I switched to the Current kernel (5.4.24) to test out a program that was misbehaving (more info here if you're interested). I'm too lazy to go through all the palaver of switching back again. But I miss the four penguins that used to appear after the kernel had loaded.

What happened to them? Did Pat decide they were too frivolous?

I just rebooted to double check and they are still there.

So where have mine gone? Apart from that everything seems to function normally.

I can see them here too. I'm running 5.4.28 now but they were there with 5.4.24 (IIRC).
Take a look at this, but it is old from 2018.
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...nd-4175644736/

Maybe it is something with the early video driver, they disappear with screen refresh.

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@Paulo2,
Thanks for that. I had forgotten all about it, but, then, these days I'm lucky I remember my own name.

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I've checked that Arch post and it doesn't seem to apply to me.
I must check next time what actually is the first thing that appears. It used to be the cpu penguins and then the names of the modules loaded from the initrd.

I'm at the age (and mindset) that, try as I may, I don't learn something new everyday.

Today I did, thank you.

cheers,'

Hazel: Are you running a recent UEFI machine and using ELILO? If so the problem may be related to this.

Some newer machines use 64-bit addressing for the efifb, and this can cause problems. Basically, it means you have no framebuffer until KMS kicks in.

Do:and see what you get.

If you get an error message (invalid address, or similar) you will need to switch to grub as a bootloader. Grub supports 64-bit efifb. elilo doesn't. I'm not sure what the position is with lilo, as all my UEFI machines use either elilo (for older graphics chips) or grub (for newer ones).

This bug can also cause the installer to hang if you are running recent Intel graphics. It took me a long time to find the cause! https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...re-4175671086/

That link will show you how to get the installer to work. I've only just managed to get grub working the way I want on my laptop (Intel 620 graphics), so I'm not in a position to write up a "HowTo" on that! Slackware's grub implementation seems to be somewhat different to the way a Google search implies (no grub-update), but is otherwise not too bad to grapple with. Just different!

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Pete

That's very interesting but I do have a framebuffer.
If I didn't, presumably I wouldn't have seen any penguins with the old kernel either. This is an old machine btw. I'm neither a gamer nor a media fiend so I don't see why I should fork out money on new hardware with capacities that I don't need.

I haven't looked at the Slackware GRUB but, given the Slack philosophy, I'd be surprised if it came festooned with all those automated scripts that make GRUB so complicated in other distros.

Ah! OK, if you have a framebuffer, its not the same problem then!

Usually, its the framebuffer that kicks in before kms that puts the penguins up. I wasn't getting any penguins or the first part of the boot messages. I only started seeing stuff when kms kicked in. And when trying to install, it froze solid as soon as the initrd had loaded - again, presumably due to the absence of a framebuffer.

Are you seeing the initial part of the boot screen? The messages where you would normally see the penguins? And does the resolution change once kms arrives? That may give you a clue.

Also I note you say you are using the -current kernel, but not -current? That may have something to do with it. It might be worth compiling the kernel yourself using the config from -current. -current has diverged a *long* way from 14.2 now, and you may be missing something that the -current kernel expects.

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Pete

Or I could just go back to the old kernel. There's no longer any particular reason to use this one.

All the same, I do want to try and see if I can identify the first output from this kernel at boot.

Yes, I lived without the penguins and initial boot screen on my laptop, because it still worked. But with Slackware-15 on the horizon, I wanted to get the installer to work, as I had to install via LiveSlack to get it on this laptop.

Once I discovered the problem and got it sorted, the current "self isolation" has given me the opportuntiy to play with grub and get it to work as I want on the offending laptop.

Its an ill-wind.....!

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Pete

I carefully checked my boot messages this morning. The first thing to come up was the modules loading from the initrd. That used to be the first thing that came up after the cpu count and display. So it's not a whole stash of stuff that has vanished, just the 4 penguins.

My penguins always disappear after i915 loads from initrd. If I re-compile i915 into the kernel with the framebuffer flag it loads all the way from boot til I start X.

Nobody responded with "Antarctica"?

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