[syslinux] Graphic boot ...

[Erez Strauss]

Hi Gene and Peter,

Thanks a lot.
I'll need it to boot linux only in graphic mode, and any other case
will be using regular text/menu selection, as done so far.
I saw Fedora plymouth that load Graphics on supported DRM cards (ATI cards).
But I'm looking for graphic boot on more HW configs.
I'll check the Ubuntu and GFXBoot; is the com32 module available for testing?

Can I switch the text output to none active virtual console at the
begining of the initrd (nash/bash), while staying in graphic mode from
the extlinux?
What exactly will break at the boot time (or later) if I do the above,
and start X from that mode?

Thanks,
Erez

On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 1:01 PM, Gene Cumm <gene.cumm at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 1:36 PM, Erez Strauss <erstrauss at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Peter and Group,
>>
>> First, thanks for great boot system.
>>
>> My goal is to create a boot process that is clean from any text
>> message and shows simple graphics at startup.
>> That graphic image will last until the X server is starting (with the
>> same background, might be with different resolution).
>> My reason is, that many end users prefer graphics on simple cryptic
>> text messages.
>> Messages will be presented to the user on two cases:
>>  - Error case - things messed up - no kernel, no initrd, ...
>>  - User selection is really needed (decision with no defined default)
>
> As far as any x86/x64 system, with exception to the Intel-based Apple
> Macs when booting Mac OS/X (but they're controlling the BIOS, boot
> selector and kernel), the closest I've seen is the Novell ZENworks
> Destkop Management Imaging CD when operating in a graphics mode at or
> below 1024x768.  This uses GFXBoot (currently a heavily modified
> ISOLinux but being ported to a COM32 module) followed by a kernel that
> very quickly changes to a graphics mode and displays a background
> image similar to the background of the boot selector.  openSuSE might
> do something similar.
>
> To go this route, you'll be dealing with a graphic boot selector (like
> VESAMENU.C32 or GFXBoot) and a kernel that loads an image.
>
>> So I started with the lss16 graphics, which is nice but limited to 14 clolors
>> I continued with vesamenu background - nice - but I still see messages.
>> I commented out few calls to writestr and writechr in the sources - no
>> more messages or menu.
>>
>> The problem I have now is that before loading the kernel the graphic
>> menu returns to text mode (blank dark screen).
>
> I'm not sure about Microsoft Windows Vista (or Windows Server 2008),
> but I thought Windows XP always kicks the video system over to a text
> mode and then into the full graphics mode.  This is the time frame in
> which you can press F8 to modify the boot process.  There may also be
> some other keys for other actions.  For most configurations, no text
> displays in this time frame but it does change to text mode.
>
> I saw a similar behavior with the ZENworks imaging CD, where the boot
> selector was in graphics mode, the screen went completely black then
> the background image was loaded from the kernel with no text ever
> shown.
>
> The Ubuntu desktop CDs have a similar system, using GFXboot.  It loads
> the kernel and may display a few quick lines of text but then shows an
> image with a moving bar in graphics mode.  Feeding the Ubuntu kernel
> certain command line parameters (or removing the existing ones)
> changes its behavior back to the normal Linux text boot sequence.
>
>> How can I tell the vesamenu sub-system not to return to the text mode?
>>
>> Any help will be appreciated,
>>
>> If anyone want the changes I made, I'll post them.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Erez
>
> --
> -Gene
>
> "No one ever says, 'I can't read that ASCII E-mail you sent me.'"
>
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