man/man4/splash.4

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.\" Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
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.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd February 9, 1999
.Dt SPLASH 4 i386
.Os FreeBSD
.Sh NAME
.Nm splash
.Nd
splash screen / screen saver interface
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Cd "pseudo-device splash"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
pseudo device driver adds support for the splash screen and screen
savers to the kernel.
This driver is required if the splash bitmap image is to be loaded or
any screen saver is to be used.
.Sh SPLASH SCREEN
You can load and display an arbitrary bitmap image file as welcome banner
on the screen when the system is about to start.  This image will remain on
the screen during kernel initialization process until the ``Login'' prompt
appears on the screen or until a screen saver is loaded and initialized.
The image will also disappear if you hit any key, although this may not work
immediately if the kernel is still probing devices.
.Pp
If you specify
.Fl c
or
.Fl v
boot option when loading kernel, the splash image will not appear. However, it
is still loaded and can be used as a screen saver later: see below.
.Pp
In order to display the bitmap, the bitmap file itself and the
matching splash image decoder module must be loaded by the boot loader.
Currently the following decoder module is available:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width splash_decoder -compact
.It Pa splash_bmp.ko
W*ndows BMP file decoder.
While the BMP file format allows images of various color depths, this
decoder currently only handles 256 color bitmaps.  Bitmaps of other color
depths will not be displayed.
.It Pa splash_pcx.ko
ZSoft PCX decoder.
This decoder currently only supports version 5 8-bpp single-plane
images.
.El
.Pp
The
.Sx EXAMPLES
section illustrates how to set up the splash screen.
.Pp
If the standard VGA video mode is used,
the size of the bitmap must be 320x200 or less.
If you enable the VESA mode support in the kernel,
either by statically linking the VESA module or by loading the VESA module
.Pq see Xr vga 4 ,
you can load bitmaps up to a resolution of 1024x768, depending on the VESA
BIOS and the amount of video memory on the video card.
.Sh SCREEN SAVER
The screen saver will activate when the system is considered idle: i.e.
when the user has not typed a key or moved the mouse for a specified period
of time.  As the screen saver is an optional module, it must be explicitly
loaded into memory. Currently the following screen saver modules are
available:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width splash_module.ko -compact
.It Pa blank_saver.ko
This screen saver simply blanks the screen.
.It Pa daemon_saver.ko
Animated BSD Daemon screen saver.
.It Pa fade_saver.ko
The screen will gradually fade away.
.It Pa green_saver.ko
If the monitor supports power saving mode, it will be turned off.
.It Pa logo_saver.ko
Animated graphical BSD Daemon.
.It Pa rain_saver.ko
Draws shower on the screen.
.It Pa snake_saver.ko
Draws a snake of string.
.It Pa star_saver.ko
Twinkling stars.
.It Pa warp_saver.ko
Streaking stars.
.El
.Pp
Screen saver modules can be loaded using
.Xr kldload 8 :
.Pp
.Dl kldload logo_saver
.Pp
The timeout value in seconds can be specified as follows:
.Pp
.Dl vidcontrol -t N
.Pp
Alternatively, you can set the
.Ar saver
variable in the
.Pa /etc/rc.conf
to the screen saver of your choice and
the timeout value to the
.Ar blanktime
variable so that the screen saver is automatically loaded
and the timeout value is set when the system starts.
.Pp
The screen saver may be instantly activated by hitting the
.Ar saver
key: the defaults are
.Em Shift-Pause
 on the AT enhanced keyboard and
.Em Shift-Ctrl-NumLock/Pause
on the AT 84 keyboard. You can change the
.Ar saver
key by modifying the keymap
.Pq see Xr kbdcontrol 1 , Xr keymap 5 ,
and assign the
.Ar saver
function to a key of your preference.
.Pp
The screen saver will not run if the screen is not in text mode.
.Sh SPLASH SCREEN AS A SCREEN SAVER
If you load a splash image but do not load a screen saver,
you can continue using the splash module as a screen saver.
The screen blanking interval can be specified as described in the
.Sx SCREEN SAVER
section above.
.\".Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /modules/splash_xxxx.ko -compact
.It /boot/loader.rc
boot loader script
.It /etc/rc.conf
system configuration information
.It /modules/splash_*.ko
splash image decoder modules
.It /modules/*_saver.ko
screen saver modules
.It /modules/vesa.ko
the VESA support module
.El
.Sh EXAMPLE
In order to load the splash screen or the screen saver, you must
have the following line in the kernel configuration file.
.Pp
.Dl pseudo-device splash
.Pp
The following examples show how to load the splash screen image from
the boot loader prompt.
They may be typed by hand at the loader prompt or may be written in
the boot loader script
.Pa /boot/loader.rc
.Pq see Xr loader.rc 5 .
.Bd -literal -offset indent
load kernel
load -t splash_image_data chuck.bmp
load splash_bmp
.Ed
.Pp
The second line loads a bitmap image file to be used in the splash screen.
In the above example, the file
.Pa chuck.bmp
is loaded.
It is extremely important to include the option
.Fl t Ar splash_image_data
in this line, as the splash image decoder module will search for
this tag name when looking up the preloaded bitmap data.
The third line loads the splash image decoder module
.Pa splash_bmp .
.Pp
In the following example, the VESA module
is loaded so that a bitmap file which cannot be displayed in standard
VGA modes may be shown using one of the VESA video modes.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
load kernel
load vesa
load -t splash_image_data chuck.pcx
load splash_pcx
.Ed
.Pp
If the VESA support is statically linked to the kernel, it is not
necessary to load the VESA module.
Just load the bitmap file and the splash decoder module as in the
first example above.
.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS
.Sh CAVEATS
Both the splash screen and the screen saver work with
.Xr syscons 4
only.  They are not available for the alternative console driver
.Xr pcvt 4 .
.Sh BUGS
If you load a screen saver while another screen saver has already
been loaded, the first screen saver will not be automatically unloaded
and will remain in memory, wasting kernel memory space.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr vidcontrol 1 ,
.Xr syscons 4 ,
.Xr vga 4 ,
.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
.Xr kldload 8 ,
.Xr kldunload 8 .
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
driver first appeared in
.Fx 3.1 .
.Sh AUTHORS
The
.Nm
driver and this manual page were written by
.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq yokota@FreeBSD.org .
The
.Pa splash_bmp
module was written by
.An Michael Smith Aq msmith@FreeBSD.org
and
.An Kazutaka Yokota .
The
.Pa splash_pcx
module was written by
.An Dag-Erling Sm�rgrav Aq des@FreeBDS.org
based on the
.Pa splash_bmp
code.