9 Grub Splash Images

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

The "splashimage" key may be located anywhere, IIRC.

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.

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

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. :)

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?

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?

Worked..
I spelled GRUB incorrectly as GRUP and got it to fail on load two times before i figured it out :D

Thanx

Any way to find a solution for getting a good resolution for a widescreen display ?
I mean using 1280x800 with an mage of 4:3 aspect ratio is boring...
Thanks.

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

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.

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

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. :)

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

First save in the .xpm format

Then compress into the .gz format

The image should have an aspect ratio of 4:3

Great tutural, thank you.
Now all I have to do is get rid of the white border around the boot list.

Any ideas?

Cheers

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!

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:~$

For widescreen -=- Just create the image at whatever res you prefer (I use 640x400 for mine, true res 1280x800). Then scale the image to 640x480. This will result in stretches when you view it in Gimp or whatever, but Grub should unstretch it. Works for me at least.

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?

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

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