[idea] replace usplash with splashy

[foerdi]

What about using "splashy" http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/doku.php instead of usplash?

From the wiki:

"Require zero kernel patches/full functionality in user-space "

"Full LSB support "

"Splashy is easier to install than bootsplash because you don't have to patch the kernel! It gives the same resolution as bootsplash and is themeable! Try it!"

[el_itur]

[edit] I found this thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=41709&highlight=splashy , I will try it and came back to tell you how it plays :)

[mostwanted]

+ 1

[el_itur]

I've managed to install it but I can't make it work properly. Anyway I can't see any advantage in comparison with usplash (remember that they pointed at bootsplash and it's not the same thing).

[cjwatson]

usplash has all the same properties that you cite for splashy here. I think we've put enough work into usplash that replacing it with something else now would be busy-work ...

[el_itur]

that's what I thought . So. thread closed. :)

[Jimmy_r]

usplash has all the same properties that you cite for splashy here. I think we've put enough work into usplash that replacing it with something else now would be busy-work ...

What about these:

Verbose mode (with F2/ESC keys)

Configuration file in XML

It supports millions of colors as well as alpha channels (transparency)

Video mode detection

Really easy to create new themes

Fade in/out effects


Especially the "Easy to create themes" part.
When making a theme requires a makefile and a .c file, you know something is darn wrong.

But of course, keep reinventing the wheel.

And keep putting more work (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UsplashPolishSpec) into Usplash.

Who knows, maybe one day you will have easy to create themes, that can be used on different platforms without recompiling.
Support for more than 256 colors(I do not know much about BOGL: is that possible?)
No need for a usplash.conf with screen resolutions defined.

And then you will be up to speed with Usplash, and we will have another incompatible theme format.

Just one question: If it was not for the work you have put into Usplash, what are the technical reasons for not using Splashy? Is there anything in Usplash that splashy does not have?
Anything Usplash does better?

[AlexenderReez]

What about these:

Verbose mode (with F2/ESC keys)

Configuration file in XML

It supports millions of colors as well as alpha channels (transparency)

Video mode detection

Really easy to create new themes

Fade in/out effects


Especially the "Easy to create themes" part.
When making a theme requires a makefile and a .c file, you know something is darn wrong.

But of course, keep reinventing the wheel.

And keep putting more work (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UsplashPolishSpec) into Usplash.

Who knows, maybe one day you will have easy to create themes, that can be used on different platforms without recompiling.
Support for more than 256 colors(I do not know much about BOGL: is that possible?)
No need for a usplash.conf with screen resolutions defined.

And then you will be up to speed with Usplash, and we will have another incompatible theme format.

Just one question: If it was not for the work you have put into Usplash, what are the technical reasons for not using Splashy? Is there anything in Usplash that splashy does not have?
Anything Usplash does better?

it is sound a little bit cruel .... but from my point of view....i agree with dev .....i believe that we need to concentrate more on creating new creative environment .... and improving what we have now...not to replace it.....i think busy-work that had been mention by dev is add more unnecessary work to ubuntu community especially to developers ....cause this package may bring bug and problem ,and need time to correct it.... and a lot of time had been spend for improving usplash ..... i think spashy is in universal repository right now...so if anybody want it....use it....but don't expect won't get any problem...

[Jimmy_r]

it is sound a little bit cruel .... but from my point of view....i agree with dev .....i believe that we need to concentrate more on creating new creative environment .... and improving what we have now...not to replace it.....i think busy-work that had been mention by dev is add more unnecessary work to ubuntu community especially to developers ....cause this package may bring bug and problem ,and need time to correct it.... and a lot of time had been spend for improving usplash ..... i think spashy is in universal repository right now...so if anybody want it....use it....but don't expect won't get any problem...

Well, that is my concern.

Improving usplash to the point where it will be possible for non-programmers to create themes for it, and where it will have the features offered by splashy, will be a lot of busy-work.
Integrating and fixing a few bugs in splashy should not be nearly as much work, provided that I have not missed any great technological advantage of Usplash.

Edit: I will attach a tarball containing a few files to demonstrate why I consider Usplash theme creating currently for programmers only. Makefile and eft-theme.c could be considered the "Theme files" for a Usplash theme.
theme.xml is for a Splashy theme.
Which wold you rather create a theme for?
And besides that, you will not have to manually write the splashy xml file, there is a command-line tool to do that for you.

Edit 2: Sorry if I sound a bit grumpy, but the duplication of efforts all around linuxland is pissing me off, plus I have an annoying cold.

[Shin_Gouki2501]

Edit 2: Sorry if I sound a bit grumpy, but the duplication of efforts all around linuxland is pissing me off, plus I have an annoying cold.
I agree with on that but since people are free to choose , they often choose heterogene solutions over homogene ya know :)
( Thats a reason why many peopl stick with windows and like it so much, its not a free unity but atleast it is A unity :) )


wbr Shin Gouki

[brim4brim]

I like the idea of Splashy replacing usplash.

[Cirrocco]

Didn't Linus once say that if a process can be done outside of the Kernel it WILL be done outside of the kernel?

splash should just be an app sitting in /boot
fully configurable by the root user.
the kernel should just call the spash function and move on.
that way if the spash is broken or doesn't exist it doesn't matter.

/my 2cents

[justinjstark]

+1 for splashy. It is definitely the better solution.

While it would create some work for the devs, it will prove beneficial in the long run.

[Nukeador]

+1 for splashy :)

[fenrig]

Splashy is the way to go +1 for splashy

[Iandefor]

+1 for splashy. Usplash just doesn't cut it.

[JockeTF]

+ 1 for Splashy, it looks easier to configure and customise.

[el_itur]

+1 for splashy. It is definitely the better solution.

While it would create some work for the devs, it will prove beneficial in the long run.

+1 for splashy :)

Splashy is the way to go +1 for splashy

+1 for splashy. Usplash just doesn't cut it.

+ 1 for Splashy, it looks easier to configure and customise.


Have anyone of you tried it?. I dind't see any difference with usplash. Also it's not a voting, giving +1 to something won't just make it happen.

[dschaefer79]

Hi,

Why not integrate UVESAFB and gensplash in ubuntu ?
http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/

It's much better, on my pc I boot in 1920x1200 !

Dominique Schaefer

[Iandefor]

Have anyone of you tried it?. I dind't see any difference with usplash. I've used it before.

The reason we're for it is because it's more flexible than usplash (you can do more with it) and it's easier to do a custom theme with it- right now, if you want to do a custom theme in usplash, you have to make indexed .pngs of no more than 256 colors, and the progressbar foreground/background .pngs needs to use the same index as the background. Then you have to compile it into a library and make a link at /usr/lib/usplash/usplash-artwork.so to your newly compiled library.

With splashy, you just have to make a few screens (a startup screen and a shutdown screen, and maybe a "dropping into error console" screen), edit a theme configuration file (in XML, no less), and point the splashy configuration file to your new theme. No recompiling needed.

You also have the option of dropping into a console showing you what's happening at any time. Try that with usplash.

Usplash has basically been written from the ground up for Ubuntu and is nowhere near as advanced as other solutions. In other circles, duplication of effort to achieve results inferior to preexisting solutions that work is considered of questionable value.Also it's not a voting, giving +1 to something won't just make it happen.This is the ideas pool. The general idea is to flesh out ideas and see what other people think of them. +1 is a quick way to show support. I like the idea, it makes sense, sounds good, +1. It ain't making it's way into Gutsy, but there's no harm in discussing Gutsy+1.Why not integrate UVESAFB and gensplash in ubuntu ?
http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/ (http://dev.gentoo.org/%7Espock/projects/uvesafb/)

It's much better, on my pc I boot in 1920x1200 ! Looks cool; checking it out now.

[Buffalo Soldier]

+1 vote too. a lot easier and cooler :D

[delfick]

how do we install this ourselves?

[destructchaos]

i personally don't care what splash app is used, so long as it's just a single edit in /boot/grub/menu.lst to turn it off. i'll stick to watching the text scroll instead of guessing what's going on in the background. not to mention, any kind of splash is a pointless waste of resources, but by all means, continue to enjoy your slower boot times. i think the text is prettier anyways.

[smartboyathome]

Actually, I thought the TEXT made it boot slower. Not sure though.

[Iandefor]

how do we install this ourselves?It's currrently broken in Feisty for various reasons (for some reason, when /etc/inittab was ripped out of Ubuntu, the various splashy scripts that depended on it were never updated to reflect the change, for instance, and it doesn't seem to want to work with Ubuntu's framebuffer). I haven't tested it in Gutsy, but I have a feeling that the changes necessary to make it functional again (it was just working in Dapper) are smaller than the changes necessary to make usplash anywhere near as trivial to use.

[delfick]

It's currrently broken in Feisty for various reasons (for some reason, when /etc/inittab was ripped out of Ubuntu, the various splashy scripts that depended on it were never updated to reflect the change, for instance, and it doesn't seem to want to work with Ubuntu's framebuffer). I haven't tested it in Gutsy, but I have a feeling that the changes necessary to make it functional again (it was just working in Dapper) are smaller than the changes necessary to make usplash anywhere near as trivial to use.

so is it possible to fix in feisty, or as i interpret from that, it isn't??

[Iandefor]

so is it possible to fix in feisty, or as i interpret from that, it isn't??Actually, I just managed to make it work on Feisty. The problem is mostly that splashy's configuration has been poorly maintained, so you have to hack one or two things to make it work.

