Graceful startup and shutdown?
 

I'm looking for a way to make some Fedora Core 6 machines startup and shut down without so much informational text showing on the screen.

What would be even better is to display a graphic on startup and shutdown.

Is there a way to hide all this text? I've tried "quiet" mode and rhgb, but they don't suppress the text enough.

In short, I'd like a completely quiet startup and shutdown. The reason for this is that these are public machines, and I'd rather not have the users know the underlying OS is not Windows.

Is there a way I can shift to a different virutal screen or something?

Thanks
Shilo

"The reason for this is that these are public machines, and I'd rather not have the users know the underlying OS is not Windows."

Why in the world would that be? :tisk:

Political reasons
 

Simply put, the boss is biased against Linux, so I need to keep it stealthy.

In fact all the textual "noise" on the screen is one of the reasons she is against it.

I know you can do
almost no kernel messages when rebooting

AHH! Ok then. In that case, keep up the great work! :D

sorry, but I can't help saying, your boss sounds like a tool. I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted here, but while all that text may not be all fancy like Windows' shutdown/startup screens, on Windows when something goes wrong you don't get to have any idea what it is. I seem to recall Windows repeatedly hanging on shutdown over the years, a verbose shutdown screen would likely help to find and fix whatever the issue is. As it is, Windows users must simply resign themselves to the fact that they run a POS OS that occassionally takes half an hour to shutdown. I'm so sick of hearing about ignorant morons ignorantly forcing Windows on innocents. sorry for not contributing in the least with this post.

Doesn't FC6 use GNOME? I don't think GNOME resembles Windows in the least. Just using it you can tell it's not Windows. There is bootsplash though, check it out at www.bootsplash.org

The user never sees gnome. In fact, there isn't any window manager at all. The only user interface is a browser.

I haven't had much luck with bootsplash, unfortunately. I'm trying gensplash now, which supposedly has been tuned for Fedora.

Well, it doesn't have to be that way. MacOS, for example, doesn't show all that text. It's there, but it's directed somewhere else away from the user.

I think the problem is Linux assumes the console is the primary screen. I think if I could direct it to another screen, or display a different screen shortly after the boot sequence starts, I'd be OK.

The problem is, I can't figure how to do that. I can flip screens with the keyboard, but I can't figure how to program it from a script.

truth is you can access the system logs from the Admin Tools on the Start menu pretty easily(or control panel, i don't remember for certain). I really just take issue with people causing other people problems/hassle because they're closed minded fools (apparently). A verbose boot/shutdown that isn't all puppies and ice cream is a bonkers reason to declare a platform verboten - especially when by the sound of it you can't accomplish what you're doing with the software she deems acceptable. People with no clue have all the power. rawr.

have you tried using the "quiet" kernel parameter? I believe you'd add it to the kernel string in your bootloader.. that's my attempt at a contribution, I think in the end the best solution is educating your boss. good luck either way. :)

Hey, if you're running Linux, you shouldn't _need_ to shutdown/reboot the machines each day.......

In this case, I do. Several times a day. It's because of the environment and application.

I compiled bootsplash some time ago and it was possible to completely silence booting there (by turning off the part that displays the messages IIRC). I only played with that and don't use it anymore so I can't say more about it.

I've been trying to get bootsplash and gensplash to work to no avail. The problem seems to be that it can't open /dev/fd0. Not having a /dev/fd0 is a big problem, but I solved that by putting vga in the kernel boot parameters. Now I have a /dev/fd0, but it still can't be opened. (*sigh*)

I did find I could switch the console to another tty by using CONSOLE=/dev/tty3 as a kernel boot parameter. It doesn't get rid of all the messages (five or six lines show up), but it comes pretty darn close. I also found I could bring up different screens with the chvt command. I use this to switch to another blank screen in rc.sysinit. That makes those last lines vanish after several seconds.

I just wish I could get a graphic displayed, but I'd be happy with a plain-text screen if that's what it comes down to.

I don't get what you are saying about fd0. Maybe we can work out why bootsplash didnt work if you are a little more precise about it. A floppy wouldn't normally be needed to have a bootsplash. Do your boxes have Windows on them as well?

/dev/fb0, sorry. I've been making that mistake all afternoon.

No...no Windows.

From what I've been able to gather, /dev/fb0 doesn't exist unless you pass vga as a boot parameter. But rhgb (the normal Red Hat Graphical Boot)somehow gets around this.

rhgb wouldn't be so bad if it would just kick-in sooner.

Thanks

So its a framebuffer problem. Have you compiled yourself or been using a package? I suppose you're using a package. Since you want to use this professionally I suggest compiling your own kernel with bootsplash support.

Thats a little effort but afterwards you'll have silent boot with even your logo on screen if you want (and I guess your boss will like that :D)

I think you can do this. I say this because we have various LiveCDs which show a bootsplash graphic or logo, and you press F2 or somesuch toggle to see all the bootup text rushing by. You can also add to startup scripts to launch straight into a application that presents the machine operator interface without any visible preamble. I feel sure this must be possible because that is what the use of small SBC (single board computers) and embedded Linux applications in industrial control is all about. Google for "embedded Linux" and you will find loads of ready-made Linux hardware that does have a video monitor connector.

Other questions arise. There is a difference between window manager and a GUI made more complicated by a desktops like KDE which combine both roles. How you can make your application control the X-server video to order, without first having a conventional desktop load up, is what we need to know.

I suggest you have a look at the scripts on a Knoppix, or Mepis install CD. There may be a way to redirect the standard output to null, or maybe even deny any framebuffer or video mode option in the bootloader script. I do not have the skill, but I feel sure there are geeky experts here who do. :)

Well, I'm back on bootsplash again. I've recompiled the kernel, but I think I'm getting hung-up when I try to attach the graphic to the initrd file. It corrupts the initrd so the system panics.

I'm thinking it's because the initrd on Fedora is compressed?:confused:

I understand the ramdisk is needed since no filesystem is yet loaded, but I was hoping to avoid the ramdisk completely to speed loading...well, maybe you can't have everything :cry:

I'm just skipping the desktop and loading the application with xinit.

What are you using to attach the images to the initrd?

Per the bootsplash instructions, this form:
/sbin/splash -s -f /etc/bootsplash/themes/yourtheme/config/bootsplash-1024x768.cfg >> /boot/initrd.splash

Ok, what do you mean it corrupts the initrd? How do you know? Are you attaching them to a separate initrd as your post suggests, (/boot/initrd.splash) or appending them to an existing initrd with something necessary for boot?

I'm appending them to the existing initrd. However, when I do that and try to boot, the machine panics.

I'm guessing the initrd is compressed, and I need to find a modified mkinitrd to include the image?

The initrd setup seems to be standard operating procedure for Fedora Core. For booting purposes, I really don't need one, and I have been able to cut it out to speed things up (it requires some voodoo to the /dev directory, though). So, maybe I should that and use the initrd as created by splash?

Well, I'm stuck then. Maybe you should try what you said, if you can get away with not needing an initrd, except for splash purposes, then I don't see why it shouldn't work.

Good Luck

This is driving me nuts. I don't know why this is so hard.

I started with a clean system and compiled the latest kernel with the bootsplash patch. That seems OK.

However, when I try to use bootsplash, I get something about not being able to find an appropriate signature when looking for the bootsplash files.

I think if I could just incorporate the bootsplash files with fedora's version of the mkinitrd command, I might get somewhere, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that.

ARGGGH!!!!

last time i used windows tehre was plenty of boot garbage anyway....

though that was win 98