Usplash is a

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

project in the

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

community. Historically, scrolling text "verbose mode" has typically appeared on Linux computers during boot. Usplash replaces the scrolling-text screens with a graphical

splash screen A splash screen is a graphical control element consisting of a window containing an image, a logo, and the current version of the software. A splash screen can appear while a game or program is launching. A splash page is an introduction page on a ...

. It was designed to replace Bootsplash, which did the same thing on the

kernel space A modern computer operating system usually uses virtual memory to provide separate address spaces or regions of a single address space, called user space and kernel space. This separation primarily provides memory protection and hardware prote ...

level. Since usplash operates in

user space A modern computer operating system usually uses virtual memory to provide separate address spaces or regions of a single address space, called user space and kernel space. This separation primarily provides memory protection and hardware prote ...

, it can be updated without recompiling the kernel. Usplash uses the

Linux framebuffer The framebuffer subsystem in the Linux kernel fbdev is used to show graphics on a computer monitor, typically on the system console. It was designed as a hardware-independent API to give user space software access to the framebuffer (the par ...

interface or, alternatively, direct

VESA VESA (), formally known as Video Electronics Standards Association, is an American standards organization, technical standards organization for computer display standards. The organization was incorporated in California in July 1989To retrieve ...

access to display the splash screen. In Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", Usplash is only used in the preliminary stages of booting, after which XSplash takes over. In Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx", Usplash has been fully replaced by

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, which uses

Direct Rendering Manager The Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) is a subsystem of the Linux kernel responsible for interfacing with Graphics processing unit, GPUs of modern video cards. DRM exposes an Application programming interface, API that user-space programs can use t ...

(DRM) and KMS driver.

External links

Usplash on Launchpad

Debian package listing for usplash

Ubuntu help page for usplash

Some discussions about usplash

Simple tool to create simple themes for usplash
Booting Free software programmed in C Ubuntu {{Linux-stub

See also

External links