From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jun 30 03:32:09 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B3AE9106566B for ; Thu, 30 Jun 2011 03:32:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lists@mawer.org) Received: from mail-bw0-f54.google.com (mail-bw0-f54.google.com [209.85.214.54]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 455F48FC14 for ; Thu, 30 Jun 2011 03:32:08 +0000 (UTC) Received: by bwa20 with SMTP id 20so2188140bwa.13 for ; Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:32:07 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.204.85.25 with SMTP id m25mr1428263bkl.148.1309404727010; Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:32:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.204.63.71 with HTTP; Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:32:06 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <20110630031054.GC41789@DataIX.net> References: <20110629190431.e03ac76f.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> <20110630013323.GA41789@DataIX.net> <20110630031054.GC41789@DataIX.net> Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:32:06 +1000 Message-ID: From: Antony Mawer To: jhell Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Cc: Torfinn Ingolfsen , freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: kern/143370: splash_txt ASCII splash screen module X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 03:32:09 -0000 On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 1:10 PM, jhell wrote: > On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 12:47:45PM +1000, Antony Mawer wrote: >> On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 11:33 AM, jhell wrote: >> > Most admins that I know don't bother with things like splash screens o= n >> > 'production' equipment because its irrelevant to the actual server >> > usage and unneeded overhead since the actual boot messages prove much >> > more useful than some random ascii or bmp/pcx. >> >> They're embedded-style server systems at remote client sites, about >> 1200 of them. The splash module is just a visual "nicety" which is >> displayed during startup - at least providing some feedback as to what >> the system is doing. These are systems aimed at a non-tech audience, >> so those "niceties" count. >> >> The alternative to that was either standard kernel messages during >> boot, or a silent boot, both of which tend to confuse the crap out of >> non-tech end users. > > Yeah I agree. I originally downloaded your patch, I think it was for a > 6.X system back then ~2008-09ish possibly even 7.X and twiddled with it > for a bit playing around with all the funkiness of TheDraw and getting > that good ole feeling of BBS days. But that's usually about as far as I > go with things like that as you =A0could probably tell from above ;) > > I was going through my archive file directory probably last month and > came across the copy of the program which made me remember that patch, > funny coincidence that it comes back up now ;) > > I must say though having to use a reproducible .bin file over trying to > figure out all the complexities of making a proper gzip'd xpm,bmp,pcx > file was NICE! > > My first attempt ever making a splash image bmp was a fail due to manual > reading problems but needless to say it was a pain. TheDraw nearly > painless but how long can we seriously hold on to that program and will > there ever be anything to replace it ? I had to update our splash screen recently for $WORK, and have recently shifted my primary desktop+laptop to a Mac. Thought I'd give DOSBox a go and sure enough TheDraw fired up beautifully! You are right about it being a flash back to the BBS days. I have used DuhDraw (open source clone of TheDraw) under Linux many many years ago; there's a port in graphics/duhdraw if anyone wanted to try it out and see if it still works. In theory it should work just as well as TheDraw... Have been keeping this building in our local tree for all these years, but figured that there must be some people out there who might like to use it too... -- Antony