. To install the uvesafb driver I'll have to compile a new genkernel.  To do that I'll refer to the Gentoo Handbook.

edit: sp, formatting

edit: added 2 sentences on further resources for uvesafb

edit: grammar

----------

## UTgamer

Fine thank you for your update.   :Very Happy:  At least I got the splash_manager to run.

----------

