xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/splash.4 (revision a03411e84728e9b267056fd31c7d1d9d1dc1b01e)
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3.\" Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
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27.Dd December 31, 2015
28.Dt SPLASH 4
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm splash
32.Nd splash screen / screen saver interface
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34.Cd "device splash"
35.Sh DESCRIPTION
36The
37.Nm
38pseudo device driver adds support for the splash screen and screen
39savers to the kernel.
40This driver is required if the splash bitmap image is to be loaded or
41any screen saver is to be used.
42.Ss Splash screen
43You can load and display an arbitrary bitmap image file as a welcome banner
44on the screen when the system is about to start.
45This image will remain on the screen
46during kernel initialization process
47until the login prompt appears on the screen
48or until a screen saver is loaded and initialized.
49The image will also disappear if you hit any key,
50although this may not work immediately
51if the kernel is still probing devices.
52.Pp
53If you specify the
54.Fl c
55or
56.Fl v
57boot option when loading the kernel, the splash image will not appear.
58However, it
59is still loaded and can be used as a screen saver later: see below.
60.Pp
61In order to display the bitmap, the bitmap file itself and the
62matching splash image decoder module must be loaded by the boot loader.
63Currently the following decoder modules are available:
64.Pp
65.Bl -tag -width splash_decoder -compact
66.It Pa splash_bmp.ko
67Windows BMP file decoder.
68While the BMP file format allows images of various color depths, this
69decoder currently only handles 256 color bitmaps.
70Bitmaps of other color depths will not be displayed.
71.It Pa splash_pcx.ko
72ZSoft PCX decoder.
73This decoder currently only supports version 5 8-bpp single-plane
74images.
75.It Pa splash_txt.ko
76TheDraw binary ASCII drawing file decoder.
77Displays a text-mode 80x25 ASCII drawing, such as that produced by
78the Binary save format in TheDraw.
79This format consists of a sequence
80of two byte pairs representing the 80x25 display, where the first byte
81is the ASCII character to draw and the second byte indicates the
82colors/attributes to use when drawing the character.
83.El
84.Pp
85The
86.Sx EXAMPLES
87section illustrates how to set up the splash screen.
88.Pp
89If the standard VGA video mode is used,
90the size of the bitmap must be 320x200 or less.
91If you enable the VESA mode support in the kernel,
92either by statically linking the VESA module or by loading the VESA module
93(see
94.Xr vga 4 ) ,
95you can load bitmaps up to a resolution of 1024x768, depending on the VESA
96BIOS and the amount of video memory on the video card.
97.Ss Screen saver
98The screen saver will activate when the system is considered idle: i.e.\&
99when the user has not typed a key or moved the mouse for a specified period
100of time.
101As the screen saver is an optional module,
102it must be explicitly loaded into memory.
103Currently the following screen saver modules are available:
104.Pp
105.Bl -tag -width splash_module.ko -compact
106.It Pa blank_saver.ko
107This screen saver simply blanks the screen.
108.It Pa beastie_saver.ko
109Animated graphical
110.Bx
111Daemon.
112.It Pa daemon_saver.ko
113Animated
114.Bx
115Daemon screen saver.
116.It Pa dragon_saver.ko
117Draws a random dragon curve.
118.It Pa fade_saver.ko
119The screen will gradually fade away.
120.It Pa fire_saver.ko
121A fire which becomes higher as load increases.
122.It Pa green_saver.ko
123The screen will be blanked, similar to
124.Pa blank_saver.ko .
125If the monitor and the video card's BIOS support it
126the screen will also be powered off.
127.It Pa logo_saver.ko
128Animated graphical
129.Fx
130logo.
131.It Pa plasma_saver.ko
132Draws an animated interference pattern.
133.It Pa rain_saver.ko
134Draws a shower on the screen.
135.It Pa snake_saver.ko
136Draws a snake of string.
137.It Pa star_saver.ko
138Twinkling stars.
139.It Pa warp_saver.ko
140Streaking stars.
141.El
142.Pp
143Screen saver modules can be loaded using
144.Xr kldload 8 :
145.Pp
146.Dl kldload logo_saver
147.Pp
148The timeout value in seconds can be specified as follows:
149.Pp
150.Dl vidcontrol -t N
151.Pp
152Alternatively, you can set the
153.Ar saver
154variable in the
155.Pa /etc/rc.conf
156to the screen saver of your choice and
157the timeout value to the
158.Ar blanktime
159variable so that the screen saver is automatically loaded
160and the timeout value is set when the system starts.
