9 Grub Splash Images

Posted on | April 2, 2007 | 234Comments9+Grub+Splash+Images2007-04-02+09%3A03%3A35Patrick

UPDATE: If you use the Avant Window Navigator, I have just posted 9 AWN Themes. You might also like Compiz Fusion Skydomes 4096×1024 here on Queer Visions.

Below are 9 GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) splash images freely shared and a brief explanation of how I got GRUB configured to display them. (I dual boot Ubuntu and Windows Vista.)

Buddha	Face	Daisy

Skull	Space	Mandalas

Vase	Grass	Klimt

(image sources: TheMattrix, pscott, Metzgermeister, t_graye, stewie, firinel, e-things, Slayer)

A Brief GRUB Splash How To

a) Find gzipped, 640×480, 14 color only, xpm images (like the ones above).

b) Put the images in /boot/grub/splashimages/.

c) Rename the image you wish to use to ’splash.xpm.gz’.

d) Make a link to /boot/grub/splashimages/splash.xpm.gz and put it in /boot/grub/.

e) Open /boot/grub/menu.lst and below the ‘Pretty colours’ section add a third line as below:

# Pretty colours
# color cyan/blue white/blue
splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

(The hd0,1 refers to hard drive 1 partition 2 where my Ubuntu file system is installed. You’ll need to change those numbers if yours differs.)

f) That’s it. Restart to see the new eye candy. For more in depth explanations: GNU GRUB Splash Image Howto, GRUB splash Image Information or Grub Splash.

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Category: Patrickometry
Tags: ubuntu

Comments

234Comments9+Grub+Splash+Images2007-04-02+09%3A03%3A35Patrick to “9 Grub Splash Images”

Noumaan
April 2nd, 2007 @ 10:44 am

To make a link from the /splashimages/ directory to /boot/grub/ use the following command in super user mode:
# link /boot/grub/splashimages/splash.xpm.gz /boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
Also the same thing could be acheived using nautilus by opening nautilus in super user mode
# nautilus /boot/grub/splashimages/
click the xpm.gz and select make link. now copy the link file to the /boot/grub/ folder and rename it to splash.xpm.gz
Leonardo Fontenelle
April 2nd, 2007 @ 10:33 pm

The “splashimage” key may be located anywhere, IIRC.
Tim
April 3rd, 2007 @ 12:01 am

You don’t have to rename the original file as long as your splash image path in /boot/grub/menu.lst matches a path to a valid .xpm.gz

Oh, and soft links (created by “ln -s” don’t work). Only hard links (use “link” or just plan “ln”).

Just thought I’d let everyone know.
Allan Clark
April 3rd, 2007 @ 12:16 am

OK, I hate to be the guy who asks, but why bother with the link?

splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splashimages/splash.xpm.gz

Doesn’t that work?

Rocks that you posted your howto, it’s cool you’re leading the way, I feel I’m dragging on your coattails a bit, but had to ask. :0(

Allan
Seamus
April 3rd, 2007 @ 1:50 am

Yes I do believe you are all correct about the path to the grub splash image. It probably doesn’t need to be linked. I think it can be a direct path. I think.
But keeping the file name generic like ’splash.xpm.gz’ allows you to avoid opening the menu.lst file every time you want to change splash images. Instead you just rename the file in a terminal or in a file manager. It’s a trifling matter but that’s how I learned to do it.
As for linking it from the grub directory, I thought I had read, at one point, that that was necessary. It might not be. However, when I changed my Gnome splash image, it used a similar link method so I didn’t question it when I was led to believe Grub did likewise. Also, since I pointed to more in depth tutorials, I decided to make my how-to as brief as i thought possible.
Thanks for your comments.
lane
April 3rd, 2007 @ 2:12 am

now that I have the splash image working, it no longer highlights which line i have selected…is there a way to force grub to highlight the selected OS?
Seamus
April 3rd, 2007 @ 3:24 am

That’s odd. It should automatically highlight your default OS and move the highlight when you press the up or down arrow keys. Sounds like there may be a misconfiguration in your menu.lst file… post it here or send it to me via the contact tab above and i’ll take a look … are you on ubuntu?
Jake
April 3rd, 2007 @ 2:30 pm

Worked..
I spelled GRUB incorrectly as GRUP and got it to fail on load two times before i figured it out
Thanx
emanuel
April 7th, 2007 @ 7:09 am

Any way to find a solution for getting a good resolution for a widescreen display ?
I mean using 1280×800 with an mage of 4:3 aspect ratio is boring…
Thanks.
Richard Palmer
April 26th, 2007 @ 7:19 am

Seamus7, I would like to use one of your images with Grub. But I have an initial problem as a newbie to Linux.
Grub is in the MBR on my Laptop. This I use at home coupled to a Viewsonic VP191b monitor. When I boot I cannot read the monitor until it hits the image for the default system. Therefore if I want to select a system I have to use the Laptop’s monitor.
I think that it must be possible to send a screen display instruction during the boot routine so that I can leave the setup as is, but I don’t know how to do this. Please can you help.
Richard
Seamus
April 30th, 2007 @ 9:03 pm

