- Add section "Boot Time Splash Screens"

Submitted by:	Joseph J. Barbish <fbsd1 (at) a1poweruser (dot) com>,
		martinko <gamato (at) users (dot) sf (dot) net> (fixes)

Reviewed by:	manolis, trhodes

en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/boot/chapter.sgml

@@ -506,6 +506,187 @@ boot:</screen>
 	  <screen><userinput>load -t userconfig_script <replaceable>/boot/kernel.conf</replaceable></userinput></screen>
 	</listitem>
       </itemizedlist>
+  </sect3>
+
+      <sect3 id="boot-splash">
+	<sect3info>
+	  <authorgroup>
+	    <author>
+	      <firstname>Joseph J.</firstname>
+	      <surname>Barbish</surname>
+	      <contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
+	    </author>
+	  </authorgroup>
+	</sect3info>
+
+	<title>Boot Time Splash Screens</title>
+
+	<para>The splash screen creates a more visually appealing boot
+	  screen compared to the original boot messages.  This screen
+	  will be displayed until a console login prompt or an X display
+	  manager offers a login prompt.</para>
+
+	<para>There are two basic environments available in &os;.  The
+	  first is the default legacy virtual console command line
+	  environment.  After the system finishes booting, a console
+	  login prompt is presented.  The second environment is the X11
+	  Desktop graphical environment.  After <link
+	  linkend="x-install">X11</link> and one of the graphical <link
+	  linkend="x11-wm">desktop environments</link>, such as
+	  <application>GNOME</application>,
+	  <application>KDE</application>, or
+	  <application>XFce</application> are installed, the X11 desktop
+	  can be launched by using the <command>startx</command>
+	  command.</para>
+
+	<para>Some users prefer the X11 graphical login screen over the
+	  traditional text based login prompt.  Display managers
+	  like <application>XDM</application> for
+	  &xorg;, <application>gdm</application> for
+	  <application>GNOME</application>, and
+	  <application>kdm</application> for
+	  <application>KDE</application> (and any other from the Ports
+	  Collection) basically provide a graphical login screen in
+	  place of the console login prompt.  After a successful login,
+	  they present the user with a graphical desktop.</para>
+
+	<para>In the command line environment, the splash screen would
+	  hide all the boot probe messages and task startup messages
+	  before displaying the login prompt.  In X11 environment, the
+	  users would get a visually clearer system start up experience
+	  resembling something closer to what a (&microsoft; &windows;
+	  or non-unix type system) user would experience.</para>
+
+	<sect4 id="boot-splash-function">
+	  <title>Splash Screen Function</title>
+
+	  <para>The splash screen function only supports 256-color
+	    bitmap (<filename>.bmp</filename>) or ZSoft
+	    <acronym>PCX</acronym> (<filename>.pcx</filename>) files.
+	    In addition, the splash image files must have a resolution
+	    of 320 by 200 pixels or less to work on standard VGA
+	    adapters.</para>
+
+	  <para>To use larger images, up to the maximum resolution of
+	    1024 by 768 pixels, activate the <acronym>VESA</acronym>
+	    support included in &os;.  This can be enabled by loading
+	    the <acronym>VESA</acronym> module during system boot, or
+	    adding a <literal>VESA</literal> kernel configuration option
+	    and building a custom kernel (see <xref
+	    linkend="kernelconfig">).  The <acronym>VESA</acronym>
+	    support gives users the ability to display a splash screen
+	    image that fills the whole display screen.
+
+	  <para>While the splash screen is being displayed during the
+	    booting process, it can be turned off any time by hitting
+	    any key on the keyboard.</para>
+
+	  <para>The splash screen also defaults to being a screen saver
+	    outside of X11.  After a time period of non-use the screen
+	    will change to the splash screen and cycle through steps of
+	    changing intensity of the image, from bright to a very dark
+	    and over again.  This default splash screen (screen saver)
