HOWTO: Fix plymouth and the BSOS

[rec9140]

This HOWTO will cover fixing plymouth and the Blue Screen of Stupidity (BSOS)!

For unknown reasons certain developers are insistent in using something the OEM's have stated:

1) Doesn't work

2) Will NOT WORK EVER! As we are not going to devote resources to re-factor code to deal with this change.

3) What part of #2 did you not get?!??!?

What is that something kernel mode set...

If you find the community drivers of cRApDEON, nouveCRAup, etc.. acceptable you can stop reading, your probably not reading my posts any way...

I on the other hand have no issue and prefer the OEM drivers, you will note I am not using that other "p" word either, I don't care for that word, and if this was another OS you wouldn't have anything but the OEM drivers.

With the help of persistence, luck , and the magic of spiders, web spiders.... aka google I've managed to find the solution to the BSOS.

This takes only a few minutes of work... BUT FAIR WARNING ! ! ! BE EXACTING and FOLLOW THE STEPS.. READ the HOWTO, RE-READ the HOWTO, double, triple, quadruple check your typing and changes.....

FAILURE TO DO SO COULD LEAVE YOU WITH A BORQ'D SYSTEM ! ! ! ! ! !

***WARNING THE STEPS AND CODE BELOW EFFECT INTEGRAL PARTS OF THE Linux BOOT PROCESS! ****

One wrong move, and you could be faced with a complete reinstall!

Now with that dire message out of the way.....

First, FULL CREDIT to the solution goes to: Sikander Hayat Khan at http://ubuntu4beginners.blogspot.com/20 ... buntu.html

I've KDE'zed this from its infested roots in another DE and tested it on TWO (2) of my OWN machines... my main desktop and my personal laptop.

Now we need to get one little package before we start...

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sudo apt-get update  (best to do this, since repos are in flux to prevent missing items!)
sudo apt-get install v86d  (the package we need

With that out of the way we proceed to start the surgery....

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sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub_bak
sudo kate /etc/default/grub

Find the line like this:

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Put a # in front of it to remark it out.. paste this NEW ONE in just below it on a new line:

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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset video=uvesafb:mode_option=1280x1024-24,mtrr=3,scroll=ywrap"

Now find the line:

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#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

On a new line put this in:

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GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024

More on this line later!

You should now have something that looks like this:

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# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset video=uvesafb:mode_option=1280x1024-24,mtrr=3,scroll=ywrap"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

Save this.....

Next we need to make a change to the init process

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sudo cp /etc/initramfs-tools/modules /etc/initramfs-tools/modules_bak
sudo kate /etc/initramfs-tools/modules

Or just open /etc/initramfs-tools/modules in the current Kate window you have open... either is fine.

Before our change:

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# List of modules that you want to include in your initramfs.
#
# Syntax:  module_name [args ...]
#
# You must run update-initramfs(8) to effect this change.
#
# Examples:
#
# raid1
# sd_mod

Now add on a new line, just below "#sd mod" the following:

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uvesafb mode_option=1280x1024-24 mtrr=3 scroll=ywrap

You should now have something like:

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# List of modules that you want to include in your initramfs.
#
# Syntax:  module_name [args ...]
#
# You must run update-initramfs(8) to effect this change.
#
# Examples:
#
# raid1
# sd_mod
uvesafb mode_option=1280x1024-24 mtrr=3 scroll=ywrap

Save this...and moving on.... close up your Kate session, and at the command line:

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echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash

You should get back something like:

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FRAMEBUFFER=y

Anything else, and you have an error, re-check.

Now comes the final fix... to kill the BSOS!

! ! ! **** DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER! DANGER! ! ! *****

The following will commit our changes and could cause problems to boot if you have not done things correctly.... PLEASE DOUBLE check your files and steps again! BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Ok... with that out of the way, again...

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sudo update-grub
sudo update-initramfs -u

You will get some output for each ... the line about no support for locale. US_EN_UTF or something... is OK to ignore...

Reboot!

You have just slain the BSOS!

When you reboot you should see the GRUB2 menu then the Linux Mint Splash screen.. the BSOS is dead! ! ! !

Some notes:

MULTILPE Monitor setups: This should work on those as well... BUT.. you MUST CHOOSE a setting for the screen resolution that is COMPATIBLE WITH BOTH MONITORS! If your one monitor is 1600x 1900 and the other only support 1440x900 then you need to use 1440x900 or some other common resolution. Type exit to reboot again.

How do you find those resolutions? Boot your system, when GRUB2 comes up... hit c to switch to command mode in GRUB2 then type vbeinfo this will scroll a list of resolutions supported by the monitor. With the black background on the splash screen the resolution setting is not that big a deal, as your not likely to be able to notice where it starts and the black of the screen is at... but your welcome to change it to a size listed on the vbeinfo command to your desired size.

I have tried this on two nVidia based systems using the XSWAT PPA 270.29 nVidia drivers... alll is well and the BSOS is dead!

Also I would suggest NOT USING OR MODIFYING settings via the Startup Manager utility.... get these set the way you want BEFORE hand then do this HOWTO... then DO NOT TOUCH THEM AGAIN! I've not confirmed, but my best hunch tells me messing with things there and the settings we have changed by hand will not go well together...

This should apply to both sets of OEM drivers, and others can report back....

Enjoy the splash!

NOTE: KMint Dev(s)... lets get this fix into KMint Kataya 11......

[vaxxipooh]

This HOWTO will cover fixing plymouth and the Blue Screen of Stupidity (BSOS)!

For unknown reasons certain developers are insistent in using something the OEM's have stated:

1) Doesn't work

LoL Yes !! Its rather wierd this - YOU HAVE TO DO a MASTER HACK on the Canonical UGLY HACK to get it to function properly ! Them ppl at Ubuntu was so afraid that users would be scared off Ubuntu if the see some text messages or whatever during boot so they invented Plymouth! The crappiest of them all and a messed up Plymouth have probably turned a lot more ppl away from Linux towards Win 7 than any text boot screen could ever do ...

New users thinks "woho and whatta heck is this crap!?" when they go and install the correct drivers for their fancy high end graphics card and reboot into something that tells them that "here is something seriously wrong!"

Linux IS better than Windows - its just Canonical ppl that had make it behave and look bad in some ways ...

Merry X-Maz

[rec9140]

LoL Yes !! Its rather wierd this - YOU HAVE TO DO a MASTER HACK on the Canonical UGLY HACK to get it to function properly ! Them ppl at Ubuntu was so afraid that users would be scared off Ubuntu if the see some text messages or whatever during boot so they invented Plymouth! The crappiest of them all and a messed up Plymouth have probably turned a lot more ppl away from Linux towards Win 7 than any text boot screen could ever do ...

New users thinks "woho and whatta heck is this crap!?" when they go and install the correct drivers for their fancy high end graphics card and reboot into something that tells them that "here is something seriously wrong!"

Linux IS better than W[censored] - its just Canonical ppl that had make it behave and look bad in some ways ...

The root issue is there are a few devs for a certain package that one to push the KMS agenda with the OEM's... its a dead end... not happening... KMS based on what I've read would GPL the drivers, and that is not going to happen specifically nVidia has said. NO! So the USER is left to clean up... wrong!

Here is where KMint steps in and does what it does so well clean up the trash....

[dante19992]

how do I undo this? I did this and now my resolution is WAY off.