In case you're curious, here's what I did:

Set ENABLE_INITRAMFS to equal 1 in /etc/default/splashy, and then rebuilt initramfs with sudo update-initramfs -u -t -k `uname -r` Those last two steps aren't necessary, but apparently incorporating it into initramfs makes it come up faster. I didn't actually notice any difference when it came up, though.
I made line 68 of /etc/init.d/splashy read
RLVL=2As opposed to RLVL=`sed -n 's/id:\([2345]\):initdefault:/\1/ p' /etc/inittab`It's a dirty hack but it will work for the moment. Then I added vga=792 to the kernel options for my default Ubuntu entry in /boot/grub/menu.lst.

without vga=792, splashy absolutely will not work. It will just break in the lamest of ways. vga=791 will work, too, but vga=792 gives you a much higher color index. Right now I haven't worked out a way to make it track boot progress accurately. Will come up with something.

[delfick]

is splashy itself already installed?

[Iandefor]

is splashy itself already installed?No, but it's in Universe. It apparently conflicts with usplash, so you'll have to remove usplash, too.

sudo apt-get --purge remove usplash*
sudo apt-get install splashy splashy-themes Should do the trick.

Looking at it some more, I think it may need a little more tweaking than I've already given it to really work correctly. It doesn't accurately keep track of the bootup process, even when the correct default runlevel is given and it doesn't quit when GDM starts. If it's not dead when GDM starts then it interferes a wee bit with the screen (little green cursor on top of the screen).
I'll rewrite my process with some more info.

[delfick]

No, but it's in Universe. It apparently conflicts with usplash, so you'll have to remove usplash, too.
Should do the trick.

Looking at it some more, I think it may need a little more tweaking than I've already given it to really work correctly. It doesn't accurately keep track of the bootup process, even when the correct default runlevel is given and it doesn't quit when GDM starts. If it's not dead when GDM starts then it interferes a wee bit with the screen (little green cursor on top of the screen).
I'll rewrite my process with some more info.

ok then........

i'll think i'll wait untill someone (you ? :D) come up with a sure way of installing it....i only recently reinstalled linux because my tinkering was starting to cause some problems....

[amano]

Since I didn't get the impression that usplash development was either high priority nor very ambitious, I would vote to scrap it and move to a more ambitious existing solution.

See https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/usplash-polish : 'Priority: Low".
And Low priority things don't tend to increase priority over time. At least this is my experience with software projects.

The only change within the last year was from the verbose way in dapper to the Windows-XP-a-like in efty, feisty and gutsy (so far).

Most other distributions have at least a bootsplash which can switch between Quiet and verbose.

[xopher]

I totally agree with amano, and the starter of this thread.

USplash isn't enough for us. It's not simple enough either.

Why not replace it with something better?

Oh, and why did we 'copy' the loading screen (layout) from Windows XP? A full screen, high resolution screen would look better -- and if we'd replace the useless progress bar with eg. icons for what it's actually loading, then it'd even make more sense.

And the inability to switch to verbose isn't a positive mark either -- oh, and when eg. fsck runs in the middle of the boot process -- usplash gets turned off, and we see the raw verbose mode. That's not what we want right? People who don't know what fsck is might see it as an error, or as a sign of instability and inconsistency..

Just my 20 cents :rolleyes:

[oomingmak]

I totally agree with amano, and the starter of this thread. USplash isn't enough for us. It's not simple enough either.

Why not replace it with something better?
Indeed.


Since I didn't get the impression that usplash development was either high priority nor very ambitious, I would vote to scrap it and move to a more ambitious existing solution.
I agree.

Given that other more important features get pushed back due to time constraints, then I don't see how a low priority 'cosmetic' issue like this will get attended to any time soon. Why continue with this situation when a simpler and more flexible alternative is already available?

I understand that a significant amount of work has been done on Usplash, but if that's the sole reason for sticking with it, then it sounds like a case of throwing good money after bad to me.

[Regenwald]

yeah, i read the splashy's doc and i have to say that i'm very impressed. i can just quote this blueprint (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SlickBoot):

Simon's computer rapidly switches between the splash screen, a black screen, a flashing cursor, a brown screen and finally the login screen on boot. This makes him feel that the operating system is unprofessional.
*

Matthew's monitor takes a couple of seconds to switch between different modes. The multiple mode switches in the current boot sequence make him nervous.
*

When Rodger shuts down his machine, the progress bar appears to stop and then the screen goes blank. He panics and believes the machine has crashed, when in fact this is normal.

think about it, according to their website, you need not to change soo much..

[m10]

+1
the ubuntu team is reinventing the weel with uspalsh
who had the stupid idea to start working on it?
we're in the open source community(and not in the closed source were everything has to be reinvented) aren't we?
sorry for the rude tone but i just can't understand...

[smartboyathome]

+1
the ubuntu team is reinventing the weel with uspalsh
who had the stupid idea to start working on it?
we're in the open source community(and not in the closed source were everything has to be reinvented) aren't we?
sorry for the rude tone but i just can't understand...

My guess is that the reason they are doing this is because they want something that will better integrate with Ubuntu.

[FuturePilot]

My guess is that the reason they are doing this is because they want something that will better integrate with Ubuntu.

True, Usplash is very integrated into the system.

[n00bWillingToLearn]

Is there any official project page for usplash? Any official reason why it was even started in the first place? Has anyone found even one advantage to usplash over splashy?

This is incredably confusing to me. Is it reasonable to contact the package maintainer ( Matthew Garrett? ) to inquire about this? I have a bad feeling that Ubuntu will continue to use Usplash for years to come and that nobody ( not even the developers? ) knows quite why other seemingly better alternatives are not being used.

[lemsx1]

Hello,

I'm the Splashy main devel (so my opinion is biased).

A bit of history for you guys:

* We created the debsplash port of bootsplash on Alioth so that Debian can have a native boot splash package. That project was quickly replaced with gensplash's patch (gentoo for those of you who don't know). And we abandon that as well

* Ubuntu and the now Splashy developers started working together on usplash. Back then it was a C++ program that people liked, but needed improvement. We switched the code to C and the project developers split (creating other forks like upower)

* Ubuntu devels took the bogl (blotch) code and rename it "usplash" and asked us to switch the name from usplash to something else. We chose "Splashy" (my inspiration). And we went our separate ways.

* Usplash, because of the library is built on, requires a bit more knowledge from the developers in order to do simple things as change themes or add new features. Splashy is fully configurable from 2 XML files and mostly all features can be turn on or off at will.

Now, with that in mind. I don't think it makes sense for Ubuntu developers to replace usplash with Splashy. Not yet at least. People who want Splashy on their systems can simply do: apt-get install splashy. And they will get a program that replaces usplash and works out-of-the-box.

Other major Linux distributions are using, or have plans to use, Splashy as their main boot splash system. To name a few: OpenSuSE, Xandros, SuSE, Fedora, and of course, Debian. All have shown interest in making Splashy their boot splash system of choice.

The only reason why I think it's better to simply use Splashy for Ubuntu and not any other system, is for the same reason that Beryl and Compiz projects got united into one: avoid wasting resources. All Linux distros use the same kernel (modified a bit), so Splashy will work correctly for all of them without the need to modifying any other part of the OS. To do the same with Usplash requires a bit more effort and testing from them. So, if we can get all the developers to unite under one umbrella, Splashy bugs will be iron out in days instead of weeks or months, and new features will find their way onto the product faster; which will benefit everybody, end-users, developers and the like.

So there you have it. Usplash is a subset of Splashy that works well for Ubuntu. However, Splashy is a more feature rich, elegantly coded app, with a very well organized team of developers, that works for ALL Linux distros with minimal changes from the distro (a few scripts to calculate progress steps and you are done, or simply support LSB and you are done).

Hope that helps put an end to this thread...

You can join Splashy and find out more about it from:

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org
#splashy on irc.freenode.net

Ubuntu Gutsy (test) packages:
http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/ubuntu

[veratyr]

+1

I remember saying this exact same thing back when we first got usplash. I always thought splashy themes were much nicer and they at least gave me the option for verbose. I can remember most people in the ubuntu community were divided over if there should be text or no text at boot. A perfect option was available all along in other distros. F2 for verbose please.

[moritz]

+1

because usplash is too hard to configure

[smartboyathome]

I am using Splashy now (the debs from the site), and it is great!

[derrywang]

＋1

[hexion]

I've read the whole thread, and I want to contribute with my point of view.

It seems obvious for me that, given those facts described in this thread, Ubuntu should drop usplash and install splashy.

But there's something no one said..
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the Ubuntu devs themselves the developers of usplash?
So, we have a simpler and working solution out there, with its own devel team... planned to be used widely for several other distros.... and Ubuntu keeps on WASTING efforts in programming an alternative application which is currenly less advanced than the other out there and that will be used only by Ubuntu????

Well, I think Ubuntu devs have better things to do than reinventing the wheel.

[smartboyathome]

I've read the whole thread, and I want to contribute with my point of view.

It seems obvious for me that, given those facts described in this thread, Ubuntu should drop usplash and install splashy.

But there's something no one said..
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the Ubuntu devs themselves the developers of usplash?
So, we have a simpler and working solution out there, with its own devel team... planned to be used widely for several other distros.... and Ubuntu keeps on WASTING efforts in programming an alternative application which is currenly less advanced than the other out there and that will be used only by Ubuntu????

Well, I think Ubuntu devs have better things to do than reinventing the wheel.

Splashy is now offering packages for Gutsy, so you can install it and remove usplash until Ubuntu does replace Usplash and/or works on it to make it more feature rich than Splashy.

[hexion]

Splashy is now offering packages for Gutsy, so you can install it and remove usplash until Ubuntu does replace Usplash and/or works on it to make it more feature rich than Splashy.

