Linux Boot Logo Patch

Linux Boot Logo Patch for 2.0.36

(To answer a frequently asked question: No, this patch does not work with the new 2.2.x kernel source! And I am sorry, but I do not expect to have the time to update it for the new kernel any time soon. If you are interested in updating it, feel free to take over and give it a try, but please contact me first.)

(Newsflash! Sven Geggus has found an even more brutal way of displaying a boot logo: He modifies the mainboard BIOS and removes the original manufacturer's logo. Visit his howto webpage) if you want to try yourself.)

I have done a few modifications on J Sullivan's original penguin-2_0_30.patch. The new patch is a bit more generic and so I renamed it from "penguin" to "bootlogo". During the boot sequence, this patch will alter the text mode font to display a graphics logo in the upper right corner of the screen.

You might want to look at these fake screenshots of the large logo (used for 16 point fonts) and the small logo (used for 8 point fonts and above).

Here's a list of differences to J's version:

Plus:

A nicer logo (see the image on this web page).
It is possible to add more than one logo for different font sizes.
You can now create your own boot logo, simply by putting a PBM bitmap file into the /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/bootlogo/ directory.
The logo and its color now are configure options.
And yes, the code now has a tiny bit of documentation and variable names that are easier to understand.

Minus:

There aren't two colors in the logo anymore.
The code to "fade in" the logo palette has been removed.

Changed:

It's not /proc/penguin anymore, but /proc/bootlogo.

Before grabbing this patch, please note that this is BETA code and probably still has a few errors. You were warned.

Please also note that it would be nice if you let me know what you think of it and how it worked on your machine. I need someone who could test this patch with non-Intel machines and someone else who could test it with an EGA card.

bootlogo_for_2_0_36.tar.gz

Install instructions for Linux Kernel 2.0.35 and 2.0.36:

cd /usr/src/
tar xzvf bootlogo_for_2_0_36.tar.gz
patch -p0 < bootlogo_for_2_0_36.patch
cd linux
make menuconfig
turn on the boot logo option in the "character devices" section
continue as usual
don't forget to add "echo > /proc/bootlogo" to your boot script - this is needed to turn off the logo!

See the enclosed README file for more information.

If you want to contribute own logos, please contact me. I'd like to collect nice logos and put them in a "contrib" directory, e. g. logos for different distributions.