Initial boot screen

grub · 08-02-2004, 06:01 AM

How can I change the initial boot (blue) screen in Solaris x68.
1. Change the default time out (30 seconds).
2. Display a splash screen as in Linux (if possible).
3. Edit the options displayed to display meaning ful names
like "Fedora core 1" rather than Linux native
and "Windows 2000" rather than WINLBA, etc.

jlliagre · 08-02-2004, 09:41 AM

I think you can change the timeout in the file /boot/solaris/strap.rc and perhaps set your own text "splash screen" in /boot/solaris/boot.rc.
Concerning the last question, I'm afraid all is hard-coded in the binary file: /usr/platform/i86pc/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk.
No way to hack it until the source code is released, and I wouldn't hold my breath ...

Beware that any mistake in one of these files can easily screw up the boot process.

If you try out things, don't forget to make backups of the files, and be prepared to boot on CD to revert.

grub · 08-03-2004, 06:40 AM

Hi jlliagre,

Thank you. I will mail again, once I check your suggestions.

Grub

jlliagre · 09-30-2004, 03:36 AM

Here is an update for question 1 (30s time-out on the blue screen).

If you are brave, you can try this procedure to set this time-out to any custom value, but don't blame/sue me if you loose all your data:

1: In any case, be sure you have a solaris 1 of 2 cd-rom to boot on if things go wrong ...
If you are not confortable enough to know how to boot on CD-ROM and manually mount partitions to fix things, give up now !

Depending on if you have no separate boot partition, use procedure A or B.
If you don't know the answer to this question, look at

Code:

dk -k | grep /boot

output, if there is a line like

Code:

/dev/dsk/c0d0p0:boot  10296   1650  8646  17%   /boot

go to part 'B'.

Remark: run all the suggested commands as root and under korn shell (/bin/ksh)

A: if you have no separate boot partition (O/S installed from CD1of2)

2: backup the bootblock file:

Code:

# cd /usr/platform/i86pc/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk
# cp bootblk bootblk.org

3: run the following command, if it doesn't returns 30, give up, you're using a different bootblock than mine, I can't help.

Code:

# echo "16i $(echo  '0x324a/p' | adb bootblk | nawk '{ print $2}' | sed 's/0x//' | tr [a-f] [A-F]) p" | dc

4: if the command returns 30, that's the delay in seconds, you can set it to your value of choice (e.g. 6) like this:

Code:

# echo '0x324a/w 6' | adb -w bootblk

The output should be:

Code:

0x324a:         0x1e    =       0x6

5: find what is your solaris whole disk slice: "df -k /" gives you the filesystem slice used, replace dsk by rdsk and s0 by s2 in it. e.g. I have:

Code:

# df -k /
Filesystem            kbytes    used   avail capacity  Mounted on
/dev/dsk/c0d0s0      14595850 12560793 1889099    87%    /

so my slice 2 is /dev/rdsk/c0d0s2

6: install the patched file to your solaris slice 2 (whole disk):

Code:

# installboot pboot bootblk /dev/rdsk/c0d0s2

That's it for the first case, reboot and check if it works.

B: If you have a dedicated boot block partition (O/S installed from the "Installation Disk" Web Start)

1: backup the bootstap file

Code:

# cp /boot/strap.com /usr/platform/i86pc/lib/fs/ufs/

2: the following command should gives you the current time-out (30s):

Code:

echo "16i $(echo  '0x3981/p' | adb /boot/strap.com | nawk '{ print $2}' | sed 's/0x//' | tr [a-f] [A-F]) 100 / p" | dc

, if it doesn't, give up.
3: if it does, change it with this command to the new value (here 6)

Code:

# echo "0x3981/w $(printf "%04x" $((6*256)))" | adb -w /boot/strap.com

4: That's it, reboot and enjoy ...