The main point of my post was not the software I have or haven't installed in my box. Fortunatelly my newbie times are far and I know how to do it ;)
An example in this line is that I compile and use my own kernel (after testing Ubuntu's one to file bugs), but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in what decisions Ubuntu devs take about the kernel policy.

What I was trying to say is that there's a huge amount of work to do in Ubuntu to make things work together... so spending part of that time in developing usplash is a waste of resources, giving the fact that the developers of usplash are Ubuntu devs themselves.

[amano]

The latest news from the Splashy homepage sound interesting:
Sep 28, 2007 Usplash or Splashy on Ubuntu? Follow this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3440101#post3440101)

Sep 24, 2007 Splashy works from initramfs on Ubuntu Gutsy. Now we have a page dedicated to Splashy on Ubuntu (http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/ubuntu)


This very thread is the one being referenced :popcorn:

[amano]

Spec Proposal:

Summary:
Move from usplash to splashy

Scope and Use cases:
Gustl experiences a boot problem. But he cannot see the error message because he cannot turn on verbose mode on the fly.

Rationale:
Splashy is actively developed and maintained. It has more features than its ancestor usplash. And maintaining an own splash system means doubling open source development resources which could be spent in better ways. Better help the splashy people.

Implementation Plan:
Make the splashy packages the default and integrate them tightly with upstart.

[DizzyTech]

Perfect stuff. Glad I got it moved, I think it's an important issue.

[brickbat]

+1 Eye candy and outside the kernel - a no-brainer

[Zdravko]

I don't see why would we ever need to change something working with this ?

[DizzyTech]

USplash has always been reinvention of the wheel. Now the team wants to put even more work into it to add verbose mode and whatnot... all stuff Splashy already has, and has had.

[smartboyathome]

I have been using splashy's experimental packages, and I think that it is WAY better than Usplash and WAY easier to theme (all it needs is a GUI >.<).

[Zdravko]

Okay.

[amano]

I don't even get the impression that there is much development done with usplash. There has been a spec assigned to Dennis Kaarsemaker but none of the goals of this "usplash polish" spec went into gutsy.

https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/usplash-polish

Note that spashy is already mentioned in the spec. Maybe they told Dennis to stop his work due to a potential splashy inclusion.

[screaminj3sus]

Okay.

Holy one word post batman!

[veratyr]

ignore this...double post

[Xbehave]

will either ever support encrypted root prompts?

[smartboyathome]

will either ever support encrypted root prompts?

I don't know, but splashy SHOULD allow for a prompt to be built in to the splash where specified.

[theparag0n]

+1

I spent the whole of yesterday trying to make a custom usplash theme work, today i found splashy, read around their wiki, installed it, made my theme and had it running within an hour!

[delfick]

^ cool :D

wanna share ? :D

[theparag0n]

Its for a work project, so i cant give you the actual files, but i can give you a run through.

install splashy from apt
apt-get install splashy splashy-themes

test it works with the default theme:
splashy test

Make your bootup / shutdown / standby / resume / error images.
mine are 1024x768 RGB PNG files. (default GIMP settings)

Grab the font you want to use for your text (i used splashy's default FreeSans.ttf font) and put it in the same folder as your images.

run the theme creation wizard:
splashy_config -c

And give it the information it asks for.

then just tell splashy to use your new theme:
splashy_config -s your_theme_name

and test it!
splashy test

Hopefully this should help!

If you want to edit your theme, it can be found in /etc/splashy/themes/YOURTHEMENAME/

[amano]

Since the splashy developers are monitoring this thread:

Could you please update the roadmap on your website?

What are the current changes and what are the things that need to be fixed next?

[amano]

Reading this spec which is scheduled for Boston tomorrow, it doesn't seem that they are even considering splashy: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/boot-messages

:(

At least the boot process will probably be investigate on the summit, eg: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/hardy-boot-process, maybe they change their minds when doing that.

[BlueSkyNIS]

+1 for splashy, usplash just doesn't cut it. :(

[foerdi]

The only reason why I think it's better to simply use Splashy for Ubuntu and not any other system, is for the same reason that Beryl and Compiz projects got united into one: avoid wasting resources.

Perhaps you guys should unite, too.

[lemsx1]

Ok. I'll update our roadmap; however, you can quickly see what we are doing from here:

TODO:

http://git.debian.org/?p=splashy/splashy.git;a=blob;f=TODO;h=1810ebafc68e4d98d8c5ce 23d409d7f639ac95f2;hb=HEAD

NEWS:

http://git.debian.org/?p=splashy/splashy.git;a=blob;f=NEWS;h=c65ad5cc6e0792bb3e89b0 5d362c1944b42bf9e6;hb=HEAD

I had to move the GL stuff to 0.4 ;-) I still want to see a fire-breathing Penguin in 3D when I boot my system. I might even put a M$ logo being blasted with flames, just for fun.

[lemsx1]

A nice list of why Splashy exists (old but good):

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/about

Splashy is a next generation boot splashing system for Linux systems. Unlike other splashing systems, it needs no patches to the kernel and it's installed like a normal package. Make your boot process eye-candy with Splashy!

Some of Splashy's most noticable features include:

* Require zero kernel patches/full functionality in user-space
* Boot/halt/reboot/runlevel-switch support
* Progressbar support (with optional border)
* Verbose mode (with F2/ESC keys)
* Configuration file in XML
* Cope with any video-mode resolution/size
* Cope with 8, 16, and 24 bit framebuffers
* Alpha channel (transparency) support
* Video mode detection
* Initramfs support
* TrueType2 fonts support
* Lots of image/animation file formats supported: jpg, png, gif, mpg, swf
* Low dependencies and code in C to best perform
* Full LSB support
* Multiple themes support
* Really easy to create new themes
* X detection on exit
* Smooth progressbar movement
* Animations support
* Fade in/out effects
* Totally configurable

[smartboyathome]

There is also a splashy theme creator being developed now, so no more buggy Usplash theme creation!
http://opendesktop.org/content/show.php/SplashyCreator?content=67621

[Progressive]

Splashy sounds like a great idea for Hardy. Modularity is key, and all the other features of splashy are just icing on the cake.

All the proposals to "polish" usplash are just re-inventing the wheel. I thought the great thing about open source was that is no longer necessary!

[mysticmatrix]

I just installed Splashy and said
"OMG IS booting up such a fun !!"

Hey, I would like upsplash to work but why reinvent the wheel if something out there already exists.

May be developers know better why Splashy is not a good alternative....

+1 for Splashy (Can we have a poll?)

[tubasoldier]

I read this whole thread.

First of all to the developer who commented in the beginning: We obviously would like splashy. At least consider it.

To the splashy developers: Thank You.

I have always thought USplash Sucked! I would rather use the old bootsplash that ran in the kernel. I have spent days trying to make custom Usplash themes for myself and for my wife. It just plain blows.

Splashy is great. Themes are easy to make and install. More importantly splashy gives users more choice about what they see when they boot up, which is why I vote yes for it. I also think verbose mode is important. It is hard to know what is going on with USplash putting its ugly A$$ in the way.

[timbobsteve]

Honestly, after spending 2 weeks trying to get a usplash theme to work, I have given up completely on usplash. Any beautifying system that requires a theme developre to understand the actual code itself is just plain rediculous. If you stand back and look at what usplash is supposed to achieve (friendly interface for bootup) you would see that it fails miserably. Usplash really shoots itself in the foot by making it so hard to theme.

Also the lack of high-resolution/bitsperpixel is really a let down. I have heard the argument that it is to keep backwards compatibility with older systems (or something like that) and it is BS. Splashy/Bootsplash/Gensplash/uboot all work on older systems. So I don't think that is a good enough reason.

If the devs think that usplash is something they don't want to let go of, fine, but please, please, if you are going to keep it then DEVELOP IT! Don't just leave it as is, because right now it is not cutting the mustard!


With all that said... I am off to install Splashy and finally get my Custom boot-splashscreen working!
[/rant]

[smartboyathome]

If the devs think that usplash is something they don't want to let go of, fine, but please, please, if you are going to keep it then DEVELOP IT! Don't just leave it as is, because right now it is not cutting the mustard!

This is a statement I don't agree with. Usplash is trying to reinvent the wheel (like many have said) and it is doing no good. I have used the Ubuntu splashy theme, and it is 10x better than the usplash one. Please, don't keep it when there is a better alternative.

[bash]

+1 for splashy as default

[ssokolow]

+1 for splashy as default.

Not every *buntu user (my mother, brother, and a friend use Kubuntu without dual-booting) has a Gentoo user (me) who can discover and install Splashy for them.

[kragen]

I havent had a chance to try it out yet (I've installed it from the repositories, and added vga=791 or whatever to my kernel, but for some reasons nada happens - usplash just comes up instead). However my comments are:

1) What about compatability? Does splashy work on all systems that usplash works on?

2) I'd prefer to see a more seamless version of usplash (ala the Seamless Boot blueprint - https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/slick-boot) than I would see a slightly more customisable version of what we already have.

3) Finally, as is the case with all customisation - if your interested in customisation enough, then you can install the alternative packages yourself anyway - the default package should be the one which is most suitable for people who dont want to customise as much. (Dont change to usplash just because its more customisable)

[quidpro]

I also tried several times last night to get Splashy working in Gutsy. No joy. usplash doesn't want to let go, and I'm afraid to get too aggressive as I like a booting system :) I'm still very interested, though.

Smartboy, you seem to have it working, yes? Any chance you could post your procedure? Did you remove usplash and ubuntu-usplash-theme in order for Splashy to work?

Splashy is much more appealing to me in that the resolutions are there, and the simplicity seems to be there (xml).

I don't understand...some posters think if it is easily customized then it should NOT be the default? That doesn't make sense to me. Most of the system is easily customized...

