i have just shifted to suse from mandake. i loved the bootsplash configuration utility included with mandrake. I believe there is no such gui for suse. so i tried to install the bootsplash from cmdline.

I downloaded a bootsplash Aqua. extracted it and copied it to /etc/bootsplash/themes/

then i ran this command
splash -s -f /etc/bootsplash/themes/Aqua/config/bootsplash-1024x768.cfg > /boot/initrd.splash
there was a error
syntax error (unknown command): LOGO_CONSOLE=vt
so i edited bootsplash-1024x768.cfg and commented the last line
#LOGO_CONSOLE=vt
after which the splash command ran successfully
and it created a new file /boot/initrd.splash

i updated my lilo.conf as


menu-scheme = Wb:kw:Wb:Wb
default = Suse
timeout = 80
message = /boot/message
lba32
change-rules
reset
read-only
prompt
boot = /dev/hda
#************
#*************
image = /boot/vmlinuz
label = Suse.logo
root = /dev/hda1
initrd = /boot/initrd.splash
append = "resume=/dev/hdb2 selinux=0 splash=silent "
vga = 0x317


now when booting there is a kernel panic. the error message says , it was unable to initialize the ram device and please append a correct "root=" option to kernel. or something like that. (Is this logged in somewhere i can copy and paste?)

The default image boots fine.

using
splash -s -f /etc/bootsplash/themes/Aqua/config/bootsplash-1024x768.cfg > /boot/initrd.splash
creates a new initrd.image file. You have to use the one that the existed before.

Use
splash -s -f /etc/bootsplash/themes/Aqua/config/bootsplash-1024x768.cfg >> /boot/initrd-kernel-version
and change kernel-version to match you kernel version. Uname -r should tell you that.
for example initrd-2.6.8-24-smp

I took a backup of the existing initrd and tried
splash -s -f /etc/bootsplash/themes/Aqua/config/bootsplash-1024x768.cfg >> /boot/initrd-2.6.11.4-20a-default.

i then edited my lilo.conf accordingly, but booting still gives kernel panic. the error message has changed however. i will try and post it.

did i mention the bootsplash does show up before the kernel panic (chk snapshot at http://vdeckdemo.com/kernel_panic.jpg)

here is the exact message

ACPI wakeup devices:
SPB PCI0 HUB0 USB0 USB2 USBE
ACPI : (supports S0 S1 S4 S5)
md: Autodetecting RAID Arrays
md: autorun
md: ..........autorun DONE
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
input AT Translated set 2 keyboard on isa0060/serio0
Kernel panic - not syncing : VFS : Unable to mount root fs on unknown block (3,1)


I noticed when i boot with my normal suse initrd(which works) the message shows

ACPI wakeup devices:
SLPB PCI0 HUB0 USB0 USB1 USB2 USBE
ACPI: (supports S0 S1 S4 S5)
Freeing unused kernel memory: 204k freed
input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard on isa0060/serio0
logips2pp: Detected unknown logitech mouse model 85
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
ICH4: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:1f.1
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] enabled at IRQ 11
PCI: setting IRQ 11 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:1f.1[A] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
ICH4: chipset revision 2
ICH4: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xf000-0xf007, BIOS settings: hdaMA, hdbMA
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xf008-0xf00f, BIOS settings: hdcMA, hddMA
Probing IDE interface ide0...
hda: ST380011A, ATA DISK drive

##############whole lot of other mesages related to hdd and cdrom

ReiserFS: hda1: checking transaction log (hda1)
ReiserFS: hda1: Using r5 hash to sort names
bootsplash: status on console 0 changed to on
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
md: autorun ...
md: ... autorun DONE.
device-mapper: 4.4.0-ioctl (2005-01-12) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com


does this mean my hdd and cdrom are not intialised by initrd ?
isnt there a GUI tool (like the one mandrkake provides) to make it simpler?

Maybe yes, maybe no. I don't know. Sorry, I can't help anymore.

I am not an expert in lilo but in grub i do this:

Put your aqua theme in appropriate place: /etc/bootsplash/themes/aqua
edit the file: /etc/sysconfig/bootsplash
change the line Theme to "aqua".

execute:
mkinitrd -b /boot -k <kernelname> -i <initrdname> -s 1024x768

The value for -s must be same as your image inside aqua". Remember if you have 16:9 screen it might be possible that different values like 1280x800 do NOT work. So, try with simple 1024x768 and experiment later.

Also what version of SuSE are you running. It is better that you shift to grub. It is highly customizable and easier to manage.

Thanks buddy it works like a charm. both with lilo and grub.

what is the name of the kernel?


My /boot directory:.

initrd.splash
message
backup_mbr
README.vmlinux-2.6.11.4-21.2-default.gz
boot
symvers-2.6.11.4-21.2-i386-default.gz
config-2.6.11.4-21.2-default
System.map-2.6.11.4-21.2-default
grub
vmlinuz
initrd
vmlinuz-2.6.11.4-21.2-default
initrd-2.6.11.4-21.2-default

your kernel is
vmlinuz-2.6.11.4-21.2-default

thanks