Bootsplash Theme Creator program

[Daniel]

Note: All the attachments in this thread have been standardized. You will get the same version (the final version) from any attachment. You must run the included installer first if you want the program to be available in vasmCC. The program is available as a .tlz package or as the pieces (script, installer...).

I have written a Bootsplash Theme Creator script program. It uses zenity for the GUI. It follows and automates the processes described by stretchedthin on www.opensourcebistro.com. Thank you very much stretchedthin! Here is a link to stretchedthin's instructions: http://www.opensourcebistro.com/Tutorial/VL60/16.SystemAdmin/vasmcc/utilities/vlbsplash-switch/custom-boot-splash.htm

The Bootsplash Theme Creator program is attached if you would like to try it. After you run the program and create a bootsplash theme, you need to use VLBootsplash-Switch in VASM to switch to your new bootsplash. If you run Bootsplash Theme Creator from a console, you may see these error messages: "Bootsplash-Theme-Creator.sh: line 42: config: command not found" or "ls: cannot access /etc/bootsplash/themes/example/: No such file or directory
doesn't exist" These are merely the results of some intentional file checking in the script and are not problems. Please let me know how you like it and if there are any problems with it. I have not been able to actually use my custom bootsplashes from this program because I am running VL 5.9.1 SOHO (with KDE) and KDE's bootsplash switcher appears to take precedence over the VASM bootsplash switcher. If anyone has any suggestions on how to change that, they would be most welcome.

Enjoy!

Note: This program must be run as root. It will check and notify you if you are trying to run it as a normal user.

[stretchedthin]

Hi Daniel:
Looks cool.  I'll give it a go as soon as I can.  Would it be ok with you if I offered the download off of my site as well.

[Daniel]

Thanks stretchedthin, yes that would be fine with me if you want to put the download on your site too.

[stretchedthin]

Hey Daniel;  I've tried the application on two different machines using two different jpg's.  The new theme seems to create just fine and shows up in VLbootsplash-switch, but when I reboot I only get verbose mode, no picture.
 
I'll look into it some more.  Hopefully, it's just my error, but I'll let you know what I find out.

[Daniel]

Is there a bootsplash switcher in XFCE4 that might have turned off the splash screen and is overriding the VASM switcher like what happened to me with KDE? It seemed to be working for you when you made the tutorial but I don't know, it was just a thought.

[stretchedthin]

Well I don't think anything is wrong with your application.  I just downloaded VLm-akes theme package and used your program to install.  It worked just fine.

It seems there is more to preparing a .jpg to be a bootsplash than just resizing it.  I'll try to figure out what that is.

[Daniel]

Hmm... I think you're right. I have two different bootsplash themes to choose from by default and the images for those show the bootsplash picture looking different than the silent bootsplash picture. The bootsplash picture looks like the picture it shows when it's showing the bootsplash but you press Esc to show verbose. But if you have to do something to make the pictures different, why did it work for you when you made the tutorial? I wonder if saving the picture as "silent..." in GIMP is different from doing what I did in the script: copying and renaming the "bootsplash..." picture. But then, if you installed VLm-akes theme package, the script should have copied and renamed the "bootsplash..." picture just like it always does. And it worked for for some reason. By the way, I think my KDE bootsplash switcher isn't interfering after all. I'm still not sure what the problem is though.

[stretchedthin]

In my tutorial I used the same picture for bootsplash-~.jpg as I did for silent-~.jpg.  If you look at std or VLm-akes pictures the bootsplash and silent differ.  The bootsplash .jpg's are used when verbose mode is in use and silent-~.jpgs when it is not.
You script is fine, it just uses the same picture for both, no problem there.

In my tutorial I used a picture from my camera, when I tried it this time I used a picture I downloaded from the internet that was 1280x1024 from the start.  That's the one I couldn't get to work.

I then tried some pictures that where emailed to me.  One worked and one didn't...go figure.

I am going to experiment a little more.  Maybe it's the x and y resolution, maybe it's the overall picture size in mb, maybe it's the EXIF data or subsampling, hell maybe '.jpg' has to be '.JPG'.

I'll keep playing with it.  I like the overall concept of your app though.  For users to take a favorite picture and make it there bootsplash that easily is cool.

[toothandnail]

  I'll be waiting to see the final outcome. I've been meaning to make my own bootsplash for a while - running my laptop in 1280 x 800 frame bufer mode breaks the standard bootsplash.

Looking forward to the final version....

paul.

[uelsk8s]

there are some guidelines for bootsplash jpegs, and bootsplash has some resolutions it is limited to.
resolutions supported by bootsplash are "640x480  800x600  1024x768 1280x1024" at 64k

make sure the jpeg you are using has a pixels per inch resolution of 96x96

[stretchedthin]

I found this on linuxquestions.org

Almost all jpegs are YCbCr, the exception are some jpegs created on an Apple Mac and Windows.

If you use the gimp, don't check the "Progressive" box. Also, subsampling must be 2x2, 1x1, 1x1 (that's what the 221111 hints at).

Than your jpeg should work.

I remade the 3 required bootsplashes using the above rules and 2 of my pictures which previously failed worded flawlessly.  The
third picture would have worked as well but .jpg was capitalized as .JPG (a carryover from the name it had before).  Once that was
corrected it worked as well.

So some simple rules for resizing with Gimp...
1. Don't check the "Progressive" box ( or anyother box on the left, why would you need EXIF data or thumbnails anyway)
2. Subsampling must be 2x2,1x1,1x1.
3. .jpg can't be capitalized, (I think that rule is just for me.)
4. Use the slider to reduce the file size as much as the picture quality can bear.  Smaller file sizes make for faster boots, but a large file size does not seem to prevent the picture from showing.  I have 1024x768 ranging from 40kb to 178kb all work.

With those rules your "Bootsplash-Theme-Creator" worked like a charm.  I'll work on a screencast in the next couple of days. Thanks for this.
stretched

[Daniel]

Thanks stretchedthin! I will make some changes to the script and either include that information or a link to your screencast or both. If that's ok with you.

[stretchedthin]

Works for me.

This may be a tall order but how much work would it be to use a command line suite like imagemagick to size the pictures for the user?  Just had the idea when I saw the new version of imagemagick released on distrowatch.

[Daniel]

Well, that sounds interesting, but... Gslapt and slapt-get both say I have ImageMagick installed but Gslapt says that I have it installed to a non-existent directory. ( /mnt/source/packages/... ) And "imagemagick" doesn't work from the terminal. I tried reinstalling it but it still didn't work. Any suggestions?

[stretchedthin]

ImageMagick is a sweet of programs with a huge number of command line utitities. The one you want is 'convert' or maybe 'mogrify'.

Here is the page on it's usage.
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/mogrify.php

Here is another with more specifics
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/resize/#noaspect

I'll read up a little more.