[foerdi]

I tried to get attention of devs for this thread, but it seems they don't want to change it...

Additionally, when discussing with a dev, he told me that it's better for him when he can hack the usplash-stuff in C.. he says, he doesn't need xml..

I think it would be the best idea to unite both, splashy and usplash - but the guys don't want to simplify their work.
They still want to do some more work on usplash: fsck, verbose mode, encryption key, etc.. "polish" :lolflag:

A real programmers guide...
no docs, no simple stuff, just programming to the bare metal

[smartboyathome]

Smartboy, you seem to have it working, yes? Any chance you could post your procedure? Did you remove usplash and ubuntu-usplash-theme in order for Splashy to work?

I did get it to work, though not with the packages in the repository. I will post the procedure here:

1. Download the packages from here (http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/).
2. Remove Usplash using Synaptic (Splashy cannot be installed with Usplash on the system, unfortunately :().
3. Install Splashy using the package you downloaded.
4. Enjoy!

[sicofante]

+1

[quidpro]

2. Remove Usplash using Synaptic (Splashy cannot be installed with Usplash on the system, unfortunately ).

My only prob here is that Synaptic wants to remove the ubuntu-desktop package. :(

[smartboyathome]

Its OK for now to remove ubuntu-desktop, just remember to reinstall it before you upgrade to hardy.

[foerdi]

46 to 7... nice votes

[jaybombalous]

as far as I can tell usplash doesn't even work on my computer. :frown:


not real impressed with usplash at all. That is ubuntu's lowest point. Makes it look second quality at best when I have to fiddle around just to get it to print something to the screen. Black screen is just as annoying as a blue screen...

[jaybombalous]

wtf, now I am pissed. Why can't I un-install usplash and keep my ubuntu-desktop? Or vice versa, why can't I install ubuntu-desktop and not un-install usplash?

I wanna use splashy so whats the fix?

[smartboyathome]

You can always apt-get source ubuntu desktop, change it so usplash isn't a dependancy, and then package it again. Check out Ubuntu's packaging guide (section 2.2) for more tips on how to edit it.

This would only be a temporary fix, though, so I would recommend uninstalling Ubuntu-desktop (its only a meta-package anyway).

[ingo]

I installed splashy 0.3.7 (running on Kubuntu 7.10) and created a theme called test. I set it as the standard and rebooted, taking care to add vga=791 to the grub kernel line.

After having pressed b to boot the selected kernel the default penguin flickers on the screen, disappears and the orange progress bar appears instead.

I'm a bit flummoxed 'cos I didn't expect to see the penguin but my test scheme and secondly because he flickers uncertainly before he makes way to the progress bar.

Am I doing something stupid?

Any help much appreciated!

[drf_av]

Note: when you change theme to splashy, you need to update your initramfs.
After issuing "sudo update-initramfs -u" new themes work for me. I'm quite pleased with Splashy, but I prefer having usplash and new killer features in Hardy :D.

Anyway remember you can always test your current splashy theme by issuing "splashy test" from command line.

[ingo]

Thanks for your reply.

I've done all that but no joy. The splashy test works fine. Amazing considering that splashy doesn't want to know me otherwise...

Will try usplash over the weekend. Not as pretty, not as flexible but who knows, it may work...

[smartboyathome]

Note: when you change theme to splashy, you need to update your initramfs.
After issuing "sudo update-initramfs -u" new themes work for me. I'm quite pleased with Splashy, but I prefer having usplash and new killer features in Hardy :D.

Anyway remember you can always test your current splashy theme by issuing "splashy test" from command line.

What features are you talking about? I didn't know many features were going into it at all in hardy.

[drf_av]

You misunderstood my answer. I meant that ok, splash boot screen might be important, but I think that main focus should be on some more important features. I wasn't talking about new features in usplash, but in the whole distro :D

[smartboyathome]

It wouldn't take much time to do, but I agree that this shouldn't be on the top of the priority list for hardy, or even the middle of it. ;)

[lemsx1]

Well,

We have good news for you guys.

Splashy 0.3.7 is around the corner and it will have a ton of new things. Our goal has been to be as flexible (and bug free) as possible. And to give you the most features that you can get in a single (small) binary.

Splashy is now being used by many of the big distros (Xandros, Mandriva, SuSE etc... are just a few) and bootsplash(.org) was deprecated in favor of Splashy.

Among the things that you will see in upcoming 0.3.7 are:

- international support (translations are here!)
- initramfs out-of-the-box (directfb bugs iron-out and submitted upstream)
- graphical configuration tool (gsplashy rocks)

We also added support for all the commands supported by usplash. Which means that you can save "splashy_update" as "usplash-update" and be done with "integration". In other words, Splashy is a drop-in replacement for usplash. However, I won't advise people to do that (just yet).

We do want people who are interested in testing to drop by #splashy on irc.freenode.net and provide some feedback.

A good place to start is:
http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/developers#notes_on_operating_systems

I've been doing some Ubuntu testing packages and putting them on our Alioth project page. These are NOT production packages, just for people who like to test things first and don't mind the occasional breakage... Now, I do use these packages myself on all my Ubuntu Gutsy systems (without modifying any of the initrc scripts or anything else from Ubuntu). So, you can be assure that they work as promised.

Hope to see you on #splashy then!

[ingo]

hope you keep us updated and send a link (perhaps already now if you are using it successfully) to the deb file...

[sicofante]

It wouldn't take much time to do, but I agree that this shouldn't be on the top of the priority list for hardy, or even the middle of it. ;)
That depends only on what are the priorities of the Ubuntu team. If polishing the OS to gain significant market share is one of them, this should be at the top of the list.

[drf_av]

That depends only on what are the priorities of the Ubuntu team. If polishing the OS to gain significant market share is one of them, this should be at the top of the list.

I have to disagree here. Mac OSX, which I think is the state of the art in Desktop beauty, has a splash screen that is just as odd as the actual usplash. Win XP, same thing. After all, is something you just have to see for a bunch of seconds. While you see all the time your theme, now that should be really polished... :roll:

[ingo]

So, you can be assure that they work as promised.

Hope to see you on #splashy then!Well, just come from there and installed the 0.3.7 packages (first the lib, then the programme, then the lib dev) onto a pristine 10.07 kubuntu gutsy setup which had usplash removed first. Unfortunately I still get Splashy ERROR: Couldn't splashy_start_splashy(). Error -2when I want to test splashy. I feel like I am just missing something...

[ingo]

Having said that, splashy worked!!! :lolflag::guitar::lolflag:

All I did was put vga=791 at the end of the kernel line and removed the fourth line saying "quiet" so that my kubuntu entry looks as followstitle Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd1,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=xxthisstupidbloodylongcodeinsteadof/dev/sdb10xx ro quiet splash vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-genericNow for some serious tweaking...


Interesting fact: on first boot I had a time out and CTRL ALT DEL brough up kdm - on second boot straight into kdm

[smartboyathome]

By the way, remember to update your initramfs before changing themes, otherwise it will act a little buggy. You can update it by running the following command:

update-initramfs -u -t -k `uname -r`

[ingo]

Mac OSX, which I think is the state of the art in Desktop beauty, has a splash screen that is just as odd as the actual usplash. Win XP, same thing.And it so happens they are both proprietary and nothing can be changed. One aspect of Linux is about fun, about being able to change things yourself.

Also, together with splashy and remastersys anybody can make their own distro!!! Now that is exciting...

BTW, remastersys also obliviates the need for backups 'cos it enables you to back up your _whole system_ in the form of an installable live CD!!!

[smartboyathome]

[off-topic]In reply to your statement about remastersys, I find that if you have a lot of stuff on your disk (like I do) you won't be able to back it up to a CD or even a DVD. So that can't be the "perfect" solution, but it is one of them[/off-topic]

Splashy does make it easier to change stuff, but until the GUI is released, it is just as good as usplash to a newb (as a newb wouldn't want to touch a terminal anyway).

[drf_av]

And it so happens they are both proprietary and nothing can be changed. One aspect of Linux is about fun, about being able to change things yourself.

Also, together with splashy and remastersys anybody can make their own distro!!! Now that is exciting...

BTW, remastersys also obliviates the need for backups 'cos it enables you to back up your _whole system_ in the form of an installable live CD!!!

Yes, after all, installing splashy isn't that hard, and anyone can have what he likes. So it's not a matter of what will be default, because remember that beauty is a really subjective topic. Most of my friends still prefer usplash instead of my new shiny splashy. But, you know, this is the beauty of open source software, and this beauty is not subjective :guitar:

[lemsx1]

[off-topic]In reply to your statement about remastersys, I find that if you have a lot of stuff on your disk (like I do) you won't be able to back it up to a CD or even a DVD. So that can't be the "perfect" solution, but it is one of them[/off-topic]

Splashy does make it easier to change stuff, but until the GUI is released, it is just as good as usplash to a newb (as a newb wouldn't want to touch a terminal anyway).

Gsplashy and a new Qsplashy are in the works and will be released with 0.3.7.

Gsplashy is more mature and it just works. It's based on GTK library.

Qsplashy is a project that spawn out of the jealousy of having Gsplashy, and I have to say I'm very impressed on how it looks and the fact that it just works!

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/developers#subprojects for those of you interested in reading about it ... (and experimenting with it before release).

[ingo]

So far those links do not contain an awful log :D But you lot are doing great work! Any ideas on the release date?

[23meg]

Matthew Garrett has a comment:

http://mjg59.livejournal.com/78284.html

[smartboyathome]

Break Suspend/Hibernate? I thought it was already broken on a lot of systems. :p

Anyway, I haven't experienced any "major" problems with Splashy yet (though I haven't tried suspending or hibernating since i am on an external hard drive), but as soon as I get my new internal drive into my lappy, I will try it and see if it works (heck, I may try it with the external drive just to see if it works).