+	    behavior could be overridden by adding a
+	    <literal>saver=</literal> line to
+	    <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename>.  Option
+	    <literal>saver=</literal> has several built-in screen savers
+	    to choose from, the full list can be found in the
+	    &man.splash.4; manual page.  The default screen saver is
+	    called <quote>warp</quote>.  Note that the
+	    <literal>saver=</literal> option specified in
+	    <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename> only applies to virtual
+	    consoles.  It has no effect on X11 display managers.</para>
+
+	  <para>A few boot loader messages, including the boot options
+	    menu and a timed wait count down prompt are displayed at
+	    boot time, even when the splash screen is enabled.</para>
+
+	  <para>Sample splash screen files can be downloaded from the
+	    gallery at <ulink
+	      url="http://www.baldwin.cx/splash/"></ulink>. By
+	    installing the <filename
+	      role="package">sysutils/bsd-splash-changer</filename>
+	    port, splash images can be chosen from a collection randomly
+	    at each boot.</para>
+	</sect4>
+
+	<sect4 id="boot-splash-enable">
+	  <title>Enabling the Splash Screen Function</title>
+
+	  <para>The splash screen (<filename>.bmp</filename>) or
+	    (<filename>.pcx</filename>) file has to be placed in the
+	    <filename
+	      class="directory">/boot</filename> directory.</para>
+
+	  <para>For default boot display resolution (256-color, 320 by
+	    200 pixels, or less), edit
+	    <filename>/boot/loader.conf</filename>, so it contains the
+	    following:</para>
+
+	  <programlisting>splash_bmp_load="YES"
+bitmap_load="YES"
+bitmap_name="<replaceable>/boot/splash.bmp</replaceable>"</programlisting>
+
+	  <para>For larger video resolutions up to the maximum of 1024
+	    by 768 pixels, edit <filename>/boot/loader.conf</filename>,
+	    so it contains the following:</para>
+
+	  <programlisting>vesa_load="YES"
+splash_bmp_load="YES"
+bitmap_load="YES"
+bitmap_name="<replaceable>/boot/splash.bmp</replaceable>"</programlisting>
+
+	  <para>The above assumes that
+	    <filename><replaceable>/boot/splash.bmp</replaceable></filename>
+	    is used for splash screen.  When a <acronym>PCX</acronym>
+	    file is desired, use the following statements, plus the
+	    <literal>vesa_load="YES"</literal> line depending on the
+	    resolution.</para>
+
+	  <programlisting>splash_pcx_load="YES"
+bitmap_load="YES"
+bitmap_name="<replaceable>/boot/splash.pcx</replaceable>"</programlisting>
+
+	  <para>The file name is not restricted to <quote>splash</quote>
+	    as shown in the above example.  It can be anything as long
+	    as it has type of <acronym>BMP</acronym> or
+	    <acronym>PCX</acronym>, such as
+	    <filename><replaceable>splash_640x400</replaceable>.bmp</filename>
+	    or
+	    <filename><replaceable>blue_wave</replaceable>.pcx</filename>.</para>
+
+	  <para>Some other interesting <filename>loader.conf</filename>
+	    options:</para>
+
+	  <variablelist>
+	    <varlistentry>
+	      <term><literal>beastie_disable="YES"</literal></term>
+
+	      <listitem>
+		<para>This will stop the boot options menu from being
+		  displayed, but the timed wait count down prompt will
+		  still be present.  Even with the display of the boot
+		  options menu disabled, entering an option selection at
+		  the timed wait count down prompt will enact the
+		  corresponding boot option.</para>
+	      </listitem>
+	    </varlistentry>
+
+	    <varlistentry>
+	      <term><literal>loader_logo="beastie"</literal></term>
+
+	      <listitem>
+		<para>This will replace the default words
+		  <quote>&os;</quote>, which are displayed to the right
+		  of the boot options menu with the colored beastie logo
+		  like releases in the past had.</para>
+	      </listitem>
+	    </varlistentry>
+	  </variablelist>
+
+	  <para>For more information, please see the &man.splash.4;,
+	    &man.loader.conf.5;, and &man.vga.4; manual pages.</para>
+	</sect4>
       </sect3>
     </sect2>
   </sect1>