Forgive any ignorance on my part while trying to come to terms with the seemingly continued evolution of the boot (splash) process, but am I correct in assuming that Ubuntu (and variants?) have gone from the old Usplash bootsplash and GDM login in all earlier versions to XSplash replacing both in Karmic, and now that's replaced by "Plymouth" in Lucid?

I only just came to terms with XSplash, so after upgrading to Lucid wondered why the Kubuntu splash took over. Now, I have KDE and others mixed in, so things like that have happened before, except that when I went to replace the XSplash I found the folder only contained Ubuntu logos etc. So when I went looking, I saw mention of Plymouth.

So do I have all this right? XSplash has already been done away with? If so, where can I find some info on working with Plymouth? And is this likely to stay, or is it another transitional thing?