161.Pp
162The screen saver may be instantly activated by hitting the
163.Ar saver
164key: the defaults are
165.Em Shift-Pause
166on the AT enhanced keyboard and
167.Em Shift-Ctrl-NumLock/Pause
168on the AT 84 keyboard.
169You can change the
170.Ar saver
171key by modifying the keymap
172(see
173.Xr kbdcontrol 1 ,
174.Xr keymap 5 ) ,
175and assign the
176.Ar saver
177function to a key of your preference.
178.Pp
179The screen saver will not run if the screen is not in text mode.
180.Ss Splash screen as a screen saver
181If you load a splash image but do not load a screen saver,
182you can continue using the splash module as a screen saver.
183The screen blanking interval can be specified as described in the
184.Sx Screen saver
185section above.
186.\".Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION
187.Sh FILES
188.Bl -tag -width /boot/kernel/splash_xxxx.ko -compact
189.It Pa /boot/defaults/loader.conf
190boot loader configuration defaults
191.It Pa /etc/rc.conf
192system configuration information
193.It Pa /boot/kernel/splash_*.ko
194splash image decoder modules
195.It Pa /boot/kernel/*_saver.ko
196screen saver modules
197.It Pa /boot/kernel/vesa.ko
198the VESA support module
199.El
200.Sh EXAMPLES
201In order to load the splash screen or the screen saver, you must
202have the following line in the kernel configuration file.
203.Pp
204.Dl device splash
205.Pp
206Next, edit
207.Pa /boot/loader.conf
208(see
209.Xr loader.conf 5 )
210and include the following lines:
211.Bd -literal -offset indent
212splash_bmp_load="YES"
213bitmap_load="YES"
214bitmap_name="/boot/chuck.bmp"
215.Ed
216.Pp
217In the above example, the file
218.Pa /boot/chuck.bmp
219is loaded.
220In the following example, the VESA module
221is loaded so that a bitmap file which cannot be displayed in standard
222VGA modes may be shown using one of the VESA video modes.
223.Bd -literal -offset indent
224splash_pcx_load="YES"
225vesa_load="YES"
226bitmap_load="YES"
227bitmap_name="/boot/chuck.pcx"
228.Ed
229.Pp
230If the VESA support is statically linked to the kernel, it is not
231necessary to load the VESA module.
232Just load the bitmap file and the splash decoder module as in the
233first example above.
234.Pp
235To load a binary ASCII drawing and display this while booting, include the
236following into your
237.Pa /boot/loader.conf :
238.Bd -literal -offset indent
239splash_txt_load="YES"
240bitmap_load="YES"
241bitmap_name="/boot/splash.bin"
242.Ed
243.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS
244.Sh SEE ALSO
245.Xr vidcontrol 1 ,
246.Xr syscons 4 ,
247.Xr vga 4 ,
248.Xr loader.conf 5 ,
249.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
250.Xr kldload 8 ,
251.Xr kldunload 8
252.Sh HISTORY
253The
254.Nm
255driver first appeared in
256.Fx 3.1 .
257.Sh AUTHORS
258.An -nosplit
259The
260.Nm
261driver and this manual page were written by
262.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq Mt yokota@FreeBSD.org .
263The
264.Pa splash_bmp
265module was written by
266.An Michael Smith Aq Mt msmith@FreeBSD.org
267and
268.An Kazutaka Yokota .
269The
270.Pa splash_pcx
271module was written by
272.An Dag-Erling Sm\(/orgrav Aq Mt des@FreeBSD.org
273based on the
274.Pa splash_bmp
275code.
276The
277.Pa splash_txt
278module was written by
279.An Antony Mawer Aq Mt antony@mawer.org
280based on the
281.Pa splash_bmp
282code, with some additional inspiration from the
283.Pa daemon_saver
284code.
285The
286.Pa logo_saver ,
287.Pa plasma_saver ,
288.Pa rain_saver
289and
290.Pa warp_saver
291modules were written by
292.An Dag-Erling Sm\(/orgrav Aq Mt des@FreeBSD.org .
293.Sh CAVEATS
294Both the splash screen and the screen saver work with
295.Xr syscons 4
296only.
297.Sh BUGS
298If you load a screen saver while another screen saver has already
299been loaded, the first screen saver will not be automatically unloaded
300and will remain in memory, wasting kernel memory space.
301