Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:53:56 +1000 From: Antony Mawer <lists@mawer.org> To: Torfinn Ingolfsen <torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: kern/143370: splash_txt ASCII splash screen module Message-ID: <BANLkTinrBrkgUisZnwnYO2dgKkWWKd2EUg@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20110629190431.e03ac76f.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> References: <BANLkTikEBa_SKJvOb8-SuNza_Dh158n4gQ@mail.gmail.com> <20110629190431.e03ac76f.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 3:04 AM, Torfinn Ingolfsen <torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> wrote: > On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:50:15 +1000 > Antony Mawer <lists@mawer.org> wrote: >> Not sure if this is the right place to post it -- about 6 years ago I >> put together a module which displays an ASCII splash screen on boot >> (rather than the graphical splash_pcx and splash_bmp modules). We have >> been running it in production since that time without issue. > > So, the difference between this and loader.conf's loader_logo construct is that > a) this is a proper splash screen module > b) you can / must design your splash screen with a separate program (compared to write / modify Forth code) > > Is my understanding correct? Not quite. The loader_logo is only displayed at the boot screen, and disappears as soon as the kernel begins booting. The splash module effectively creates an "overlay" display which is placed on-screen while the kernel probes devices and starts up, replacing the standard startup messages. Think more along the lines of your OS boot screen on Windows/Mac/Linux. In our case, this provides a clean boot screen instead of confusing probe messages (or silence if they're hidden) while the system starts, which can be reassuring to a non-tech audience, and does so without reliance on VESA support which doesn't always work on the systems we work with. The choice of file format was simply that it was an easy to use format supported by ASCII drawing software that I was familiar with (TheDraw, DuhDraw). There is nothing to stop someone adding support for a different format of encoding if they wanted -- the same as someone could write a splash_jpg or splash_gif module if they really wanted to. -- Antony
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?BANLkTinrBrkgUisZnwnYO2dgKkWWKd2EUg>