[syslinux] not sure how to get rid of white screen during boot

[Douglas McClendon]

On 02/20/2011 12:33 AM, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> 3.86 is way old.

Everything I wrote below is unchanged with syslinux-4.02-3.el6.i686 
which I pulled from fedora-14.  Maybe in those 4 seconds syslinux is 
still in play uncompressing kernel/initrd(?) or something else, but 
either way, I may take a look at what it takes to fade the menu-text 
and/or splash-image out as soon as the selection is made.  (and both 
with an optional and probably timelength tunable fade in as well).

/me likes the fades...

-dmc

>
> "Douglas McClendon"<dmc.syslinux at cloudsession.com>  wrote:
>
>> On 02/19/2011 11:51 PM, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>>> On 02/19/2011 09:37 PM, Douglas McClendon wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> With the most recent kernels, with "quiet vga=current" the graphic
>>>>> splash can be retained during the execution of the kernel; in fact
>> if
>>>>> the resolution is the same some video drivers can actually leave
>> the
>>>>> image intact during the kernel transition.
>>>>
>>>> Alternately if I want to go that route, I'd still very much like for
>> the
>>>> menu text to disappear as soon as the options/menu are no longer
>>>> selectable/manipulable by the user.  Having it stay up on the screen
>> for
>>>> 4 seconds I find aesthetically sub-optimal.  Optimal IMHO would also
>> be
>>>> having the text fade out in 0.25s, but I don't know how doable that
>> is
>>>> with the particular console/text system presently in use at the
>> time.
>>>>
>>>
>>> The menu text does disappear.
>>
>> I'm using syslinux-3.86-1.1.el6.i686 from a scientific/rhe/linux 6.0
>> system.  vesamenu.c32 with a background image on an early acer aspire
>> one netbook (intel video I think).  What I see subsequently after I hit
>>
>> enter on my default linux vga=current presumably kms setup, is the same
>>
>> screen with menu text and splash held for 4-5 seconds, before a flash
>> of
>> all black that looks to also have lcd backlight off, and then a flash
>> to
>> all black with backlight on, then I'm pretty sure for temporary
>> reasons,
>> the text "Fontconfig: failed to load default config", then a switch to
>> a
>> perhaps darker shade of black as plymouth renders its first all black
>> screen of my plymouth-theme.
>>
>> So its those 4 seconds of looking at that menu after it has become
>> 'done
>> with' that bother me aesthetically.
>>
>> What I'd like to see for my own ideal config, is fades for everything.
>> First, 0.25s fading in syslinux splash, then quartersec
>> fadeout(to-black) for both menu text and syslinux splash.  Then maybe
>> linux kms does a lcd backlight flash, then if unavoidable a mostly all
>> black text mode with no text (I can shut up my fontconfig config
>> problem
>> and then I think I'm good enough for now), then plymouth with a theme
>> that starts all black, and has entirely smooth fades for its
>> init/handofftogdm.
>>
>>>
>>> Making the text fade would be doable, but I don't think I will
>>> personally have time to implement it.
>>
>> If I find the time (maybe), I'll bring up any questions I run into.
>> The
>> main presumption is the facility of an easy value changable
>> variable/memlocation which can change the rendered text color with
>> sufficient granularity to produce some 5frame or more fade?
>>
>> -dmc
>