Linux Splash Creation with GIMP

The splash image is the image shown in the background when GRUB is displaying the list of operating systems you can boot. All you need to customize it is the GIMP or Imagemagick and gzip.

You will need to make sure your GRUB supports the splashimage command. I took image from gentoo.org and cut a little for the GRUB background

Creating image (GIMP)

1. Start the GIMP.
2. Click on File->New or type Ctrl+N
3. In the new image dialog, change Width to 640 pixels and Height to 480 pixels. (The image should be of size 640x480 pixels.) Now click OK.
4. Create the image which you would like to be the splash image. It's quite fun to experiment with the various tools of the GIMP!
5. After you have finished creating the image, hit Alt+i or right click on the image and click on Image->Mode->Indexed...
6. In the Indexed Color Conversion dialog that appears, click on the radio button "Generate optimal Palette" and in "# of colors" enter 14. Click OK.(The image should be of only 14 colors)
7. Now right-click on the image and click on File->Save As...Save the file as ImageName.xpm in a directory of your choice.

For some reasons i could not create *.xpm so i save it as *.png and then

convert ImageName.png ImageName.xpm

(convert is a part of media-gfx/imagemagick)

You can save image from this page and convert it skipping image creation hassle


Creating image (Imagemagick)

* You can also pick an image (any type supported by ImageMagick) and execute:

convert -resize 640x480 -colors 14 picture.jpg ImageName.xpm


Installing the Image

gzip ImageName.xpm
mount /boot
mv ImageName.xpm.gz /boot/grub/

* In the /boot/grub/grub.conf you have to point splashimage to newly created image i.e.

File: /boot/grub/grub.conf

# Splash Image
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/ImageName.xpm.gz

That's it! When you reboot, you will find your image in the background, with the menu of operating systems etc. in the foreground.