[23meg]

Breaking it on even more systems wouldn't be desirable, would it?

[smartboyathome]

Probably not ;)

[stoffe]

Matthew Garrett has a comment:

http://mjg59.livejournal.com/78284.html

IMO that makes Splashy a non-option until it behaves at least as well as Usplash. But since Usplash manages to behave (although via hackish methods) the Splashy devs could do the same and then ask again.

[lemsx1]

Breaking it on even more systems wouldn't be desirable, would it?

Umm... I don't use suspend/hibernate myself, but Tim, one of the Splashy devels, does. And he's the package maintainer for both Splashy and Uswsusp (aka suspend).

http://packages.debian.org/sid/uswsusp

As you can see, suspend calls functions from libsplashy1 directly, so it can show a progressbar when going into suspend and coming out of suspend. Splashy themes already supports images for this.

I'm not sure what's broken about that (or if it works for most/all people). But, if i breaks for some of you, just file bugs against Splashy and/or Uswsusp. We don't ignore bugs.

I'm one of those people who don't reboot often, but when I do, I dislike seeing ugly text while the system boots. We started the usplash project to solve this issue and we yield the name "usplash" to Ubuntu to avoid confusing users (In fact, usplash was supposed to be the name of the specification, not the binary itself, but... now it's done). (See more about this here http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/history). To me it does not matter which option is chosen, for as long as it works. (I use usplash on some of my ubuntu systems)

Now, we continue with Splashy because it's more feature rich (and flexible) and it does a better job at presenting the users with a better booting/shutting down experience. Splashy is also distro agnostic. So, it matters to us when the ArchLinux, RPath (1 devel is part of splashy), SuSE, Mandriva, Xandros (1 devel constantly send patches to splashy), Mepis, Gentoo (1 devel part of splashy), Slackware (1 devel part of splashy), plus other distros, write to us saying that they just love the elegance of Splashy :-)

At some point we'll attempt to merge both projects. For now, Splashy just does everything usplash does (with the same commands) and it does so while giving you full resolution support, XML configuration files, easier theme management, and a lot of other things.

We are getting closer to release 0.3.7, which will bring a lot of things to the table. Sorry that I don't have a timeline at the moment, but we are just waiting for a single package to be uploaded to Debian Sid so we can move forward with packages. (Sources are release no matter what to the Alioth project, but, Splashy is developed mainly on Debian/Ubuntu and patches we submit upstream to directfb need to be digested by the debian developers so we can compile against the patched directfb libs).

Hope that keeps things clear... As far as I know, Splashy works with suspend.

[ingo]

Glad you put the record straight again, lmsx1

[23meg]

As you can see, suspend calls functions from libsplashy1 directly, so it can show a progressbar when going into suspend and coming out of suspend. Splashy themes already supports images for this.

I'm not sure what's broken about that (or if it works for most/all people).

As I understand, uswsusp is for userspace software suspend, and isn't even installed by default in Ubuntu, so it doesn't have anything to do with Splashy (allegedly) breaking suspend.

Hope that keeps things clear... As far as I know, Splashy works with suspend.

I wasn't making a case against or for Splashy myself; my post was in response to smartboyathome's "I thought it was already broken on a lot of systems" comment, and based on Garrett's comment which I linked to, which was written in repsonse to a blog post by a Splashy developer. (http://fboudra.free.fr/wordpress/?p=7)

If you argue that his comment is not entirely true, you should perhaps get your argument across to him directly, maybe by posting a comment on the blog post. And if or when it's your intention to push Splashy as a replacement, in case you don't know (you probably do), you should write a blueprint and/or start a discussion on the ups and downs of using Splashy in one of the development mailing lists; discussing it on the forums won't really accomplish anything.

[sicofante]

discussing it on the forums won't really accomplish anything.
Wrong. Discussing it in the forums will make users aware of what's going on and what they can demand from the developers. It's the developers fault not to watch these forums, not the other way round. Ubuntu is a privately sponsored endeavour. If it wants to succeed they better listen to their users where their users want to speak, which happen to be these forums. (This has been discussed ad nauseam and I don't want to start a flame over the issue.)

I thank you, lemsx1, not only for being part of the Splashy initiative but also for descending to these forums where mere mortals talk about their issues with Ubuntu and explain what Splashy can do that Usplash can't. Thank you very much and please keep us posted.

[23meg]

Wrong. Discussing it in the forums will make users aware of what's going on and what they can demand from the developers.

Sure, that's what it will do, so let me apologize and correct my wording: you can't possibly include Splashy in Ubuntu by just discussing the ups and downs of it on the forums; you'll have to post to an über-secret mailing list and some obscure website called Launchpad where an elite clan of developers hold secret rituals in which they sacrifice forum users before discussing new features.

[sicofante]

I see you're an Ubuntu Member, 23meg. While I don't know exactly what that means, I sincerely hope people paid by Mr. Shuttleworth know what I'm talking about. If you believe ordinary users should be forced to use the developers tools and not the other way round and you have any serious responsibility in the development or marketing of Ubuntu, then I'm very sorry for this project.

[23meg]

My post was in reply to lemsx1, who's a developer for an upstream project, not an ordinary user, and my intention was to inform them on what they should to as an upstream developer if they intend to have their software integrated. Every distro has different policies, processes and venues of communication for this kind of thing, and I don't expect every upstream developer to be 100% sure of what exactly to do for every distro, so I thought it might be useful. I was a bit off with the wording, and I corrected that.

[Spacebaboon]

Having said that, splashy worked!!! :lolflag::guitar::lolflag:

All I did was put vga=791 at the end of the kernel line and removed the fourth line saying "quiet" so that my kubuntu entry looks as followstitle Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd1,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=xxthisstupidbloodylongcodeinsteadof/dev/sdb10xx ro quiet splash vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-genericNow for some serious tweaking...


Interesting fact: on first boot I had a time out and CTRL ALT DEL brough up kdm - on second boot straight into kdm

I'm in the same boat, but with fewer paddles, or something!

on a cleanish Gutsy Kubuntu, used Adept to remove usplash before adding Splashy, Splashy Themes, and splashyl or whatever the library is called.

I've added the fingerprint theme, and set the config to use that. and I've updated my menu.lst to have exactly the same options as your example.

But I just get a black screen when booting up / shutting down. and the same error message when I try running sudo splashy test in a terminal.
which is 'Splashy ERROR: Couldn't splashy_start_splashy(). Error -2'

Any ideas, anyone?

[smartboyathome]

By the way, remember to update your initramfs before changing themes, otherwise it will act a little buggy. You can update it by running the following command:

update-initramfs -u -t -k `uname -r`

Try the terminal command in this comment, spacebaboon.

[ingo]

I'm in the same boat, but with fewer paddles, or something!Which paddles did you use? The ones that came with the (K)Ubuntu boat (don't ask me why they put them in there 'cos they've got holes in them) or the extra special fast 0.3.7 ones?

[Jimmy_r]

For those of you having problems, here are the exact steps I used to get a working splashy installed under 32-bit Ubuntu Gutsy:


Open Synaptic. Remove the package 'usplash'.
Go to http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/, download and install the packages 'libsplashy1_0.3.7-2_i386.deb' and 'splashy_0.3.7-2_i386.deb'.
Open /boot/grub/menu.lst, find the line that looks like this(could look slightly different):
# defoptions=quiet splash locale=sv_SE
add vga=791 at the end:
# defoptions=quiet splash locale=sv_SE vga=791
Run the command sudo update-grub
Run the command sudo update-initramfs -uk all
Reboot and test


Step 3 and 4 above could alternatively be done by using StartUp-Manager(see signature) and change the resolution and color depth options.
SUM can also install/set splashy themes.

For the record, both my desktop(tyan tomcat k8e-sli, nvidia 6600gt with proprietary drivers) and my laptop(Zepto znote, intel 965) suspends/hibernates fine using splashy.

[lemsx1]

Excellent!

I just uploaded those 0.3.7 packages to /wiki/ubuntu as we released that new version of Splashy yesterday.

Can you post your suspend/hibernate setup using such a simple mini-howto style?

[lemsx1]

I'm in the same boat, but with fewer paddles, or something!

on a cleanish Gutsy Kubuntu, used Adept to remove usplash before adding Splashy, Splashy Themes, and splashyl or whatever the library is called.

I've added the fingerprint theme, and set the config to use that. and I've updated my menu.lst to have exactly the same options as your example.

But I just get a black screen when booting up / shutting down. and the same error message when I try running sudo splashy test in a terminal.
which is 'Splashy ERROR: Couldn't splashy_start_splashy(). Error -2'

Any ideas, anyone?

Error -2 means "splashy could not open a framebuffer" (directfb really). The way to fix this is to make sure that vesafb was used:

cat /proc/fb
ls -l /dev/fb0

Check Splashy's FAQ on the wiki (Google is your friend).

[lemsx1]

My post was in reply to lemsx1, who's a developer for an upstream project, not an ordinary user, and my intention was to inform them on what they should to as an upstream developer if they intend to have their software integrated. Every distro has different policies, processes and venues of communication for this kind of thing, and I don't expect every upstream developer to be 100% sure of what exactly to do for every distro, so I thought it might be useful. I was a bit off with the wording, and I corrected that.

Thanks for the information. I have a Launchpad account myself, but I have not gone that deep into understanding how Ubuntu works.

