What alternatives are available to replace the purple boot splash screen?

Question

I would love an animated splash screen, just for a bit of eye candy to replace the purple splash (with 4 dots) during the boot sequence. I know it will slow down boot time but I don't care I just want it to look good. When I show my friends how much better looking Ubuntu is than windows the splash really lets it down.

Any one know a good alternative to the existing Plymouth boot?

I could not get mine to change the splash screen (with terminal or gui apps), and it is now broken, it just shows a load of error messages at boot but still starts Ubuntu.

Answer 1

Ubuntu Sunrise (plymouth)

I use an old favorite "Ubuntu Sunrise" in 12.04 (In fact I have been using it since 10.04 LTS). It's easy to install (instructions below) and it has never caused me any issues. However you should note that changing your Plymouth may cause resolution issues depending on your own resolution.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1:

Download the Plymouth Sunrise deb file from here.

Step 2:

Open the Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) and type

gksudo nautilus

Step 3

• Copy ubuntu-sunrise folder to /lib/plymouth/themes
• Copy the file splash into /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d (Optional, for better buffer)

Step 4:

Type in the terminal

sudo update-alternatives --install /lib/plymouth/themes/default.plymouth default.plymouth /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-sunrise/ubuntu-sunrise.plymouth 200
sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

Step 5:

Choose the number associated with ubuntu-sunrise in the options that pop up.

Step 6

Type in the terminal

sudo update-initramfs -u

Then

sudo reboot

That's it.

Note: Some people have issues installing other Plymouth themes (I've never had any) and I would strongly advise you to take a look at these issues here at Ask Ubuntu to familiarise yourself.

Answer 2

Changing the boot-splash colour from Purple to Black (but maintain the Ubuntu logo)

If you don't like the purple screen when you first turn on the computer and want to change it to black.

Here are the instructions to accomplish this.

1. Open the file /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-logo/ubuntu-logo.script with a text editor
2. Find the two lines quoted below in the script

3. Change all the values in the brackets to “0” then save the file

   Window.SetBackgroundTopColor (0.0, 0.00, 0.0); # Nice colour on top of the screen fading to 
   Window.SetBackgroundBottomColor (0.0, 0.00, 0.0); # an equally nice colour on the bottom
   

4. Run the following command in the terminal

   sudo update-initramfs -u
   

The colour of the boot splash background will now be black instead of purple when you reboot.

Answer 3

Up-Ubuntu Theme (Plymouth)

Up Ubuntu is another alternative to replace the default Purple boot splash screen

It can been downloaded from devianART (Instructions below)

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Installation Instructions

Step 1

Download the Up-Ubuntu Plymouth theme from DevianArt by clicking here (These instructions assume you use you default Download folder in ~/Home)

Note: Make sure the tar.gz file is extracted from the Zip file in downloads

Step 2

Open your terminal ((Ctrl-Alt-T)) and navigate to the Plymouth Theme folder using the following code

cd /lib/plymouth/themes/

Step 3

Copy the file to the plymouth theme folder using the following command

sudo cp -r /home/***/Downloads/U-p/ ./

(note : *** = is a your user directory, so change it as your name)

Step 4

Type in the following code

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

Then

sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

Step 5

Chose U-p or the corresponding number from the list presented

Step 6

To complete the installation type

sudo update-initramfs -u

Reboot your PC sudo reboot and your done

Answer 4

Use your favourite Wallpaper to replace the Purple boot splash

These instructions will show you how to replace the Purple Boot Splash with a desktop wallpaper of your choice.

2 things to keep in mind

1. Ensure the desktop wallpaper is the correct resolution for you your monitor
2. Unlike the other answers here there is no animation

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Instructions

Open terminal Ctrl-Alt-T and type:

sudo mkdir /lib/plymouth/themes/simple

This will create a folder called "simple"

Next: Find a wallpaper that you wan't to use.

Make sure that wallpaper is and rename the wallpaper as wallpaper.png

You now need paste wallpaper.png into the "simple" folder

Open Nautilus as root by typing gksu nautilus in the terminal

Copy wallpaper to: /lib/plymouth/themes/simple/ then close nautilus

---

Return to the terminal and type:

sudo gedit /lib/plymouth/themes/simple/simple.plymouth

In gedit paste:

[Plymouth Theme]

Name=Simple

Description=Wallpaper only

ModuleName=script

[script]

ImageDir=/lib/plymouth/themes/simple

ScriptFile=/lib/plymouth/themes/simple/simple.script

Save it and close.

---

Type the following into the terminal

sudo gedit /lib/plymouth/themes/simple/simple.script

In gedit paste:

wallpaper_image = Image(“wallpaper.png”);

screen_width = Window.GetWidth();

screen_height = Window.GetHeight();

resized_wallpaper_image = wallpaper_image.Scale(screen_width,screen_height);

wallpaper_sprite = Sprite(resized_wallpaper_image);

wallpaper_sprite.SetZ(-100);

Save it and close.

---

Now run:

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

then:

sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

and select simple from list.

To complete the installation type:

sudo update-initramfs -u

Thats it! When you sudo reboot you will see your wallpaper instead of the purple boot splash.