Bootable SlideShow

ametedinov · 07-01-2009, 10:45 AM

Is there a way to create a bootable slide show? For example when you insert a linux disk disk you see the logo of the particular distribution right away; and on some distributions in TrueColor, 24-bit. Will it be possible then instead of a logo to see a slide show of pictures that change at a given interval? This will be extremely useful because then in just seconds after powering on your computer you will be looking at pictures; you won't have to wait minutes for the operating system to boot.

David the H. · 07-02-2009, 09:15 AM

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're thinking of here. Are you talking about a disk dedicated only to showing pictures in a slideshow, or are you thinking about a regular distro that displays a slideshow of pictures while it's booting up.

Certainly either one is technically feasible. For the former you'd only need to create a micro-distro with just the tools necessary for running a slideshow program, plus the photos to be shown, of course. For the second, you can probably configure the bootup process to show various photos in a framebuffer instead of the regular text output as it's booting.

Either way though, I don't see how it would be "extremely useful". It might be a nice thing to have, but neither one is particularly necessary for either picture viewing or computer use. I'd probably end up throwing a dedicated disk into a drawer somewhere after the first viewing, especially since I usually already have my system up and running and I'd have to shut everything down to reboot every time I wanted to view them.

As for the second one, I usually prefer to see the text that tells me what my system is doing (cf. windows, where you have no idea WTF is going on behind the scenes).

Overall, I'd prefer to have a simple disk or usb stick with the photos all organized nicely in folders. I'll use my own photo viewer for the slideshow, thank you.

ametedinov · 07-02-2009, 09:24 AM

What I am talking about, does not include an operating system. For example take the OpenSUSE distribution. As soon as you insert the disk it displays a screen saying welcome on various languages; this is displayed right away, before booting the operating system. Insted of this screen it can be made to display pictures that would change automatically. NO OPERATING SYSTEM WILL BE NEEDED FOR THAT, just a boot loader

ncsuapex · 07-02-2009, 09:26 AM

Are you doing this for a Digital Picture Frame? I've made a few using Slax and one using a DOS bootable CD that worked fine.

I would also love to find a way to cut down on the boot time to slideshow start.

linus72 · 07-02-2009, 10:21 AM

Actually, you could do it, maybe, by using vesamenu.c32 and a submenu system
which I can do,
shots here are submenu system using "menu.c32"; "vesamenu.c32" is what distro's like slax, etc use to show a pic at boot.( http://multidistro.com/shots/scrnshots.html )
so, vesamenu.c32 shows a Graphical menu, like .PNG , etc

you would still need a script or something to actually switch to each menu, otherwise you would have to use the enter key...?

a cool way would be to automate both ways;
one where you can program it to follow a certain PATH
and one where it randomizes each picture.

So, what I'm saying is Vesamenu.c32 can handle the showing of most pictures, while you can edit both isolinux.cfg and syslinux.cfg to have the sub-menu system capable of "rotating" the pictures.
Dig?

linus72 · 07-02-2009, 10:29 AM

Here is simple isolinux.cfg/syslinux.cfg menu/sub-menu system using either menu.c32(non-graphical) or vesamenu.c32(graphical)

Code:

DEFAULT /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
TIMEOUT 300
PROMPT 0

#Usually menu colors and picture here
DISPLAY /boot/syslinux/slax.png
colors-?

LABEL menu
MENU HIDE
KERNEL /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32

MENU TITLE MultiDistro.com Install-RescueUSB-Menu: TAB to edit append line

LABEL puppy
menu label ^BrowserPuppy 4.8 - Menu
kernel /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
append /boot/syslinux/pupusb.cfg

label tc-cfg
menu label Tinycore_2.1 - Menu
kernel /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
append /boot/syslinux/tcusb.cfg

LABEL mc-cfg
menu label ^MicroCore 2.1 - Menu
kernel /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
append /boot/syslinux/mcusb.cfg

that's just a made up sample

just look at any slax like distro and it will have color codes, etc on isolinux/syslinux.cfg

See the "sub-menu" system there too. My syslinux.cfg is just a master menu
that routes off to other menu's, etc
It can go on and on

Each .cfg file is just a renamed isolinux/syslinux .cfg file with different settings, pics etc

linus72 · 07-02-2009, 10:44 AM

Hey, actually it s already kinda automated

using the options

"ontimeout"
and "display"
plus the menu entry and picture
so this menu below would be an example

