pouët.net

It's 2011 and Linux boot graphics suck even by 1980's demo standards.

At best there's a static image on the screen and maybe a progress bar.

This is so embarrassingly primitive.

There could be amazing demo playing while a Linux box is booting, or when the machine is waiting at the grub prompt.

Why haven't any demo coders stepped up to the plate and helped Linux boot not suck?

I know there's got to be some Linux fans in the scene.

Watching something else at boot after a short while would be the same as watching a loading bar. At least for me. I use that time to go to the toilet or something.

I don't think it's fair to compare the impact of a competent demo to a progress bar.

But if you'd rather go to the toilet than watch a demo while your machine boots, I won't stop you.

somebody should make linux boot fast... Now that would not suck...

All that's needed is to switch the boot message text to green. Seriously.

Muse, you're probably looking for something like this: Plymouth I'm using this theme, btw.

My Ubuntu boots in 5.5 seconds.. not enough time for fancy graphics.

Thanks, r13.

That's definitely better. But still a very far cry from reaching the standard of a contemporary demo.

Good to know the technology is there, though.

torus: there's plenty of time for a demo in a side screen or some kind of interesting animation when you have to do something at the grub prompt, though.

Also, it's great that your machine boots so fast, but a lot of people aren't quite so lucky.

http://pouet.net/topic.php?which=3727

Mark Shuttleworth actually proposed this very thing when he came to Sundown one year - 06 I think?

Not sure what came out of it... not much, evidently.

I personally think it would suck waiting through Desert Dream just to have my computer boot.

Just don't boot it at all, problem solved.

"linux" ? ... what's that?

Plymouth in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GrRLpRVKgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZvx4oNPD7w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1dTd_itWcs
But i don't know why, i'm NOT impressed and would rather have a progress bar... (~30 sec of progress bar here with ubuntu).

My linux box boots in seconds... I would like to keep the loading bar to a minimal cpu usage so the booting does what it's supposed really...

Just use openbox and your system will boot before you can see a thing. No one serious uses linux for desktop use.

thom and thec: First, no one would force you to load a demo at boot if you don't want to. The demos would be an option for people who appreciate them.

Second, a demo could run while you're booting, and the text from the boot log could be overlayed on top of the demo graphics so you could see both at the same time.

Third, CPU's and GPU's are fast enough now that they need not be affected much if at all by a modest demo. The bottleneck on your boot time is probably your hard drive, not your CPU.

baah: Those Plymoth boot animations really are underwhelming. No one here has to be told that the demoscene is capable of infinitely more impressive results.

There's another part of boot that really wouldn't be affected at all by the delay and potential CPU intensiveness of a demo. And that is the grub prompt. Many Linux machines are configured to wait 20 or 30 seconds at the grub prompt before the default boot option is automatically selected. Of course, the user can boot sooner if he prefers, but if he doesn't there's all this otherwise wasted time during which the system is doing absolutely nothing. That could be filled by a demo.

A similar opportunity happens when the user is messing around with grub options (picking kernels, editing kernel options, and all the other stuff grub lets you do before boot). While the user is doing that there could be demos playing in miniature windows, in the background with the regular grub text overlayed, or the grub interface itself could be animated (ie. animations in the scroll bars, buttons, and various unused portions of the screen).

if you need to spend more than 30 seconds within your bootloading logic it means it's time to get real.

That's right - serious users go for shiny, pretty things like Aero Glass or they use a Mac and bootcamp so they can get some sort of functionality out of their sparkly os.

ubuntu 10.10 boots in what - 5-10 seconds? I don't need a loading splash screen..

My bootscreen is full of text

Artist make nice ascii art for bootscreen

I have to agree that effort should be spent on minimizing boot time, not making it more exciting.

All proprietary operating systems have stylish, well designed boot screens but is there anyone watching them?