We have mostly Debian Developers in our team (out of all distros). So, our releases are usually biased in favor of Debian Sid. My hope is that if Splashy becomes good enough in Sid, it will eventually be used by other distros, includng Ubuntu. Perhaps it will not replace Usplash, but... It's an alternative to it. Just like Ubuntu is not meant to replace Windows, but be an alternative to it. Same idea.

We will continue to grow in experience as Splashy matures. The team is growing (fast) and since bootsplash was abandoned in favor of Splashy, all sorts of people have come to help us get whatever they need for their own custom distros (or personal desktops).

Usually people's choice decides the outcome of a project. Splashy has a lot to offer with it's very simple design and XML-based configuration and themes. Very modular, very flexible, and it just works.

Perhaps I'll advocate for Usplash being replace by Splashy when Splashy 0.3.10 comes out (2 more revisions. Another 4 months or so). By then we will do the blue prints and whatever is needed to get Ubuntu's devel attention (or I can just talk directly to Sladen, since we worked together when our usplash branch started (now known as Splashy)).

Thanks again for the information. Ubuntu's policies are not as hard to follow (like other distros).

[bash]

I am running 64bit Gutsy, so those .debs don't work for me. Tried compiled it. Worked all good. Checkinstalled it. But then splashy complained about a missing libsplashy. Anyone got current .debs for 64? Because the official ubuntu splashy packages are quite outdated.

[smartboyathome]

If I had a 64 bit machine, I would try my hand at making one (have been trying to learn packaging lately). I don't have one, though. :(

[g2g591]

look at a bit of history i got from the splashy wiki. Usplash is a fork of splashy that was formed (by ubuntu) when during discussion of changing to splashy and having a virtual package called usplash that would be satisfied by splashy (and some other, can't remember). I tried out Splashy in Debian unstable and it worked very well (incredibly easy to change splash screens too)

[lemsx1]

I am running 64bit Gutsy, so those .debs don't work for me. Tried compiled it. Worked all good. Checkinstalled it. But then splashy complained about a missing libsplashy. Anyone got current .debs for 64? Because the official ubuntu splashy packages are quite outdated.

You can do 1 of 2 things:

1. add deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian main to your /etc/sources.list file and then do: apt-get update; cd /tmp; apt-get source splashy; cd splashy-0.3.7; debuild -uc -us; dpkg -i ../splashy_*.deb ../libsplash1*.deb

# Note, because of a mistake by the debian maintainer that will actually give you an error. They know about this issue and they will fix it ASAP

2. get the source from http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/ (everything that's not a .deb) and do: dpkg-source -x splashy*.dsc; cd splashy-0.3.7; debuild -uc -us

This will work on any system.

[John Jason Jordan]

I heard about splashy in another thread on the x86_64 forum. I found it in Synaptic on my Gutsy x86_64 installation and installed it, together with splashy-themes. However, it doesn't work. That is, I restarted the computer, but no splashy. From the command line I get:

jjj@Devil7:~$ splashy test
jjj@Devil7:~$ Splashy ERROR: Couldn't splashy_start_splashy(). Error -2

What does Error -2 mean?

[smartboyathome]

You are using an older version of splashy (which doesn't work very well imo). I would suggest that you download the source from here (https://alioth.debian.org/frs/download.php/2218/splashy-0.3.7.tar.gz) and extract it, then open a terminal in the extracted folder and type compile, then type make, then type sudo make install.

[amano]

BTW, a new version of splashy is out since Dec. 18th.

Changes between 0.3.7 and 0.3.8
-------------------------------
* Bug fixes:
- /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh now checks whether it should unmount $STEPS_DIR before doing so
- /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh now checks whether it should start keymap.sh/console-screen.sh on
debian systems
- console-tools/config.d/splashy touches /dev/shm/splashy* files to signal lsb-base-loggin.sh
that it needs to start a process like keymap.sh/console-screen.sh

In the repos is still 0.3.7 available.

[John Jason Jordan]

BTW, a new version of splashy is out since Dec. 18th.
Changes between 0.3.7 and 0.3.8 ...
In the repos is still 0.3.7 available.
Synaptic on my Gutsy x86_64 computer shows only 3.3, which is what I have installed, and I have all the repositories enabled. Never figured out how to make it work anyway, though.

[smartboyathome]

Synaptic on my Gutsy x86_64 computer shows only 3.3, which is what I have installed, and I have all the repositories enabled. Never figured out how to make it work anyway, though.

You need to install the packages from the site (http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/), and it should work fine. Remember to uninstall Usplash before installing.

[John Jason Jordan]

You need to install the packages from the site (http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/), and it should work fine. Remember to uninstall Usplash before installing.
When I went to uninstall usplash it also wanted to uninstall:

debian-edu-artwork-usplash
ubuntu-desktop
usplash-theme-ubuntu

Uninstalling ubuntu-desktop scares me. I can't figure out what exactly it does. All it says about it is:

The Ubuntu desktop system
This package depends on all of the packages in the Ubuntu desktop system
It is also used to help ensure proper upgrades, so it is recommended that
it not be removed.

[Jimmy_r]

Removing ubuntu-desktop will not cause any harm to your system.
It contains nothing, it is just used to tell the package manager what other packages make up a complete Ubuntu desktop system.
Since you already have those other components installed, you can safely remove ubuntu-desktop.

Then just reinstall it later if you upgrade when a new version of Ubuntu is released.

[John Jason Jordan]

Removing ubuntu-desktop will not cause any harm to your system.
It contains nothing, it is just used to tell the package manager what other packages make up a complete Ubuntu desktop system.
Since you already have those other components installed, you can safely remove ubuntu-desktop.
Then just reinstall it later if you upgrade when a new version of Ubuntu is released.


OK, I did a complete removal of usplash. Since I had splashy 3.3 installed from Synaptic, I also did a complete uninstall of that as well. Then I downloaded splashy-0.3.8.tar.gz and extracted it to ~/Software. It made a folder there and I navigated to the folder with a terminal window. Looking back in this thread, smartboyathome said to type compile, then make, then sudo make install. Unfortunately, this is what I got:

jjj@Devil7:~/Software/splashy-0.3.8$ compile
bash: compile: command not found

I think I installed a package from source only once, a long time ago, and I am not familiar with the procedure. What do I do next? Oh, and bear in mind that I have Gutsy x86_64.

[smartboyathome]

It is a debian package, you can just double click to install it.

[John Jason Jordan]

It is a debian package, you can just double click to install it.
Sorry, I wasn't clear. It is not a package. It is the source file. I have to use the source because the only .deb files on the FTP site are 1386 and my Gutsy is x86_64. I downloaded splashy-0.3.8.tar.gz and extracted it. But when I follow the instructions for compile, make and make install they do not work (see error posted above).

[delfick]

that's because "compile" isn't a program :D

"make" is the program that compiles the source for you :D

though usually, there's a ./configure or ./autogen.sh that you have to do before that.....

[John Jason Jordan]

that's because "compile" isn't a program :D

"make" is the program that compiles the source for you :D

though usually, there's a ./configure or ./autogen.sh that you have to do before that.....
OK, I tried ./configure and it complained:

checking for splashy... configure: error: Package requirements (glib-2.0, directfb >= 0.9.22) were not met:
No package 'glib-2.0' found
No package 'directfb' found

And then:

jjj@Devil7:~/Software/splashy-0.3.8$ sudo apt-get install directfb
[sudo] password for jjj:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package directfb
jjj@Devil7:~/Software/splashy-0.3.8$ sudo apt-get install glib-2.0
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package glib-2.0
jjj@Devil7:~/Software/splashy-0.3.8$

I have all the repositories enabled. I tried adding the repository suggested by lemsx1 above:

add deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian main to your /etc/sources.list file

But after adding it I could not update my sources.list file. There is something wrong with that repository.

[smartboyathome]

Take that repo off then, and then search synaptic for that stuff.

[delfick]

try

sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-dev libdirectfb-dev

:D

[John Jason Jordan]

OK, I tried ./configure and it complained:

checking for splashy... configure: error: Package requirements (glib-2.0, directfb >= 0.9.22) were not met:
No package 'glib-2.0' found
No package 'directfb' found

OK, finally got the right libraries installed. It turns out that ./configure reports the incorrect missing component. It needs libgl-2.0-dev, not glib-2.0 and it needs libdirectfb-dev, not directfb. I installed those with Synaptic, after which ./configure was happy. However, the make command gave me another whole list of errors:

configure complete, now type 'make'

jjj@Devil7:~/Software/splashy-0.3.8$ make
make all-recursive
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8'
Making all in po
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/po'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/po'
Making all in doc
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/doc'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/doc'
Making all in src
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/src'
if gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -D_REENTRANT -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/directfb -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -g -O2 -Wall -Werror -DG_DISABLE_ASSERT -DG_DISABLE_CHECKS -MT splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.o -MD -MP -MF ".deps/splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.Tpo" -c -o splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.o `test -f 'splashy_config-functions.c' || echo './'`splashy_config-functions.c; \
then mv -f ".deps/splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.Tpo" ".deps/splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.Po"; else rm -f ".deps/splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.Tpo"; exit 1; fi
splashy_config-functions.c:40:71: error: magic.h: No such file or directory
splashy_config-functions.c: In function ‘install_theme’:
splashy_config-functions.c:126: error: ‘magic_t’ undeclared (first use in this function)
splashy_config-functions.c:126: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
splashy_config-functions.c:126: error: for each function it appears in.)
splashy_config-functions.c:126: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘cookie’
splashy_config-functions.c:127: error: ‘cookie’ undeclared (first use in this function)
cc1: warnings being treated as errors
splashy_config-functions.c:133: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘magic_load’
splashy_config-functions.c:135: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘magic_error’
splashy_config-functions.c:135: warning: format ‘%s’ expects type ‘char *’, but argument 3 has type ‘int’
splashy_config-functions.c:139: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘magic_file’
splashy_config-functions.c:139: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
splashy_config-functions.c:161: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘magic_close’
splashy_config-functions.c: In function ‘check_image’:
splashy_config-functions.c:1288: error: ‘magic_t’ undeclared (first use in this function)
splashy_config-functions.c:1288: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘cookie’
splashy_config-functions.c:1289: error: ‘cookie’ undeclared (first use in this function)
splashy_config-functions.c:1297: warning: format ‘%s’ expects type ‘char *’, but argument 3 has type ‘int’
splashy_config-functions.c:1301: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
make[2]: *** [splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.o] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/src'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8'
make: *** [all] Error 2
jjj@Devil7:~/Software/splashy-0.3.8$
I think the above requires the attention of the developers, so I am going to abandon the effort to install splashy on x86_64 Gutsy for the time being. I wish I knew how to make a .deb file from the source, because a 64-bit .deb would have eliminated hours of time I have spent trying to install it. Maybe someone who knows how can create one for 64-bit Ubuntu users.

