Cool animated boot splash screen like Ubuntu Kylin

[Sun.Dial]

I accidentally downloaded and installed Ubuntu Kylin (for Chinese, I wasn't paying full attention to the download!) and was startled to see such a cool animated boot splash screen. How do you get it to work with UK Ubuntu instead of the sequential red dots?

[Dennis N]

It is most likely using a different Plymouth theme (used for booth splash) than Ubuntu uses. You can install a different one in Ubuntu if you want - these can be animated. Search for "plymouth-theme" in Ubuntu Software Center. Solar is probably the best one there. There are more and some better out on the web - see gnome-look.org - click on "splash screens" in the directory on the left of their first page. You have to install many of these manually, but it's not hard to do.

[Sun.Dial]

The original boot splash screen showed an impressive background of flashing stars, an animated multicoloured plasma cloud with 'Ubuntu Kylin' text superimposed. I installed Kylin on a victim machine and searched in the software centre for 'Plymouth' but it was unknown. However I did find it to be installed in my other PC running Ubuntu 14.04. Kylin has a program called 'youker-assistant' which looks like a combination of system tweaker/cleaner tools, including one to alter the boot animation. I tried this but was unimpressed by the result, and could not revert to the original.
Looking at the reviews of the Plymouth interactive interface did not give much confidence in using it, so I don't think I'll pursue it any further for the moment. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[Dennis N]

You would have to search for "plymouth-theme", not just "plymouth". Then they will appear in the Software Center. If Kylin uses Plymouth for the boot splash (probably does if based on Ubuntu), the particular theme they use should be usable in standard Ubuntu. The themes are in /usr/share/plymouth/themes, so you can see what is already available on the system.

[CantankRus]

I accidentally downloaded and installed Ubuntu Kylin (for Chinese, I wasn't paying full attention to the download!) and was startled to see such a cool animated boot splash screen. How do you get it to work with UK Ubuntu instead of the sequential red dots?

Install the package ubuntukylin-theme.

sudo apt-get install ubuntukylin-theme

Change the default plymouth in alternatives.
Choose ubuntukylin-logo.plymouth

sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

Then run...

sudo update-initramfs -u

ubuntukylin-theme includes an icon and gtk theme.
It also adds a background image for grub which will show after grub is updated.

sudo update-grub

If you don't want the background image, run

sudo rm /boot/grub/ubuntu_kylin_grub_bg.tga && sudo update-grub

[Mike_Walsh]

@Cantankrus;

When you say 'Change the default plymouth in Alternatives', where exactly IS 'Alternatives'?

I ask, because I thought I'd have a go at installing the 'Solar' theme, following yours and Dennis's info. I assume your method would also work for installing other themes?

I've installed 'Solar' via the Software Centre. I'm assuming it now needs to be set as default, so.....what would be the best way to proceed?

Regards,

Mike.

@Sun.Dial; apologies for hijacking the thread!

[Dennis N]

Since CantankRus is not around, I will take the liberty to answer: "Alternatives" is short for "Debian Alternatives" and is the system in which you choose the specific Plymouth theme to use. Google it for full information and a fun read.

Just run the two commands that he mentioned (and I neglected to mention):

sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth
in which you choose the new theme (solar) by number, then

sudo update-initramfs -u
to be sure it shows up as it should (we hope) when you boot.
Then reboot the computer.

If you want to go back to the original theme, repeat and choose your original theme.

[Mike_Walsh]

Ah! THAT was the bit I didn't understand; that you choose from a list of themes by number.

Serves me right for jumping into the middle of somebody else's thread like that...!

Anyway; thanks once again for a nice, clear explanation, Dennis. You're rapidly becoming my 'go-to' man for this kinda stuff! I've run the commands through the terminal, and it's all working nicely; those solar flares are quite nifty. Makes a nice change to have something different to look at... ;)

Appreciated. I'm learning more and more about this thing every day; and I'm loving every minute of it. It's certainly a hell of a lot easier to make fundamental changes to theming and appearance than it ever was in XP...

Cheers!


Regards,

Mike.