Linux logo in strange colors
 

This is minor but annoying bug -- just right for the weekend.

I use ThinkPad T60 with Slackware 12.1 and generic kernel 2.6.24.5-smp.

During startup procedures framebuffer displays Linux logo. On that particular machine:

* logo is doubled (I see two logos side by side),
* colors are invalid (blue background, green belly, brown paws, etc.),
* both logos have small red vertical inscriptions ``Simon'' on the left edges.

I could live with it but my nephew loves Tux and says ``Penguin!'' when sees it. I don't want to disappoint him.

How can I restore the appropriate Linux logo?

Have a nice day...

Well, I don't know the specs of the ThinkPad T60, but every computer with a dual-core processor shows two penguins.

The strange color might have to do with your vga-setting in lilo.conf.

But this thing of having an inscription "Simon" is new to me...

Who is Simon ? :) Could you post a picture of your screen, just curious

I just compiled custom kernel with ``Device drivers | Graphics support | Bootup logo'' set to ``Standard 16-color Linux logo''. (Formerly it was ``Standard 224-color Linux logo''.) Now during the boot sequence I can see the proper logo. 224-color logo was smooth. 16-color logo has distinct raster on penguin's bill and paws. (Black background and white belly are in basic colors -- yellow bill and paws are in complex colors.) 16-color logo looks like Roy Lichtenstein's paintings or like picture taken from comic book from 1960s. It's nice.

It means framebuffer in my machine can't display more than 16 colors for some reason. ThinkPad T60 uses ATI Mobility Radeon X1300.

Yesterday I came back from custom kernel to standard generic one. Today I switched back to custom kernel. I need it to change the logo only. It sounds silly but it's true.

niels.horn: It's logical: two processors -- two penguins. Now I can answer my nephew why there are two penguins on my new laptop's screen. The settings in lilo.conf are standard: ``vga = 773'' (VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256). My T40 and T41 accept these settings. My T60 doesn't. Weird. Simon is apparently Simon Budig. He vectorized logo painted by Larry Ewing. I just inspected standard logo.gif in GIMP. There is no any ``Simon'' on any layer of the picture. That inscription is well hidden.

keefaz: I took the picture of the screen with that strange logo. How can I post it?

I thought of him when you wrote the original post, but I have never heard of this hidden name...
All the penguins can be found at /usr/src/linux/drivers/video/logo in Slackware (including the ones for other architectures).

You can open the standard logo_linux_clut224.ppm in gimp, but I haven't discovered Simon's name in it :)

As a side note, you can create other graphics, save them with gimp in .ppm format and put them in your kernel.

Something badly wrong if tux has paws ;)

Ate too much herring...

Now changing to something serious...

Simon's name is hidden in the bitmap!

To find out where, do this:
- open /usr/src/linux/drivers/video/logo/logo_linux_clut224.ppm in the gimp
- zoom in to 800%
- in the toolbox, select the color selection tool
- in the color selection options, change the limit to 0,0
- in the picture, click on a black area

In the top-left corner you'll see Simon's name selected, in almost-black... (he used a slightly different shade of black, that on w1k0's Thinkpad shows up in the wrong color :D

We learn something new every day!

niels.horn: I inspected logo_linux_clut224.ppm using GIMP. As you said I can't see that inscription. Someone hid it well. I like standard Linux logo. I don't need any other graphics.

bgeddy: Well... Maybe ``legs'' are more appropriate than ``paws'' when I think about penguins. As said niels.horn above ``We learn something new every day!''.

keefaz: I just tried photobucket.com but it doesn't work for me.

Good job niels.horn. Thank you!

We really do! Good catch there. It is hidden really well, at least on my LCD screen it's totally invisible.

Just a small update...

I asked Simon Budig if he was aware of this hidden name and if he had anything to do with it. He answered me acknowledging both points.

He prepared the images for the boot screens in 2001 and told me it was only the third or fourth time someone had discovered this text.

I told him about this thread and he answered that with this, now "knowledge is more or less out in the wild".

Well, it lasted about seven years to become public knowledge, that's a respectable period for a small Easter egg to be discovered I guess. :)

Neat find... Just give it a little while though and over time it will once again become a forgotten easter egg to be re-discovered. Congrats neils.horn

Of course I would never have found it without w1k0's problem :)

Unfortunately my problem persists.

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I thought over the problem and I stated I haven't it. I like rasterized 16-color logo. In fact now I like it more than 224-color logo.

w1k0,

I checked with the IT department at work and they had a T60 sitting on a shelf with a dead battery. They let me do some tests (they only keep it for spare parts).

I installed Slackware 12.1 and the good news is that is shows exactly the same behavior as you described in this thread and in the other one. So the problem exists probably in all Thinkpad T60s.

I resolved the problem with Tux and the dark-gray text by changing the vga setting in lilo.conf to 790 (1024x768x32K) or 791 (1024x768x64K). The green-bellied Tux only shows up with vga=773.

My next step will be playing around with the drivers in X.