Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 14:22:33 -0400 From: Mike Jeays <Mike.Jeays@rogers.com> To: Kevin Kinsey <kdk@daleco.biz> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Bye-bye beastie ... Message-ID: <1128018153.678.9.camel@chaucer.jeays.ca> In-Reply-To: <4339B972.1070307@daleco.biz> References: <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNEEHHFCAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> <200509271005.59838.kirk@strauser.com> <4339669E.1020306@daleco.biz> <1127852545.655.18.camel@chaucer.jeays.ca> <4339B972.1070307@daleco.biz>
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On Tue, 2005-09-27 at 17:28, Kevin Kinsey wrote: > 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 > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" Well - I tried this, and maybe I didn't get the syntax exactly right. My machine refused to boot at the point where it was trying to load the splash screen, and seemed hopelessly wedged. I downloaded the 5.3 Fixit disk, burnt a copy, and tried with that. I could not mount ad0s1a - it said "Operation not permitted", although I could mount 'e' and 'f'. It wouldn't let me do an fsck on any of the partitions. I tried Knoppix, but 3.9 doesn't seem to know about UFS filesystems. In desperation, I booted a copy of Freesbie 1.1 that I happened to have around. I had no trouble running fsck on all the partitions (they were all clean anyway), and deleting the erroneous lines from /boot/loader.conf. My machine is now working again. So - next time I get stuck, I will try the Freesbie disk first.
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