Custom Live CD and splash boot

[melodie]

Hi,
coyotus just gave me this link:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/10258/how-to-change-live-cd-splash-screen

I found my answer in backtrack linux forums. And since I set up the bounty I would like to explain a little bit what my problem was and how it got solved.

I was trying to customize Ubuntu/KUbuntu 10.04 Live CD and I couldn't figure out how to change the splash screen that shows after isolinux.

Changing playmouth theme available on the extracted filesystem.squashfs at /lib/plymouth/themes/ didn't do the trick.

So I found this message stating that the splash screen files used by the Live CD to boot reside in casper/initrd.lz.

So, if you are interested to know how to extract and reconstruct this file, read the end of the section 5.7.1. Quote:
    To unpack the initrd.lz file, you need to do this:

# cd extract-cd/casper
# mkdir lztempdir
# cd lztempdir
# lzma -dc -S .lz ../initrd.lz | cpio -imvd --no-absolute-filenames

    And to re-create the initrd.lz file:

# cp ../initrd.lz ../inird.lz.orig
# find . | cpio --quiet --dereference -o -H newc | lzma -7 > ../initrd.lz

[melodie]

While using Ubuntu Builder to customize to Ubuntu Openbox spin, I stumbled upon another idea:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCDCustomizationFromScratch

Create the Cd Image Directory and Populate it

...

A. You will need a kernel and an initrd that was built with the Casper scripts. Grab them from your chroot. Use the current version. Note that before 9.10, the initrd was in gz not lz format...

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cp chroot/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.**-**-generic image/casper/vmlinuz

cp chroot/boot/initrd.img-2.6.**-**-generic image/casper/initrd.lz

This idea comes from the fact that the commands listed in the former post don't work for the initrd.lz which is in the "ISO/casper"directory, and fails with "prematured end of file", which means the archive is corrupted. (And it does work on an initrd.lz from another version of Ubuntu). So I have to change this archive anyhow.

[melodie]

Ok, here is a problem solved : the initrd.lz found in Ubuntu Precise is not a real lzma archive, but a .gz archive : gzip.

Then to extract it it first needs to be renamed:

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mv initrd.lz initrd.gz
then gunzipped:

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gunzip initrd.gz
then we get a file having for name "initrd" and then:

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mkdir tmp2

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cd tmp2/

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cpio -id < ../initrd
the output will look like "16524 blocks"

All this should be done as root, if we intend to reconstruct the initrd afterwards.

More here:
http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2009/07/how-to-view-modify-and-recreate-initrd-img/

[melodie]

I am having a look here, about plymouth theming:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/143330/how-can-i-customize-the-ubuntu-boot-up-logo
http://brej.org/blog/?cat=16

I am not going to learn about coding, I was just seeking for information about the "/isolinux/bootlogo" file in the iso, because grep tells me there is a "jpg" file inserted inside the init file located in that bootlogo archive.

I keep also this one which I'll point to while asking questions at some ubuntu chans:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2005-December/013846.html

[melodie]

From another thread as of last October:

Hi,

The first boot image matter will be solved and also an error message after some updates, due to the fact I was re-using directly the plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text files direcly to make my own instead of creating a new one. I will try this method instead:
http://www.ubunturoot.com/2010/05/how-to-create-simple-plymouth-theme.html

Not with the image, but copying the file from the Ubuntu Plymouth text theme into a new directory having for name bento-theme-text, changing the name of the file and some of the content, then use the command lines from that page:

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sudo update-alternatives --install /lib/plymouth/themes/default.plymouth default.plymouth /lib/plymouth/themes/simple/simple.plymouth 100

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sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

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sudo update-initramfs -u
Of course I will not need sudo because I am already in a chroot, the one provided by the Ubuntu Builder terminal.

This seems to solve the recognition of a theme installed by hand in the /lib/plymouth directory.

[melodie]

The very first two screens in the live have their colors in the isolinux directory. One of the main background colors, once the images are changed, are setup in the gfxboot.cfg file. So if the background is still half purple, it has to be setup there.

From rafaellaguna, for Bento:
The contents of the
file must be these:

foreground=0xFFFFFF
background=0x958884
screen-colour=0x000000
hidden-timeout=2
label normal=Normal
append normal=
label driverupdates=Use driver update disc
append driverupdates=debian-installer/driver-update=true
applies driverupdates=live live-install
label oem=OEM install (for manufacturers)
append oem=oem-config/enable=true
applies oem=live live-install install

I will also try:

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hidden-timeout=0
to get rid of the first screen with the 2 icons and see what happens.