[smartboyathome]

OK, finally got the right libraries installed. It turns out that ./configure reports the incorrect missing component. It needs libgl-2.0-dev, not glib-2.0 and it needs libdirectfb-dev, not directfb. I installed those with Synaptic, after which ./configure was happy. However, the make command gave me another whole list of errors:

configure complete, now type 'make'

jjj@Devil7:~/Software/splashy-0.3.8$ make
make all-recursive
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8'
Making all in po
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/po'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/po'
Making all in doc
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/doc'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/doc'
Making all in src
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/src'
if gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -D_REENTRANT -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/directfb -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -g -O2 -Wall -Werror -DG_DISABLE_ASSERT -DG_DISABLE_CHECKS -MT splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.o -MD -MP -MF ".deps/splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.Tpo" -c -o splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.o `test -f 'splashy_config-functions.c' || echo './'`splashy_config-functions.c; \
then mv -f ".deps/splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.Tpo" ".deps/splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.Po"; else rm -f ".deps/splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.Tpo"; exit 1; fi
splashy_config-functions.c:40:71: error: magic.h: No such file or directory
splashy_config-functions.c: In function ‘install_theme’:
splashy_config-functions.c:126: error: ‘magic_t’ undeclared (first use in this function)
splashy_config-functions.c:126: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
splashy_config-functions.c:126: error: for each function it appears in.)
splashy_config-functions.c:126: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘cookie’
splashy_config-functions.c:127: error: ‘cookie’ undeclared (first use in this function)
cc1: warnings being treated as errors
splashy_config-functions.c:133: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘magic_load’
splashy_config-functions.c:135: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘magic_error’
splashy_config-functions.c:135: warning: format ‘%s’ expects type ‘char *’, but argument 3 has type ‘int’
splashy_config-functions.c:139: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘magic_file’
splashy_config-functions.c:139: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
splashy_config-functions.c:161: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘magic_close’
splashy_config-functions.c: In function ‘check_image’:
splashy_config-functions.c:1288: error: ‘magic_t’ undeclared (first use in this function)
splashy_config-functions.c:1288: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘cookie’
splashy_config-functions.c:1289: error: ‘cookie’ undeclared (first use in this function)
splashy_config-functions.c:1297: warning: format ‘%s’ expects type ‘char *’, but argument 3 has type ‘int’
splashy_config-functions.c:1301: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
make[2]: *** [splashy_config-splashy_config-functions.o] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8/src'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/jjj/Software/splashy-0.3.8'
make: *** [all] Error 2
jjj@Devil7:~/Software/splashy-0.3.8$
I think the above requires the attention of the developers, so I am going to abandon the effort to install splashy on x86_64 Gutsy for the time being. I wish I knew how to make a .deb file from the source, because a 64-bit .deb would have eliminated hours of time I have spent trying to install it. Maybe someone who knows how can create one for 64-bit Ubuntu users.

There are instructions on how to make a package for it, so maybe if you get it compiled you can create the package for them. :)

[John Jason Jordan]

There are instructions on how to make a package for it, so maybe if you get it compiled you can create the package for them. :)
I could probably find instructions and eventually figure it out. However, the errors I got when I tried to install it lead me to suspect that I wouldn't be successful creating a .deb out of the source either.

Meantime I discovered the splashy forums at alioth. I posted the problems with make there. We'll see if anyone can point me in the right direction for fixing it.

[lemsx1]

Ummm... there is extensive documentation on how to install Splashy from our wiki page:

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/installation

Most people can simply get Splashy from the Debian repository (note that 0.3.8 was uploaded a few minutes ago and it's still in incoming.debian.org):

http://packages.debian.org/splashy

Ubuntu users are better off using my Gutsy packages from:

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu

I posted instructions on how to compile them by yourself, for Ubuntu, here:

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/ubuntu

To save you some time:

0. apt-get install libdirectfb-dev libglib2.0-dev build-essential
1. mkdir /tmp/splashy; cd /tmp/splashy
2. wget http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/splashy_0.3.8-2.diff.gz http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/splashy_0.3.8-2.dsc http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/splashy_0.3.8.orig.tar.gz
3. dpkg-source -x splashy_0.3.8-2.dsc
4. cd splashy-0.3.8
5. debuild -uc -us

When done, packages will be in the previous directory (/tmp/splashy*.deb, /tmp/libsplashy*.deb)

You might also want to install gsplashy, a graphical configuration tool that was release as well:

http://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=30657

[John Jason Jordan]

Ummm... there is extensive documentation on how to install Splashy from our wiki page:

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/installation
Still didn't work. I used the ./configure ... command from the above page, but got basically the same errors as above.

Most people can simply get Splashy from the Debian repository (note that 0.3.8 was uploaded a few minutes ago and it's still in incoming.debian.org):

http://packages.debian.org/splashy
I also tried adding the debian repository listed on the wiki page, but my Synaptic (Software Sources) locked up when I tried to update. I killed it, then launched Synaptic, which seemed to be fine with the new repository. However, while Synaptic showed me 3.5 as the latest version (regular Gutsy repositories show 3.3), Synaptic also showed hundreds and hundreds of upgrades available. I like to keep my system upgraded to the latest and greatest, but only to what is in the Ubuntu repositories. Else I might end up running Debuntu Etchgutsy.

Ubuntu users are better off using my Gutsy packages from:

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu
Only i386 .deb files there. I keep having to remind everyone participating in this thread that I am on Gutsy x86_64.

I posted instructions on how to compile them by yourself, for Ubuntu, here:

http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/wiki/ubuntu
That page suggests the FTP site but, again, no x86_64 debs.

To save you some time:

0. apt-get install libdirectfb-dev libglib2.0-dev build-essential
1. mkdir /tmp/splashy; cd /tmp/splashy
2. wget http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/splashy_0.3.8-2.diff.gz http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/splashy_0.3.8-2.dsc http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/splashy_0.3.8.orig.tar.gz
3. dpkg-source -x splashy_0.3.8-2.dsc
4. cd splashy-0.3.8
5. debuild -uc -us

When done, packages will be in the previous directory (/tmp/splashy*.deb, /tmp/libsplashy*.deb)
Failed with a 404 on the wget line.

You might also want to install gsplashy, a graphical configuration tool that was release as well:

http://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=30657
I'll do that after I finally get splashy installed.

[John Jason Jordan]

Failed with a 404 on the wget line.
I finally got it installed, I think. Eventually I noticed that the wget line in lemsx1's post had ellipses in it. Using the complete URL made the wget line work. The rest of it also worked, although I had to stop several times to add more dependencies.

However, now what I get is:

jjj@Devil7:~$ splashy test
The program 'splashy' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install splashy
bash: splashy: command not found

Using the apt-get install command will install 0.3.3, because that is what is in the Ubuntu x86_64 repositories. And 0.3.3 will give me the Error 2 message mentioned previously in this thread. I never found a fix for the Error 2 message that worked, which is why I have been trying to install 0.3.8.

So now I don't get the Error 2 message, except that now it can't even find splashy, even though the make and make install seemed to go OK. I also checked to make sure the menu.lst file had the vga=791 line in it correctly, did update-grub, and also updated intramfs per the instructions previously in this thread. Rebooting I have no splash screen at all.

I know there must exist a 64-bit .deb for 0.3.5, because when I added the Debian repository that one showed up in Synaptic. I don't want to add that repository, but I'd like to try installing 0.3.5 if I could download the 64-bit .deb for it from somewhere. Anyone know where I can find it? Does anyone have any further suggestions?

[John Jason Jordan]

Omigod, I finally got it installed. For other 64-bit Ubuntu users, here is what I did:

After unsuccessfully googling looking for 64-bit .deb of 0.3.5, I did a search of my hard drive just to see what I had. I discovered that I had the following:

splashy_0.3.8-2_amd64.deb

Somehow in all my attempts at compiling from source I must have created it. (If anyone wants it, holler at me and I'll send it to you.)

So I double-clicked on it, knowing that it would launch gDebi package installer. gDebi bitched that there was an older version in the repositories and it was generally better to install the older version than an untested version. I told gDebi to shut up and install it anyway. gDebi did so without error.

Then I did "update-initramfs -u -t -k `uname -r`" (thanks smartboyathome), and tried "sudo splashy test." That still gave me the famous Error 2 message, so I rebooted. And right after the Grub menu, there was splashy!!!

Splashy wasn't terribly clean - lots of messages popping up that I didn't like seeing, but the progress bar worked fine. Now I need to go figure out how to configure it to my liking. I think I'll see if I can get gsplashy installed next.

Thanks to all for the tips and patience.

