Grub Splash Image on my Eee PC

2008-02-25T21:23:00.004-05:00

The default eeeXubuntu install doesn't setup a background image while the GRUB (the bootloader) is on screen. Quick google search and I found this post about enabling a splash image.

I installed grub-splashimages from the ubuntu repository and created the symlink to debian.xpm.gz. The next step was running update-grub, this added the necessary splashimage= line to /boot/grub/menu.lst but it got the drive numbering wrong and setup everything to boot from (hd2,0) instead of (hd0,0). I didn't notice this before rebooting so I had to edit the boot parameters in GRUB's shell to boot properly. I would recommend manually adding

splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/xubuntu.xpm.gz

to /boot/grub/menu.lst instead of running update-grub.

Once I fixed /boot/grub/menu.lst I rebooted and to my pleasure saw the debian splash image instead of black behind the GRUB menu.

None of the images that came as part of grub-splashimages were to my liking so I went on a hunt to find another image. After searching through many options on gnome-look.org and kde-look.org I decided to make my own. It's designed to fit with the default xubuntu GDM theme.

I'm certainly no artist and I'm sure someone else could do much better but it's sufficient for my needs.

Another quick search turned up a detailed Howto from Luis R. Rodriguez that contained contained the require steps for making your own image. After installing ImageMagick I converted the png I produced to the required format and gzipped it up.

 convert -resize 640x480 -colors 14 image.png image.xpm
gzip image.xpm

Here's the formatted and gzipped file for use as a GRUB splash image

Moving an eeeXubuntu install from SDHC to SSD

2008-02-25T21:00:00.005-05:00

When I first installed eeeXubuntu on my Eee PC I wanted to keep the default Xandros installation intact so I could use it to help sort out any issues that arose during the eeeXubuntu install. To this end I installed eeeXubuntu on an 8 GB SDHC card leaving the internal 4 GB sold state disk alone.

The install was painless and I never once booted back to Xandros so I decided it was time to dump Xandros and move the eeeXubuntu install to the SSD. I had already started customizing eeeXubuntu so I did not want to bother with a reinstall. A couple users on the EeeUser forums were asking how to accomplish this so I detailed the steps I took.

I just did this today.

First thing to do is repartition the SSD. I wanted to use suspend to disk so I needed a swap partition the size of the amount of RAM. You can just go with one partition if this is not important to you.

Partition Layout Before:


Device    Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1         300     2409718+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2             301         484     1477980   83  Linux
/dev/sda3             485         485        8032+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda4             486         486        8032+  ef  EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

After:


Device     Boot      Start        End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1         419     3365586   83  Linux
/dev/sda2             420         484      522112+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3             485         485        8032+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda4             486         486        8032+  ef  EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

Create the file systems (omit the second command if you're not using swap)

sudo mkfs.ext2 -L LABEL /dev/sda1
sudo mkswap /dev/sda2

Mount the new root file system

sudo mkdir /mnt/tmp
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/tmp

Clean out old *.deb files (optional)

sudo apt-get clean

Copy the old directories to the new new root file system. (Exclude /tmp /sys /proc /dev /lost+found /media /mnt)
This will take a few minutes (open a second terminal and use "df" to check on progress)

sudo cp -a bin boot etc initrd initrd.img lib opt root sbin srv usr var vmlinuz home /mnt/tmp/

Create empty directories for the omitted directories

cd /mnt/tmp
sudo mkdir dev sys proc mnt tmp media

Create the required device nodes in /dev

cd /mnt/tmp/dev
sudo mknod -m 660 console c 5 1
sudo mknod -m 660 null c 1 3

Open /mnt/tmp/etc/fstab with your preferred editor and make /dev/sda1 your root partition

# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
/dev/sda1       /               ext2    defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
tmpfs           /var/tmp        tmpfs   noatime         0       0
tmpfs           /tmp            tmpfs   noatime         0       0

Modify the Grub configuration on the SDHC to boot from the SDD
Open /boot/grub/menu.lst and copy an existing entry, changing the root parameter so it looks like this

title           Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic from SDD
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

Reboot the system choose the newly added "from SDD" option

Once booted verify that you've booted from the correct disk by typing "df"
/dev/sda1 should be your root partition

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             3.2G  1.9G  1.1G  64% /

Final step is to install grub on the SDD

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Remove the SDHC and reboot the system, it should now boot directly in to xubuntu from the SDD

You may need to change the BIOS boot order to keep it from booting off the SDHC when it's inserted.

Scribbles 'n Scrawls

Grub Splash Image on my Eee PC

Moving an eeeXubuntu install from SDHC to SSD