GRUB splashimage

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http://www.msfn.org/board/Multiple_Partition_USB_Stick_Multi_Boo_t69211.html#entry505946

SPLASHIMAGE

GRUB allows using a splashimage, sort of a background. Here are the NEEDED features of the slashimage:

The image MUST be 640x480
The image MUST have a maximum of 14 colours
The image MUST be in the .xpm format (and can later be gzipped)

The Windows 32 port of the Gimp saves in a .xpm format that is NOT compatible with GRUB. http://www.gimp.org/windows/ You will need the Windows 32 port of ImageMagick. http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php

Draw your image in your preferred graphic program, save it as .BMP with a 14 colours palette (if your graphic program does not allow this, use the Gimp to open the .BMP, limit the palette to 14 colours and save it again as .BMP).

Now open a command prompt window, navigate to your ImageMagick install directory and give this command:

convert picture.bmp picture.xpm

Preview the result with the Gimp, check that colours are really limited to 14, DO NOT save the image with the Gimp!

If result is OK, re-run as follows:

convert picture.bmp picture.xpm.gz

(or you can use 7zip to gzip the image previously made)

Please note that it is important to do the above because if you try to use, as you should theoretically:

convert -colors 14 picture.bmp picture.xpm.gz

starting from a, say, 256 colours image, the palette will NOT be optimized and result will be VERY POOR.

After having tested that the image works with GRUB, you should spend sometime experimenting with the two settings:

Foreground=xxyyzz
Background=xxyyzz

These are coded colours (RGB, same as used in HTML) that apply to the TEXT superimposed by GRUB (normal/highlighted).

Since I am a very bad "painter", I have found that a quick way to get acceptable results is to start from a 16 colours 640x480 image, they used to be backgrounds for Windows 3.1 and can be found quite easily on the internet.

jaclaz

documented on: May 12 2006

GRUB splashimage

i got splashimage touring the web. i got it from the linux community like kde or gentoo if i can remember right. some here grub splash screens

http://schragehome.de/splash/ http://www.schultz-net.dk/grub.html

if your using linux heres a easy way to convert a image to grub format. it easy it just like the same way for cdshell. you cant get above 14 colours, it uses some form of vesa. it easy to convert a image to 640x480 you need gzip and

imagemagick http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php and gimp http://www.gimp.org/

Quoted

Start the GIMP.
Click on File->New or type Ctrl+N
In the new image dialog, change Width to 640 pixels and Height to 480 pixels. (The image should be of size 640x480 pixels.) Now click OK.
Create the image which you would like to be the splash image. It's quite fun to experiment with the various tools of the GIMP!
After you have finished creating the image, hit Alt+i or right click on the image and click on Image->Mode->Indexed…
In the Indexed Color Conversion dialog that appears, click on the radio button "Generate optimal Palette" and in "# of colors" enter 14. Click OK.(The image should be of only 14 colors)
Now right-click on the image and click on File->Save As…Save the file as ImageName.xpm in a directory of your choice.

For some reasons i could not create *.xpm so i save it as *.png and then

convert ImageName.png ImageName.xpm

(convert is a part of media-gfx/imagemagick)

You can save image from this page and convert it skipping image creation hassle

Creating image (Imagemagick)

You can also pick an image (any type supported by ImageMagick) and execute:
```
convert -resize 640x480 -colors 14 picture.jpg ImageName.xpm
```

Installing the Image

gzip ImageName.xpm
mount /boot
mv ImageName.xpm.gz /boot/grub/

In the /boot/grub/grub.conf you have to point splashimage to newly created image i.e.
```
File: /boot/grub/grub.conf
```
```
# Splash Image
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/ImageName.xpm.gz
```

This post has been edited by Markymoo: May 17 2006.