xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/splash.4 (revision e72055b7feba695a760d45f01f0f8268b1cb4a74)
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2.\" Copyright (c) 1999
3.\" Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
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27.\" $FreeBSD$
28.\"
29.Dd November 29, 2010
30.Dt SPLASH 4
31.Os
32.Sh NAME
33.Nm splash
34.Nd splash screen / screen saver interface
35.Sh SYNOPSIS
36.Cd "device splash"
37.Sh DESCRIPTION
38The
39.Nm
40pseudo device driver adds support for the splash screen and screen
41savers to the kernel.
42This driver is required if the splash bitmap image is to be loaded or
43any screen saver is to be used.
44.Ss Splash screen
45You can load and display an arbitrary bitmap image file as a welcome banner
46on the screen when the system is about to start.
47This image will remain on the screen
48during kernel initialization process
49until the login prompt appears on the screen
50or until a screen saver is loaded and initialized.
51The image will also disappear if you hit any key,
52although this may not work immediately
53if the kernel is still probing devices.
54.Pp
55If you specify the
56.Fl c
57or
58.Fl v
59boot option when loading the kernel, the splash image will not appear.
60However, it
61is still loaded and can be used as a screen saver later: see below.
62.Pp
63In order to display the bitmap, the bitmap file itself and the
64matching splash image decoder module must be loaded by the boot loader.
65Currently the following decoder modules are available:
66.Pp
67.Bl -tag -width splash_decoder -compact
68.It Pa splash_bmp.ko
69W*ndows BMP file decoder.
70While the BMP file format allows images of various color depths, this
71decoder currently only handles 256 color bitmaps.
72Bitmaps of other color depths will not be displayed.
73.It Pa splash_pcx.ko
74ZSoft PCX decoder.
75This decoder currently only supports version 5 8-bpp single-plane
76images.
77.It Pa splash_txt.ko
78TheDraw binary ASCII drawing file decoder.
79Displays a text-mode 80x25 ASCII drawing, such as that produced by
80the Binary save format in TheDraw.
81This format consists of a sequence
82of two byte pairs representing the 80x25 display, where the first byte
83is the ASCII character to draw and the second byte indicates the
84colors/attributes to use when drawing the character.
85.El
86.Pp
87The
88.Sx EXAMPLES
89section illustrates how to set up the splash screen.
90.Pp
91If the standard VGA video mode is used,
92the size of the bitmap must be 320x200 or less.
93If you enable the VESA mode support in the kernel,
94either by statically linking the VESA module or by loading the VESA module
95(see
96.Xr vga 4 ) ,
97you can load bitmaps up to a resolution of 1024x768, depending on the VESA
98BIOS and the amount of video memory on the video card.
99.Ss Screen saver
100The screen saver will activate when the system is considered idle: i.e.\&
101when the user has not typed a key or moved the mouse for a specified period
102of time.
103As the screen saver is an optional module,
104it must be explicitly loaded into memory.
105Currently the following screen saver modules are available:
106.Pp
107.Bl -tag -width splash_module.ko -compact
108.It Pa blank_saver.ko
109This screen saver simply blanks the screen.
110.It Pa beastie_saver.ko
111Animated graphical
112.Bx
113Daemon.
114.It Pa daemon_saver.ko
115Animated
116.Bx
117Daemon screen saver.
118.It Pa dragon_saver.ko
119Draws a random dragon curve.
120.It Pa fade_saver.ko
121The screen will gradually fade away.
122.It Pa fire_saver.ko
123A fire which becomes higher as load increases.
124.It Pa green_saver.ko
125The screen will be blanked, similar to
126.Pa blank_saver.ko .
127If the monitor and the video card's BIOS support it
128the screen will also be powered off.
129.It Pa logo_saver.ko
130Animated graphical
131.Fx
132logo.
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.
285.Sh CAVEATS
286Both the splash screen and the screen saver work with
287.Xr syscons 4
288only.
289.Sh BUGS
290If you load a screen saver while another screen saver has already
291been loaded, the first screen saver will not be automatically unloaded
292and will remain in memory, wasting kernel memory space.
293