man/man4/splash.4

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.\" Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
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.Dd April 7, 2010
.Dt SPLASH 4
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm splash
.Nd splash screen / screen saver interface
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Cd "device splash"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
pseudo device driver adds support for the splash screen and screen
savers to the kernel.
This driver is required if the splash bitmap image is to be loaded or
any screen saver is to be used.
.Ss Splash screen
You can load and display an arbitrary bitmap image file as a welcome banner
on the screen when the system is about to start.
This image will remain on the screen
during kernel initialization process
until the login prompt appears on the screen
or until a screen saver is loaded and initialized.
The image will also disappear if you hit any key,
although this may not work immediately
if the kernel is still probing devices.
.Pp
If you specify the
.Fl c
or
.Fl v
boot option when loading the kernel, the splash image will not appear.
However, it
is still loaded and can be used as a screen saver later: see below.
.Pp
In order to display the bitmap, the bitmap file itself and the
matching splash image decoder module must be loaded by the boot loader.
Currently the following decoder modules are available:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width splash_decoder -compact
.It Pa splash_bmp.ko
W*ndows BMP file decoder.
While the BMP file format allows images of various color depths, this
decoder currently only handles 256 color bitmaps.
Bitmaps of other color depths will not be displayed.
.It Pa splash_pcx.ko
ZSoft PCX decoder.
This decoder currently only supports version 5 8-bpp single-plane
images.
.El
.Pp
The
.Sx EXAMPLES
section illustrates how to set up the splash screen.
.Pp
If the standard VGA video mode is used,
the size of the bitmap must be 320x200 or less.
If you enable the VESA mode support in the kernel,
either by statically linking the VESA module or by loading the VESA module
(see
.Xr vga 4 ) ,
you can load bitmaps up to a resolution of 1024x768, depending on the VESA
BIOS and the amount of video memory on the video card.
.Ss Screen saver
The screen saver will activate when the system is considered idle: i.e.\&
when the user has not typed a key or moved the mouse for a specified period
of time.
As the screen saver is an optional module,
it must be explicitly loaded into memory.
Currently the following screen saver modules are available:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width splash_module.ko -compact
.It Pa blank_saver.ko
This screen saver simply blanks the screen.
.It Pa beastie_saver.ko
Animated graphical
.Bx
Daemon.
.It Pa daemon_saver.ko
Animated
.Bx
Daemon screen saver.
.It Pa dragon_saver.ko
Draws a random dragon curve.
.It Pa fade_saver.ko
The screen will gradually fade away.
.It Pa fire_saver.ko
A fire which becomes higher as load increases.
.It Pa green_saver.ko
If the monitor supports power saving mode, it will be turned off.
.It Pa logo_saver.ko
Animated graphical
.Fx
logo.
.It Pa rain_saver.ko
Draws a shower on the screen.
.It Pa snake_saver.ko
Draws a snake of string.
.It Pa star_saver.ko
Twinkling stars.
.It Pa warp_saver.ko
Streaking stars.
.El
.Pp
Screen saver modules can be loaded using
.Xr kldload 8 :
.Pp
.Dl kldload logo_saver
.Pp
The timeout value in seconds can be specified as follows:
.Pp
.Dl vidcontrol -t N
.Pp
Alternatively, you can set the
.Ar saver
variable in the
.Pa /etc/rc.conf
to the screen saver of your choice and
the timeout value to the
.Ar blanktime
variable so that the screen saver is automatically loaded
and the timeout value is set when the system starts.
.Pp
The screen saver may be instantly activated by hitting the
.Ar saver
key: the defaults are
.Em Shift-Pause
on the AT enhanced keyboard and
.Em Shift-Ctrl-NumLock/Pause
on the AT 84 keyboard.
You can change the
.Ar saver
key by modifying the keymap
(see
.Xr kbdcontrol 1 ,
.Xr keymap 5 ) ,
and assign the
.Ar saver
function to a key of your preference.
.Pp
The screen saver will not run if the screen is not in text mode.
.Ss Splash screen as a screen saver
If you load a splash image but do not load a screen saver,
you can continue using the splash module as a screen saver.
The screen blanking interval can be specified as described in the
.Sx Screen saver
section above.
.\".Sh DRIVER CONFIGURATION
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /boot/kernel/splash_xxxx.ko -compact
.It Pa /boot/defaults/loader.conf
boot loader configuration defaults
.It Pa /etc/rc.conf
system configuration information
.It Pa /boot/kernel/splash_*.ko
splash image decoder modules
.It Pa /boot/kernel/*_saver.ko
screen saver modules
.It Pa /boot/kernel/vesa.ko
the VESA support module
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
In order to load the splash screen or the screen saver, you must
have the following line in the kernel configuration file.
.Pp
.Dl device splash
.Pp
Next, edit
.Pa /boot/loader.conf
(see
.Xr loader.conf 5 )
and include the following lines:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
splash_bmp_load="YES"
bitmap_load="YES"
bitmap_name="/boot/chuck.bmp"
.Ed
.Pp
In the above example, the file
.Pa /boot/chuck.bmp
is loaded.
In the following example, the VESA module
is loaded so that a bitmap file which cannot be displayed in standard
VGA modes may be shown using one of the VESA video modes.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
splash_pcx_load="YES"
vesa_load="YES"
bitmap_load="YES"
bitmap_name="/boot/chuck.pcx"
.Ed
.Pp
If the VESA support is statically linked to the kernel, it is not
necessary to load the VESA module.
Just load the bitmap file and the splash decoder module as in the
first example above.
.\".Sh DIAGNOSTICS
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr vidcontrol 1 ,
.Xr syscons 4 ,
.Xr vga 4 ,
.Xr loader.conf 5 ,
.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
.Xr kldload 8 ,
.Xr kldunload 8
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
driver first appeared in
.Fx 3.1 .
.Sh AUTHORS
.An -nosplit
The
.Nm
driver and this manual page were written by
.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq yokota@FreeBSD.org .
The
.Pa splash_bmp
module was written by
.An Michael Smith Aq msmith@FreeBSD.org
and
.An Kazutaka Yokota .
The
.Pa splash_pcx
module was written by
.An Dag-Erling Sm\(/orgrav Aq des@FreeBSD.org
based on the
.Pa splash_bmp
code.
.Sh CAVEATS
Both the splash screen and the screen saver work with
.Xr syscons 4
only.
.Sh BUGS
If you load a screen saver while another screen saver has already
been loaded, the first screen saver will not be automatically unloaded
and will remain in memory, wasting kernel memory space.