Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCHv3] Load "bootsplash.jpg" if present

[Kevin O'Connor]

On Mon, Aug 02, 2010 at 11:52:22AM -0500, Anthony Liguori wrote:
> BTW, we need to document somewhere any assumptions SeaBIOS has about
> the JPEG.  I see that it expects a 1024x768 image.  Any additional
> restrictions on the jpeg image?

I listed some notes in a previous email:

>> Some notes:
>> 
>> This uses the qemu "rom" interface for loading the jpeg file.  It
>> seems to work, but I'm not sure if this is strictly correct.
>> 
>> The jpeg viewer in SeaBIOS will look at the image size and try to find
>> a vesa graphics mode that supports that size.  So, choose images that
>> are exactly 640x480, 1024x768, etc.  Also, the SeaBIOS viewer has
>> stripped down support for jpegs - not all valid jpegs will work.  Some
>> quick tests with the netpbm tools worked okay for me.
>> 
>> SeaBIOS only shows the bootsplash during the interval between vgabios
>> init and OS execution.  This is generally too short a time to be seen.
>> Add "-menu boot=on" to the qemu command line to have it shown longer.
>> 
>> Unfortunately, the vgabios doesn't support writing text to the screen
>> while in a vesa video mode.  So, this means that if a user selects F12
>> for the boot menu, they can't actually see the boot menu.  This will
>> need to be fixed in SeaBIOS in a follow up patch.

-Kevin