[John Jason Jordan]

Splashy wasn't terribly clean - lots of messages popping up that I didn't like seeing, but the progress bar worked fine. Now I need to go figure out how to configure it to my liking. I think I'll see if I can get gsplashy installed next.
Well, installing gsplashy did not go well. The ./configure command went OK, but make did not:

jjj@Devil7:/tmp/gsplashy-0.1$ sudo make
[sudo] password for jjj:
make all-recursive
make[1]: Entering directory `/tmp/gsplashy-0.1'
Making all in po
make[2]: Entering directory `/tmp/gsplashy-0.1/po'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/tmp/gsplashy-0.1/po'
Making all in src
make[2]: Entering directory `/tmp/gsplashy-0.1/src'
if gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -DPNG_NO_MMX_CODE -I/usr/include/gtk-2.0 -I/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/include -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -I/usr/include/libglade-2.0 -I/usr/include/libxml2 -Wall -g -g -O2 -MT functions.o -MD -MP -MF ".deps/functions.Tpo" -c -o functions.o functions.c; \
then mv -f ".deps/functions.Tpo" ".deps/functions.Po"; else rm -f ".deps/functions.Tpo"; exit 1; fi
functions.c:14:24: error: splashycnf.h: No such file or directory
functions.c: In function ‘initialise_parser’:
functions.c:38: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘splashy_init_config’
functions.c:38: error: ‘SPL_CONFIG_DIR’ undeclared (first use in this function)
functions.c:38: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
functions.c:38: error: for each function it appears in.)
functions.c:38: error: expected ‘)’ before string constant
functions.c: In function ‘get_list_of_themes’:
functions.c:74: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘splashy_get_config_string’
functions.c:74: error: ‘SPL_THEMES_DIR’ undeclared (first use in this function)
functions.c:74: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
functions.c:81: error: ‘SPL_THEME_CONFIG_FILE_NAME’ undeclared (first use in this function)
functions.c: In function ‘draw_theme_list’:
functions.c:117: error: ‘SPL_CURRENT_THEME’ undeclared (first use in this function)
functions.c:117: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
functions.c:124: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘splashy_change_config_file’
functions.c:124: error: ‘SPL_THEMES_DIR’ undeclared (first use in this function)
functions.c:125: error: ‘SPL_THEME_CONFIG_FILE_NAME’ undeclared (first use in this function)
functions.c:126: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘g_build_filename’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
functions.c:129: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘g_basename’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
functions.c:129: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘g_build_filename’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
functions.c:139: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘g_markup_escape_text’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
functions.c:141: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘g_markup_escape_text’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
functions.c:159: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘g_build_filename’ makes pointer from integer without a cast
make[2]: *** [functions.o] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/tmp/gsplashy-0.1/src'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/tmp/gsplashy-0.1'
make: *** [all] Error 2
jjj@Devil7:/tmp/gsplashy-0.1$

Sadly, I don't know enough to understand what the error messages mean or how to fix them. Any suggestions?

[smartboyathome]

John Jason Jordan, I can host that package for you if you want on my server. Check your PMs for my e-mail.

EDIT: 64-bit packages now hosted on this page (http://smartboy.salocinlinux.org/db/Debs/).

[lemsx1]

There is no need for that. Debian already has packages for amd64:

http://packages.debian.org/sid/splashy

Here is the direct link:
http://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/splashy/download

To install Gsplashy you will need libsplashy1-dev. That's why you got all those errors.

In short, this is what you will need to do:

(open a terminal)
wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/s/splashy/splashy_0.3.8-1_amd64.deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/s/splashy/libsplashy1_0.3.8-1_amd64.deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/s/splashy/libsplashy1-dev_0.3.8-1_amd64.deb

Now, Debian Sid has a newer version of Directfb (which is a lot better), and you will need this as well:

wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/directfb/libdirectfb-1.0-0_1.0.1-5_amd64.deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/directfb/libdirectfb-extra_1.0.1-5_amd64.deb

You might need other directfb components...

After you download all of those, you can simply do:

sudo dpkg -i *splashy*.deb *directfb*.deb

And you should be up-and-running.

If you want to be sure that you are getting all the dependencies, you might want to temporarily add "Sid" to your repositories, download splashy, and then remove it. Example:

sudo -i
echo 'deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian sid main ' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sid.list
apt-get update
apt-get install splashy
# then remove sid.list (or keep it on /root/ for the future ;-))
mv /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sid.list /root/

In my case, I just backport the sources from Sid and compile my packages locally:

sudo -i
# notice 'deb-src'
echo 'deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian sid main ' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sid.list
apt-get update
apt-get source -b libdirectfb-dev
apt-get source -b splashy

That will ensure that your system stays running smoothly.
If you need more help, please join #splashy on irc.freenode.net

Regards,

[John Jason Jordan]

To install Gsplashy you will need libsplashy1-dev. That's why you got all those errors.

In short, this is what you will need to do:

(open a terminal)
wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/s/splashy/splashy_0.3.8-1_amd64.deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/s/splashy/libsplashy1_0.3.8-1_amd64.deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/s/splashy/libsplashy1-dev_0.3.8-1_amd64.deb

Now, Debian Sid has a newer version of Directfb (which is a lot better), and you will need this as well:

wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/directfb/libdirectfb-1.0-0_1.0.1-5_amd64.deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/directfb/libdirectfb-extra_1.0.1-5_amd64.deb

You might need other directfb components...

After you download all of those, you can simply do:

sudo dpkg -i *splashy*.deb *directfb*.deb
Thanks for the additional suggestions. Unfortunately, doing the above totally hosed splashy. I had to do "sudo apt-get install -f" and then reinstall from my 64-bit .deb. And gsplashy still failed on the make command with Error 2 (same list as previously posted).

However, I fixed it just by installing libslpashy1-dev from the Ubuntu repositories (sudo apt-get install libsplashy1-dev). Thereafter the make and make install commands worked, and gsplashy is up and running.

Thanks for the assist.

[smartboyathome]

Because of your your error, John, I am leaving the package up. I will be getting a new desktop today (64 bit, at last!), so I should be able to test this in the near future.

[John Jason Jordan]

Because of your your error, John, I am leaving the package up. I will be getting a new desktop today (64 bit, at last!), so I should be able to test this in the near future.
Yay for you! Congrats on the new desktop! As for the .deb - as long as you have the space, leaving it up can't hurt. I hope it helps people.

[smartboyathome]

Yay for you! Congrats on the new desktop! As for the .deb - as long as you have the space, leaving it up can't hurt. I hope it helps people.

There is plenty of space for it. My friend and I have been running a few websites off of it and using it as each of our FTP servers, and it still isn't past 1% usage yet. :)

[mjg59]

The reason we don't use splashy is that it requires a framebuffer, which reduces the probability of working suspend/resume. Usplash handles vesa modesetting itself, avoiding the problem. Splashy's dependency on directfb makes it difficult to implement the same functionality - I'd quite happily switch if that weren't the case.

[amano]

Well. I don't have the technical insights, but that sounds somewhat strange to me. We are talking about a bootsplash. Using a framebuffer once during bootup can prevent hibernate/resume later on during the desktop use?

Or do we talk about suspending/resuming during bootup time?

Just wondering...

On the other side this would make the decision much more understandable. Sacrificing some eye candy during bootup for saving some power functionality sounds reasonable.

Can someone share some technical details on the negative aspects of framebuffer usage?

And are there some ways to work around that?

[mjg59]

Yes, because we have no way of returning from framebuffer mode to text mode at present.

[smartboyathome]

I thought splashy incorperated text into the splash. If so, then how would that be a problem?

[mjg59]

It's not about being able to print text - it's about being in VGA text mode.

[gnomeuser]

The reason we don't use splashy is that it requires a framebuffer, which reduces the probability of working suspend/resume. Usplash handles vesa modesetting itself, avoiding the problem. Splashy's dependency on directfb makes it difficult to implement the same functionality - I'd quite happily switch if that weren't the case.

Correct me if I'm wrong here but once we get kernel modesetting working, all this should not be a problem?

[mjg59]

Yes, once kernel modesetting works properly a large number of problems become easier (especially since a proper implementation of kernel modesetting implies being able to resume the video hardware without resorting to the hacks that break if you have a framebuffer)

[sicofante]

Interesting stuff. What do the Splashy devs have to say about this issue?

[smartboyathome]

Yes, once kernel modesetting works properly a large number of problems become easier (especially since a proper implementation of kernel modesetting implies being able to resume the video hardware without resorting to the hacks that break if you have a framebuffer)

Just wondering, when would this possibly become available?

[23meg]

That was answered in mjg59's blog post that I had linked to (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3869861&postcount=106) earlier.

[OliW]

So it looks like we've got two things.


Splashy that is beautiful and makes modding your boot-up screen a joy, and makes booting a lot more interactive... With the oversight (maybe?) that it doesn't do something with the framebuffer-gizmo-majigger.
USplash that is ugly as sin to try and build a splash screen for, let alone apply said damned theme to your system... Yet it does adhere to ye olde lore of framebuffers.


I realise they're different at a more fundamental level, but is it not conceivable that you could merge the framebuffer-handling of awesomeness +5 into splashy, as in return gain a useful tool that your users can actually use?!

[mjg59]

It's conceivable, but not straightforward.

[lemsx1]

So it looks like we've got two things.


Splashy that is beautiful and makes modding your boot-up screen a joy, and makes booting a lot more interactive... With the oversight (maybe?) that it doesn't do something with the framebuffer-gizmo-majigger.
USplash that is ugly as sin to try and build a splash screen for, let alone apply said damned theme to your system... Yet it does adhere to ye olde lore of