[syslinux] displaying images

[H. Peter Anvin]

Roberto De Leo wrote:
> Hi,
> I am using syslinux to produce autoplaying avi CDs (i.e. the CD contains
> an avi file
> and a minimum linux system plus the mplayer so that mplayer plays
> automatically the
> movie after the boot using the framebuffer device) to avoid things like
> bringing avis
> at friend's homes just to find out that they have only M$WinXX and the
> M$ MediaPlayer
> won't play my avi.
> 
> Here is my problem: at the boot prompt I'd like to put an image related
> to the avi content
> but 16 colors are really too few colors to display almost any image :-(
> while on the other
> side 256 would be basically perfect for almost any image.
> Is it really impossible to extend the display capacity at boot time to
> 256 colors?
> 
> If the 16 colors limit is enforced for extending as far as possible
> syslinux compatibility
> with any possible hardware, maybe a good solution could be adding in
> configure file
> an option for activating 256 colors if you don't care so much about
> compatibility.
> 

Impossible?  No (at least not for VESA-compatible hardware.)

It is a lot more code, however, that I don't really feel is useful for
most users, and I'm very concerned about the size of SYSLINUX.

With SYSLINUX 2.00 you should be able to invoke a custom UI which can do
anything you want, including VESA graphics.

	-hpa