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Sunday March 12, 2006

Faster seamless boot progress graphics

In the tradition of bigger (smaller?), better, faster, more, "console=graphics" has, as of Solaris Nevada build 34 (Solaris Express snv_34 or higher) and Solaris 10 Update 2, become historical in favor of loading the boot progress image faster/earlier. It is now loaded by GRUB and simply left on the screen. The kernel (multiboot to be precise) then detects the video mode (unless the system is on a serial console) and if it is the right graphics mode, the progress indicator is drawn and updated.

None of this addresses the fundamental issue of not being able to return to text mode, so graphical boot progress remains unsupported and undocumented for now. So as long as you're willing to accept that, you can remain blissfully ignorant of all the pesky messages produced during boot by following these steps:

1. If you used bfu (rather than upgraded), you should install the new GRUB bits in the bootblock by either running installgrub(1m) by hand or running, as root on your system, update_grub.
2. To put up the image add a splashimage command to your Solaris entry. You'll also want to set the foreground and background correctly. For example:

    
   title Solaris Nevada (happyface) 
     root (hd0,1,a) 
     splashimage /boot/solaris.xpm 
     foreground b2bc00 
     background 35556b 
     kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot 
     module /platform/i86pc/boot_archive 
   

   Eventually bootadm will learn how to manage such entries. For now you can run (as root on your system) add_happy_face_entries. And it will create the appropriate entries.

In addition to the technical changes, the boot progress graphics have been re-designed by an artist as opposed to an engineer. This resulted in giving them not only a far more polished look, but also integrating them with the other boot-time graphic, the GRUB background, and the (dtlogin / gdm) login screens which will appear in Solaris 10 Update 2 as well the Nevada builds.