http://www.bootsplash.org/   Kernel stuff   ATTENTION!   Please read the following information very carefully. This kernel   patch is free software; you may redistribute it under the terms of the   GNU General Public License. This kernel patch comes with absolutely no   warranty.   Requirements   * To use the Linux bootsplash screen, you have to recompile your   kernel.   If you are not familiar with this procedure, please ask one of your   geek friends or get hold of a distribution that already comes with the   bootsplash screen.   * You need a bootsplash theme.    * You need the splash utility, see README.bootsplash   Otherwise lets get started:   Patching and Compiling the Kernel   First off, make sure, your kernel sources are installed in   /usr/src/linux. Now download the latest version of the bootsplash   patch:   * bootsplash version 3.0.7 (created 2003/03/10 against vanilla Linux     2.4.20)   ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/stepan/bootsplash/kernel/bootsplash-3.0.7-2.4.20-vanilla.diff   yourbox:~ # cd /usr/src/linux   yourbox:/usr/src/linux # patch -p1 <   /path/to/bootsplash-3.0.7-2.4.20-vanilla.diff   patching file drivers/char/console.c   patching file drivers/char/keyboard.c   patching file drivers/char/n_tty.c   patching file drivers/video/Config.in   patching file drivers/video/Makefile   patching file drivers/video/fbcon-jpegdec.c   patching file drivers/video/fbcon-jpegdec.h   patching file drivers/video/fbcon-splash.c   patching file drivers/video/fbcon-splash.h   patching file drivers/video/fbcon-splash16.c   patching file drivers/video/fbcon.c   patching file include/video/fbcon.h   patching file kernel/panic.c   yourbox:/usr/src/linux #   Now you have to change your kernel configuration, using make config,   make menuconfig or make xconfig. Go to "Console drivers" ->   "Frame-Buffer support" and select "VESA VGA graphics console" (or   possibly another framebuffer driver, if one is available for your   graphics hardware) and turn on "Use splash screen instead of boot   logo". Also be sure to enable "Initial Ramdisk support" in "Block   Devices" Save your new config and compile a new kernel. Copy the   kernel to your /boot directory and make sure that you have a boot   entry for it in your bootloader config.   Preparing the picture   As there are no filesystems accessible when the bootsplash is first   shown, it can be attached to an initial ramdisk. If you dont have an   initial ramdisk normally, just use an empty one.   Get the sources of the splash utility from:   ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/stepan/bootsplash/rpm-sources/bootsplash/splashutils.tar.bz2   # cd ~/splash   # tar xvjf splashutils.tar.bz2   splashutils/   splashutils/Makefile   splashutils/splash.c   [..]   splashutils/ChangeLog   splashutils/COPYING   # cd splashutils   # make splash   gcc -Os -Wall -c -o splash.o splash.c   gcc -Os -Wall -o splash splash.o   strip splash   # cp splash /sbin/   # cd ..   Next you need to attach the picture plus a header, defining text   windows and such to the initrd (in the example, this is done for   1024x768. specify other resolutions, if available) :   /sbin/splash -s -f   /etc/bootsplash/themes/yourtheme/config/bootsplash-1024x768.cfg >>   /boot/initrd.splash   If you want to use more than one resolution for the bootsplash, call   the above command several times, once for each resolution config file.   Finishing up   run lilo, if appropriate, and reboot your system. You should get the   bootsplash screen.   During boot you will likely see the following in your messages:   vesafb: framebuffer at 0xf0000000, mapped to 0xdc816000, size 65472k   vesafb: mode is 1024x768x16, linelength=2048, pages=41   vesafb: protected mode interface info at c000:5137   vesafb: scrolling: redraw   vesafb: directcolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0   Looking for splash picture.... silenjpeg size 11165 bytes, found   (1024x768, 4912 bytes, v3)   Got silent jpeg.