Fbsplash
Fbsplash (formerly gensplash) is a user-space implementation of a splash screen for Linux systems. It provides a graphical environment at system startup using the Linux framebuffer layer.
Installation
Fbsplash
Install the fbsplashAUR package.
To have a background image of your virtual terminals you will need to install a kernel patched with fbcondecor, see below.
Themes
Themes are available as packages and can also be found at GNOME-Look.org or KDE-Look.org.
Configuration
Preview
To choose from the themes that you will have installed without restarting or configuring anything, you can use splash_manager
command.
This command must not be executed under X, but from a TTY.
For example to test the arch-black theme, after having installed it of course, in silent mode without restarting:
# splash_manager -c demo -t arch-black --steps 100
For more information:
$ splash_manager --help
Configuration file
Add the theme (s) you installed in /etc/conf.d/splash
. You can also specify screen resolutions to save some space:
/etc/conf.d/splash
... SPLASH_THEMES = " arch-black arch-banner-icons/1280x1024.cfg arch-banner-noicons/1280x1024.cfg " ...
Kernel command line
To work with Fbsplash, you must pass the following options to your kernel parameters:
console=tty1 splash=silent,theme:theme name
Start Fbsplash
F2
key will allow you to toggle between splash and Arch messages on startup. Think about it if the splash does not appear or if you find your startup taking a long time.Normal launch
Once installed and configured, without doing anything more, fbsplash should load automatically the next time you boot, right after a few Arch messages on boot (right after udev).
Early launch
If you find these few messages unsightly (or just to enjoy your splash longer), it is possible to start fbsplash before the first messages at startup.
Just add fbsplash
to HOOKS array in mkinitcpio.conf:
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
... HOOKS=(base fbsplash ...) ...
or:
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
... HOOKS=(base udev ... resume fbsplash ...) ...
or, in case of encryption of the system:
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
... HOOKS=(base ... keymap encrypt fbsplash ...) ...
Then, regenerate the initramfs.
HOOK
.
Edit /etc/mkinitcpio.d/kernel.preset
/etc/mkinitcpio.d/kernel.preset
... fallback_options="-S autodetect,fbsplash" ...
Then, regenerate the initramfs.
Console background images
With a kernel that supports Fbcondecor (e.g., one with a framebuffer console decoration patch applied), you can have a background image of your virtual consoles.
Configuration
There is also a configuration file, /etc/conf.d/fbcondecor
, to define the virtual terminals that will support this display mode.
Add the appropriate entries to your boot loader file, this kernel called vmlinuz-linux-fbcondecor
and its images initramfs-linux-fbcondecor.img
and initramfs-linux-fbcondecor-fallback.img
.
splash = verbose
to take advantage of background messages at startup as a replacement for the splash.