2 вопроса по lilo

cat /usr/doc/lilo*/readme.bitmaps

а тыне задумывался, что не во всех дистрибах это есть

Лови!!! __________________________________ Notes on the use of Bitmap boot screens LILO 22.3 -- 11-Apr-2002

SUMMARY OF CHANGES (LILO 22.3) ==============================

LILO 22.3 no longer requires placement parameters in the configuration file (/etc/lilo.conf). Instead, text menu size, placement, and colors may be edited into the bitmap file header using "lilo -E file.bmp". The parameters may also be saved from the bitmap file header to a companion configuration file, "file.dat", as an option to the edit command. Param- eters may be transferred from the companion '.dat' file to the bitmap file header using the command "lilo -E file.dat". LILO 22.3 still rec- ognizes bitmap file formating commands in '/etc/lilo.conf'.

This change allows bitmap graphics to be exchanged among users without the tedious need to exchange the color/positioning information separately.

MOTIVATION ==========

The makers of several Linux distributions which include LILO as the boot loader have issued patched versions which support graphical screens for kernel selection. However, each distribution seems to have chosen a different screen resolution, and different file-type to implement the graphical (bitmapped) background. In order to try to bring some order to this array of different implementations, and to support common code across all Linux distributions, I submit the following implementation of a graphical background and menu driven interface (cursor keys only) for kernel selection.

The choice then was to have the implementation run on the widest array of graphics hardware in use today. VGA is the common standard, and this dictates a choice of two color modes: 320x200x256 and 640x480x16. The VGA/VESA standard extends the modes to add 640x400x256, 640x480x256, and 800x600x256 as possible choices. However, most high-end graphics cards provide graphics acceleration through other means than the VESA standard; and, in actual fact, are moving away from supporting the full spectrum of VESA modes. Older VGA systems often do not have VESA extensions in ROM BIOS, so the choice narrows to the two modes in the original IBM VGA BIOS.

А у Вас какой?

Character generation in the 320x200x256 mode is generally limited to an
8x8 character cell, and is not visually appealing. The 640x480x16 mode
uses an 8x16 character cell, and is acceptable. The question was the
limitations to 16 colors. This is less of a restriction than one might
think it is. There are the 16 EGA-compatible colors, which are the BIOS
defaults on all systems; but the VGA palette is programmable with 6 bits
alloted to each primary color. Some experimentation with graphics images
convinced me that very appealing logos could easily be generated, as long
as the graphics editor in use would allow ANY 16 colors to be chosen from
among the 256K available. Good dithering algorithms exist, and the screens
that I produced with dithered 16-color images, in my opinion, were more
acceptable than 256-color images. In these latter cases, as a color area
transitions from one shade to another, the stepping effect is more notice-
able, and more objectionable, than a good dither.

With this said, the choice of VGA 640x480x16 (mode 0x12) was settled upon.

Then the choice of a graphics screen file format had to be settled. It
had to be universally supported, be well documented, allow for image
compression, and allow for easy decompression. File formats considered
included PCX, GIF, and BMP. The last was chosen because it is understand-
able, and the run-length compression is very easy to expand.


USAGE
=====

Update (22.3): The three keywords 'bmp-table', 'bmp-colors', and 'bmp-timer'
are now primarily to be used in the configuration file used as a companion
to a bitmap file. The bitmap file must have the filename extension ".bmp",
and the companion configuration file must have the filename extension
".dat".

Four keywords are added to 'lilo.conf' to allow the usage of bitmap screens:

bitmap = #specifies the bitmap file to be used as
#a background

bmp-table = #specifies the location of the table of
#image/other names, and its layout

bmp-colors = #specifies the color attributes of the table
#entries, normal & highlighted

bmp-timer = #specifies the position and color attributes
#of the timeout timer

install = /boot/boot-bmp.b #specify the boot loader with bitmap
#graphics capability

EXAMPLE
=======

The following is excerpted from 'bmp.conf', a LILO configuration file which
has been used during the development of the bitmap-capable boot loader.

File: bmp.conf (substitute for 'lilo.conf'):

...
#
# The following parameters select appropriate colors
# and proper screen positions for the 'logo64a.bmp' graphic.
#
bitmap=logo64a.bmp
bmp-colors=6,9,0;15,9,0
bmp-table=59,5,1,19,
bmp-timer=66,28,6,8,0
...

Update (22.3): If the color information and screen positions specified on
the last three lines above have been transferred to the LILO sub-header in
the bitmap file "logo64a.bmp", then the entry in 'lilo.conf' can be
shortened to:

...
#
# Select the bitmap file to display. Text positioning information
# is in the LILO subheader in the bitmap file.
#
bitmap=logo64a.bmp
...




...
#
# The following parameters select appropriate colors
# and proper screen positions for the 'ins64a.bmp' graphic.
#
bitmap=ins64a.bmp
bmp-colors=14,11,;15,9,0 # omit this line for lilo 22.3
bmp-table=21,287p,2,4,175p # ditto
bmp-timer=73,29,12,8,0 # ditto
...

Both bitmap files are available in the source code tarball at:

http://lilo.go.dyndns.org/pub/linux/lilo

They are located in the 'sample' subdirectory, along with companion
'.dat' configuration files.


USAGE COMMAND
=============

With version 22.3, '/sbin/lilo' becomes, in addition to the boot installer,
the bitmap file header editor. A single switch, '-E' is added to accomplish
this new task. It has two uses:

lilo -E filename.bmp
or
lilo -E filename.dat

In the first case, if the bitmap file is fresh out of a graphics editor, it
will have no LILO sub-header. The first edit command is used to alter the
default values for color and positioning information, and to save the new
values to the LILO sub-header in the bitmap file. The editor is
interactive, and allows you to change one parameter at a time. When you
write out the updated bitmap file, you are given the chance to create a
companion text configuration file, 'filename.dat', which contains a readable
copy of all of the text color and positioning information in the header.

In the second case, the abbreviated configuration file, 'filename.dat',
contains only the commands: "bitmap=", "bmp-table=", "bmp-colors=", or
"bmp-timer="; all are optional. If "bitmap=" is omitted, then
'filename.dat' is taken to correspond to the bitmap file 'filename.bmp';
i.e., same name, diffenent file extension. Otherwise, the configuartion
file corresponds to the bitmap file specified by the "bitmap=" option. The
color, positioning, and timer information in the configuration file is
transferred to the LILO header in the bitmap file. If no such header
exists, one is created.

The primary use for the '.dat' file is to save the LILO header information,
so that the bitmap graphic may be edited with a graphics editor. No
graphichs editor recognizes the LILO header, so an updated bitmap graphic
file will be without the LILO header. The second form of the edit command
allows the header to be recreated very quickly, exacltly as it was before.


TRADEMARKS
==========

Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
OS/2 and OS2 are trademarks of IBM Corporation.

(end)
written 05/07/2001 -- John Coffman <johninsd@san.rr.com>
updated 05/10/2001 -- John Coffman
updated 11/25/2001 -- John Coffman (typos corrected)
updated 04/11/2002 -- John Coffman (update to LILO 22.3)