Please note: when using a GRUB splash image, GRUB will by default use a black background for highlighting entries. If you are using a dark splash image, the highlight field will be more difficult to discern. Some may find this annoying. It doesn’t bother me.
Richard Palmer: I’m sorry I have no idea how to help you with that. Have you tried the #ubuntu support channel at irc.freenode.net … someone there will likely be able to help you (eventually). Also, there’s an official #grub support channel at irc.gnu.org but i’m not sure how active it is. Good luck.
Saf
May 14th, 2007 @ 9:38 pm

I got a question maybe you can help me with it. I’m new to all the linux world, 2 days to be exact. So I tried to do this but was a terrible mess ’cause i put wrong the disk part and then when i reboot the system won’t run for this line so i have to start from a live Cd to correct the line. The system run again but keep telling me that it doesn’t find the splash screen and of course doesn’t show it either.
So my question is if this line is correct:
splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
I leave my disk info so you can tell me.
Thanks
_______________________________________________
Disco /dev/hda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 cabezas, 63 sectores/pista, 10011 cilindros
Unidades = cilindros de 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disposit. Inicio Comienzo Fin Bloques Id Sistema
/dev/hda1 * 1 2502 20097283+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 2503 8931 51640942+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/hda3 8932 10011 8675100 83 Linux
/dev/hda5 2503 8876 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6 8877 8931 441756 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Patrick
May 14th, 2007 @ 10:45 pm

Saf,
The splashimage line above seems to be correct but…
* are you using a proper splash image like the ones here?
* is it in /boot/grub/ (linking the image is unnecessary)?
* have you tried using the Grub command line to temporarily try out different settings?
* and did you install Grub to the MBR (Master Boot Record) of your hard disk or is it in its own /boot partition?
* have you tried asking for help on Ubuntu’s IRC channel (#ubuntu) at irc.freenode.net?
Normally, the fix is simple. Finding the specific problem is the challenge. Take a look at Understanding Grub. Good luck.
Mohammed Ayad
May 19th, 2007 @ 9:50 pm

i’m trying to create my own Splash with GIMP under windows btw i save my image as xpm.gz with 14 colors not working with me any help
Seamus
May 19th, 2007 @ 11:21 pm

First save in the .xpm format
Then compress into the .gz format
The image should have an aspect ratio of 4:3
Fintan
June 14th, 2007 @ 1:17 pm

Great tutural, thank you.
Now all I have to do is get rid of the white border around the boot list.
Any ideas?
Cheers
Seamus
June 14th, 2007 @ 6:19 pm

Removing the white border from the grub menu might not be possible. I have surfed a lot of websites regarding the grub menu and none of them listed the white border as optional/removable. You could use a grub image that is mostly white which will allow the white border to blend into the white background… mostly. You might try changing the ‘pretty colors’ section in order to blend the border more closely with the background color of whichever image you use. Sorry I couldn’t be more help. Good luck!
xilu87
June 23rd, 2007 @ 8:16 pm

hi Idont know english… but a litle bit
i have do this what you write but before load the grube bootmenu the groub write dont found the image… and tell me to push a button
what have i do wrong?
I have a SATA Amilo Laptop, Ubuntu and 2 NTFS particion… (windows and for a programs and musics)
heer is the fdisk
szilard@szilard:~$ fdisk
Usage: fdisk [-l] [-b SSZ] [-u] device
E.g.: fdisk /dev/hda (for the first IDE disk)
or: fdisk /dev/sdc (for the third SCSI disk)
or: fdisk /dev/eda (for the first PS/2 ESDI drive)
or: fdisk /dev/rd/c0d0 or: fdisk /dev/ida/c0d0 (for RAID devices)
…
szilard@szilard:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1306 10490413+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 1307 7834 52436160 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 7835 9729 15221587+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 7835 9401 12586896 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9402 9729 2634628+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
szilard@szilard:~$
Will
August 1st, 2007 @ 7:41 am

For widescreen -=- Just create the image at whatever res you prefer (I use 640×400 for mine, true res 1280×800). Then scale the image to 640×480. This will result in stretches when you view it in Gimp or whatever, but Grub should unstretch it. Works for me at least.
aaron
August 2nd, 2007 @ 10:48 am

i’ve made my own image to use, but i can’t archive it as a .gz, it always ends up as a tar.gz, ie, i have splash.xpm.tar.gz instead of splash.xpm.gz. will this work?
Seamus
August 2nd, 2007 @ 2:24 pm

Aaron, Change to the directory of the file then in a terminal do:
gzip splash.xpm
That’s it. To decompress the file do:
gzip -d splash.xpm.gz
GOIIIKA
August 4th, 2007 @ 8:20 am

Everything is possible! Here’s a nice GRUB manual with many small features described in detail:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p15.htm