From owner-freebsd-hackers  Tue May  6 16:02:29 1997
Return-Path: <owner-hackers>
Received: (from root@localhost)
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id QAA11637
          for hackers-outgoing; Tue, 6 May 1997 16:02:29 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from whqvax.picker.com (whqvax.picker.com [144.54.1.1])
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id QAA11629;
          Tue, 6 May 1997 16:02:15 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from ct.picker.com by whqvax.picker.com with SMTP;
          Tue, 6 May 1997 19:01:41 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from elmer.ct.picker.com ([144.54.57.34]) by ct.picker.com (4.1/SMI-4.1)
	id AA02128; Tue, 6 May 97 19:01:39 EDT
Received: by elmer.ct.picker.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4)
	id TAA01176; Tue, 6 May 1997 19:01:02 -0400
Message-Id: <19970506190102.08747@ct.picker.com>
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 19:01:02 -0400
From: Randall Hopper <rhh@ct.picker.com>
To: msmith@freebsd.org, sos@freebsd.org
Cc: hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: 2.2 Splashkit
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
X-Mailer: Mutt 0.69
Sender: owner-hackers@freebsd.org
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

Re: ftp://gsoft.com.au/pub/2.2_splashkit.tar.gz

     Pretty cool.  Just upgraded to 2.2.1 and thought I'd try it.  

     I'd leave it enabled in my kernel with a nifty picture if it would
auto-dismiss itself when booting gets to the syscons login prompt.

>Things We Would Like:
>
> - Some groovy artwork.  I'm not paid to draw!
> - Testing with X.  I would guess that we need to have the splash thrown
>   out when the X server starts, and perhaps a splash-toggle ioctl.
> - BUG REPORTS!

The only bug/feature I've noticed with it so far is:
 
  - If I start X with the splash on, works OK, but bringing down yields a 
    corrupted screen (guess it doesn't kick-in a redraw when switching
    out of syscons mode)

And a just few thoughts for future features:

  - Already mentioned the auto-dismiss at login prompt.  If not something
    completely automatic (would be nice), maybe some control code users
    could flip in /etc/motd to do the same.

  - Simple pixel or palette animation support.  Not just because it'd look 
    cool, but because a splash screen should let the user know at a glance
    that the machine isn't locked up.  Also makes the time it takes the
    machine to boot-up seem shorter.

  - A MSW95 LOGO.SYS converter for lifting cool pre-built splash pages
    of the net and flipping them into FreeBSD :-) (Slap me, I'm dreaming :-)
    I guess it'd be a 320x400 -to- 320x200 conversion, but hey, why
    reinvent the wheel with so much cool stuff already out there (hundreds,
    if not thousands of nifty anims) and so few of us developers being
    double-gifted with real artistic talent:

                 http://www.nucleus.com/~kmcmurdo/win95logo.html
                 http://www.nucleus.com/~kmcmurdo/logos/

Randall Hopper