Code:

default /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
display /boot/syslinux/one.png

timeout 5
prompt 0
ontimeout /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32 /boot/syslinux/one.cfg

label one
kernel /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
append /boot/syslinux/one.cfg

that above "should" kinda work.
after 5 seconds it will boot the "one.cfg" menu, then that menu will boot another menu after 5 seconds, and on and on.

see that "menu label" has been taken out, that way, only a picture will show, no text menu, etc
that may be right, but need tweaking

linus72 · 07-02-2009, 10:47 AM

Oh, it's actually easier to do on a grub menu, but only 14 colors

( http://multidistro.com/tinycore-shots/tc-scrnshots.html )

linus72 · 07-02-2009, 11:09 AM

OK, here's good example GoblinX 2.7 micro syslinux.cfg for usb

Code:

PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 500
DEFAULT /boot/vesamenu.c32

MENU TITLE Welcome to GoblinX Micro 2.7
MENU BACKGROUND /boot/image.jpg
MENU COLOR screen 0 #90ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR border 0 #00000000 #00000000 std
MENU COLOR title 0 #ffe8e2d4 #00000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg 0 #ffb7af9f #00000000 std
MENU COLOR cmdline 0 #ffe8e2d4 #00000000 std
MENU COLOR cmdmark 0 #fffbf5e5 #00000000 std 
MENU COLOR unsel 0 #ffe8e2d4 #00000000 std
MENU COLOR sel 0 #fffbf5e5 #ff968b72 std 
MENU COLOR hotsel 0 #ff000000 #ffffffff all
MENU COLOR hotkey 0 #ffe8e2d4 #ff000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg 0 #ffb7af9f #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout 0 #fffbf5e5 #00000000 std
MENU COLOR help	0 #aaaaaa00 #00000000 none

MENU WIDTH	40
MENU MARGIN	1
MENU ROWS	9
MENU HELPMSGROW 17
MENU TIMEOUTROW 23
MENU TABMSGROW 	15
MENU CMDLINEROW 19 
MENU HSHIFT 30
MENU VSHIFT 2


LABEL run.f
MENU LABEL Fluxbox User Graphics Mode  
KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz
APPEND vga=791 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw load=Muser locale=english splash=silent changes=/goblinx/ run.f
TEXT HELP

Now, to change that into a picture-only menu that changes to a different sub-menu in like 5 sec's, we would edit as so.

Code:

PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 50 ( 5 secs)
DEFAULT /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32

MENU TITLE ONE.jpg
MENU BACKGROUND /boot/syslinux/one.png
MENU COLOR screen 0 #90ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR border 0 #00000000 #00000000 std
MENU COLOR title 0 #ffe8e2d4 #00000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg 0 #ffb7af9f #00000000 std

LABEL run.two.png
menu default
KERNEL /boot/syslinux/vesammenu.c32
APPEND /boot/syslinux/two.cfg

the importannt things there are "menu default", "timeout"
and "default" and the next .cfg file shown, which will be #2 pic

so, with menu above it would show "one.png", and after 5 secs it would show "two.png" with "two.cfg" and so on.

the option "menu default" will boot that entry when it times out.

linus72 · 07-02-2009, 11:15 AM

So, what do you think Ametedinov?

grub menu is easier but only 14 colors
syslinux/isolinux can show better pics(maybe), but harder to do.

repo · 07-02-2009, 11:31 AM

Seems to me the OP wants a slideshow during boot, instead of the boot messages you see on the screen.

linus72 · 07-02-2009, 11:32 AM

It wouldb't show the text repo, just the image, the text can be excluded.

ametedinov · 07-02-2009, 11:44 AM

The grub is out of the picture. Slideshow with 14 colors - I don't think so.
The syslinux is probably what I am looking for but i don't know if I will be able to do it.

Oh and Repo, I don't mean a slide show during boot - read the second post by me and you will see that I don't want an OS on the disk, just a slide show ONLY.

ametedinov · 07-02-2009, 11:47 AM

Can you publish this to a blog or somewhere else with more explanation on how it can be done, or to create an iso image with 9-10 pictures slide show

David the H. · 07-02-2009, 11:59 AM

I still imagine it would be easier to simply set up a light, quick-booting kernel with framebuffer support and a ram-disk with just the slideshow program itself and whatever else it needs to run. Configure it to autostart and you have pretty much just what you're describing, without trying to manipulate the pre-loading sequence into displaying something it wasn't really designed for.