Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:28:18 -0500 From: Kevin Kinsey <kdk@daleco.biz> To: Mike Jeays <Mike.Jeays@rogers.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Bye-bye beastie ... Message-ID: <4339B972.1070307@daleco.biz> In-Reply-To: <1127852545.655.18.camel@chaucer.jeays.ca> References: <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNEEHHFCAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> <200509271005.59838.kirk@strauser.com> <4339669E.1020306@daleco.biz> <1127852545.655.18.camel@chaucer.jeays.ca>
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Mike Jeays wrote: > >As well as turning off the beastie, is there a way to suppress all the >dmesg and other output, so that the first thing to appear is the KDM or >GDM login screen? When I show FreeBSD to people who have only seen >Windows before, their first reaction is how geeky all that text looks as >it rolls by. They are turned off before I even get to the login >screen. Most current Linuxes are 'better' in this respect. > >I realise it may make it harder to debug failed startups... > > We use a "splash" screen --- I forget where it's documented in the handbook/FAQ, but splash(4) has most of the 'GUI' details (pun intended). Basically, as root: $ echo splash_bmp_load="YES" >> /boot/loader.conf $ echo bitmap_name="/boot/splash.bmp" >> /boot/loader.conf This should cause "splash_bmp.ko" to be kldloaded at boot time. The bitmap should be 320 x 200 x 8 colors (at least that's what works for us - probably related to console settings). We use it as an opportunity to show the company logo. It comes up after the "beastie menu" and the copyright info (and a couple of error looking notices ... we're on 6.0-BETA5 in the office now, dunno if it's related ;-), basically, during the kernel device probe. It will stay on as long as a key isn't pressed. xdm "takes over" after the boot process (I assume gdm/kdm would, too) and so this is less "geeky" stuff to look at, I guess. It can be a little confusing if you don't run an X based display manager --- it'll stay on and cover up the login: prompt on ttyv0, so a novice might well wonder "how long is this going to take" while your box sits patiently waiting for a login. Note that this splash/bitmap also acts as a "screensaver" when you're in console, AFAICT. HTH, Kevin Kinsey
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