Red Hat's Plymouth Sees New Work

[curaga]

Was this not already possible?

I mean having the right mode already set by grub2, then having the FB use the exact same mode, and then X too. It would result in no flicker, as trying to change the mode to the same one should just skip it, and to do this only slight hacking is needed (to get FB and grub to use the exact same timings as X).

I remember reading a blog post just about this - he also had a bootsplash set up to look like a KDE desktop, with boot messages scrolling in a pic of KTerminal (or whatever is the KDE terminal app), so the transition to desktop looked pretty seamless.

[Gentooer]

I still don't get what the big deal is about boot splash programs. I get from grub to a login prompt in 3-4 seconds. Who cares if a bunch of messages scroll across the screen? The only reason I would reboot anyway is to load a new kernel.

[elanthis]

Was this not already possible?

I mean having the right mode already set by grub2, then having the FB use the exact same mode, and then X too. It would result in no flicker, as trying to change the mode to the same one should just skip it, and to do this only slight hacking is needed (to get FB and grub to use the exact same timings as X).

Nope. First, the FB drivers are very limited, and can only support VESA modes iirc. I know the FB driver can't set my LCD's native mode.

Second, setting the mode again is not necessarily flicker-free on all hardware. Making it absolutely flicker-free everywhere requires not actually changing the mode, which requires X to know what mode it's in when it starts, which generally isn't particularly easy when the mode is set by the FB driver and then X wants to use its own mode-setting code and has no way to query the current mode...

KMS resolves all those problems, and Plymouth as a result is far simpler as it does not require trying to juggle GRUB, FB, and Xorg display settings (which might not even be compatible).

[curaga]

Many of the accelerated FB drivers have more than just VESA.
Yes, I do realize having a completed KMS-Plymoth combo is going to work on more hw and possibly better - it's just that claiming this is entirely new is not true.

[whizse]

[...]
Are there any plans for Debian?
(No, I'm not asking about Ubuntu and their upstart.)

One Debian Developer have expressed an interest in packaging it;

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=506899

[AliBaba]

Upstart is actually a replacement for the SystemV init system. Plymouth is more parallel to ubuntu's Usplash.

Yeah, sure. I meant you need to integrate it into your boot process - which means SysV for Debian and Upstart for Ubuntu.

Will KMS utilize more graphics modes so that we don't have, for example, a 1024x768 splash screen followed by a 1280x800 X Server login screen?

Well, as far as I know, there is no possibility to configure that atm, but with KMS my system boots at 1440x900 (the panel's native).
So yes, if you have an LCD-panel, Plymouth should run at the desired resolution.

[lykowdk]

I think it would be an interesting project to add fb based egl support to Plymouth.
OpenGL rendered bootsplash anyone?

[curaga]

Didn't directfb offer opengl, and also have a boot splash solution?

[lykowdk]

Didn't directfb offer opengl, and also have a boot splash solution?

Interesting.. Would you know if it is HW accelerated OpenGL? I thought the DirectFB OpenGL was software only.

[curaga]

It appears to have both, Mesa software rendering or hw accel via DRI. However I haven't used it, just stumbled upon