Bootsplash
Encyclopedia
Bootsplash is a term for a graphical representation of the boot process
Booting
In computing, booting is a process that begins when a user turns on a computer system and prepares the computer to perform its normal operations. On modern computers, this typically involves loading and starting an operating system. The boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the...

 of the operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

.

Bootsplash can be a simple visualisation of the scrolling boot messages in the console, but it can also present graphics or some combinations of both.

Unlike splash screen
Splash screen
A splash screen is an image that appears while a game or program is loading. It may also be used to describe an introduction page on a website. Splash screens sometimes do not cover the entire screen, but only a rectangle near the center...

s, bootsplash is not necessarily designed for marketing purposes, but can be to enhance the experience of the user as eye candy
Eye candy
Eye candy may refer to:*Attractiveness*Eye Candy , an album by Mis-Teeq*software "Eye Candy", a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks that adds new filter effects*"Eye Candy", an episode of the animated series Happy Tree Friends...

, or provide the user with messages (with an added advantage of color coding facility) to diagnose the state of the system.

Windows boot screen

All versions of Microsoft Windows feature a boot screen, which is loaded during the startup process. With extra, third-party utilities, it is possible to replace the default Windows boot screen with custom images, text, and/or animations. In Windows Vista, it is also possible to replace the default boot screen with the alternative "Aurora" boot screen (which does not feature graphical animation) or a scrolling text information about files being loaded.

In Windows 7, the change of the boot screen, although possible through third-party utilities, is extremely risky and may cause the system to be unable to boot. Also the hidden "Aurora" bootscreen was removed.

Linux boot screens

  • Bootsplash – the first and original implementation of a Linux kernel bootsplash, superseded by Splashy
  • Splashy
    Splashy
    Splashy is a splash screen program for Unix-like computer operating systems , such as Linux and FreeBSD.Splashy was designed to replace Bootsplash. Unlike Bootsplash, it runs completely in userspace and therefore doesn't require any patches to the OS kernel...

     – a graphical boot process designed to replace the aging Bootsplash program
  • usplash
    Usplash
    Usplash is a software project in the Ubuntu community. Historically, scrolling text "verbose mode" has typically appeared on Linux computers during boot. Usplash replaces the scrolling-text screens with a graphical splash screen. It was designed to replace Bootsplash, which did the same thing on...

     – former bootsplash program used by Ubuntu
    Ubuntu (operating system)
    Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...

  • XSplash
    XSplash
    XSplash is a software project in the Ubuntu community that uses the X Window System to replace the scrolling-text screens that appear while booting a Linux-based computer with a graphical splash screen....

     – new splash program used by Ubuntu starting from 9.10
  • Plymouth (software)
    Plymouth (software)
    Plymouth is a bootsplash for Linux. It supports animations. It makes use of Direct Rendering Manager and kernel-based mode-setting . It gets packed into the initrd.Besides eye-candy, Plymouth also handles user interaction during boot....

     – the new graphical boot process for Fedora, replacing the aging Red Hat Graphical Boot

Further reading

- RHGB: The bootsplash program used by Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....

distributions
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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