Linux Help For Beginners
Changing Gnome Display Manager (GDM) v.2.28 (xsplash hack included)
Wow. Sooooo, how about that new version of GDM? Pretty ugly, isn't it? To make matters worse, it's not as easily themeable as the previous versions. The good folks at Gnome really botched this in favor of faster load times. So far, not too many people are saying, "Yay, I love the 3 seconds faster loading and the ugly screen!" I am definitely not alone out there when I say, I would be ecstatic for a longer load time with the ability to once again theme my login and splash screens with an easy GUI. Well, of course, there is a fix for that. (though it's not simple-be warned!) This tutorial is in two parts, the first being the hack of GDM itself. The second part is the xsplash hack, which is the image you see right after entering your login info and before your desktop image appears. Generally speaking, most people would want the login screen and xsplash to match, for a better viewing experience. So here goes!
Gnome Display Manager (GDM) version 2.28
1. Be familiar with gnome-control-center. It's where you go to change desktop themes (usually done by right clicking on the desktop). That is also a command you can enter into a terminal: gnome-control-center.
2. Log out. (Not quit, restart etc..just logout.)
3. Press the following keys simultaneously: Control+Alt+F1
4. At the prompt, login with your username and password.
5. At the command line prompt, enter the following: export❏DISPLAY=:0.0 (hit enter)
NOTE: The squares that are in the command are to represent spaces between words. They may appear as squares or some other funky symbol depending on your web browser.
6. At the command line prompt, enter the following: sudo❏-u❏gdm❏gnome-control-center (hit enter)
NOTE: Remember, The squares that are in the command are to represent spaces!!!
7. Press the following keys simultaneously: Alt+F7
8. This will bring up the GUI for the gnome-control-center. Use it the same way you would as when you are customising your desktop to configure how the GDM will look.
2. Log out. (Not quit, restart etc..just logout.)
3. Press the following keys simultaneously: Control+Alt+F1
4. At the prompt, login with your username and password.
5. At the command line prompt, enter the following: export❏DISPLAY=:0.0 (hit enter)
NOTE: The squares that are in the command are to represent spaces between words. They may appear as squares or some other funky symbol depending on your web browser.
6. At the command line prompt, enter the following: sudo❏-u❏gdm❏gnome-control-center (hit enter)
NOTE: Remember, The squares that are in the command are to represent spaces!!!
7. Press the following keys simultaneously: Alt+F7
8. This will bring up the GUI for the gnome-control-center. Use it the same way you would as when you are customising your desktop to configure how the GDM will look.
This is a pic of the Gnome Control Center. Click on the appearance button to start configuring your GDM's look.
The theme tab contains the full theme (with icons, font, window borders, colors etc.) Clicking on the Customise tab allows you to change specific features within each theme. The possibilities are many!
The background tab contains images that you can use to set the background of the login screen. Feel free to use the add tab to add more images from your home folder. As you can see, my background image is selected (in light red because that is the color of my theme, not that you have to try to find that exact image lol)
9. Once you are done tweaking the settings to your liking, close the gnome-control-center window and then Log In!! That part is all done.
XSplash (boot screen) hack.
Now, (theoretically at least) we want the splash screen that pops up after you enter your login info to match the background of the login screen page that you have just now learned to tweak.
1. Open Synaptic Package Manager and make sure the packages xsplash (which should be there already) and imagemagick (which is probably not installed already) are installed. You have to have these packages installed in order to continue on to Step 2.
2. Go to the page of Meerkat (my new hero) on Gnome-look.org and download the package (toward the bottom of the page) that is called Ubuntu (1.6 beta DEB). When the dialogue box opens, set it to open the package with GDebi package installer. Then download (hit okay). Once you've installed, the application opens and you get to see this:
1. Open Synaptic Package Manager and make sure the packages xsplash (which should be there already) and imagemagick (which is probably not installed already) are installed. You have to have these packages installed in order to continue on to Step 2.
2. Go to the page of Meerkat (my new hero) on Gnome-look.org and download the package (toward the bottom of the page) that is called Ubuntu (1.6 beta DEB). When the dialogue box opens, set it to open the package with GDebi package installer. Then download (hit okay). Once you've installed, the application opens and you get to see this:
3. Now just choose what background you would like to use. The default background is the one that came up after you installed your distro. The custom background (what I use) is where you can choose whatever image you like..I like to have zombies greeting me, so that's what I chose. If you want you can also check Use Desktop Background, for a seamless transition from the point after loggin in to the desktop. Of course, you will have to either log out/log in to see the changes or reboot.
4. One last thing to do. Go back to the page where you got the download from Meerkat and make sure to give props for the awesome package that allows you to choose your own splash screen easily. If for some reason, you don't want to create an account with Gnome-look (but you really should because they have a lot of amazing goodies, then send out a blog or a tweet, some kind of props and to help spread the word so others can use this too.
4. One last thing to do. Go back to the page where you got the download from Meerkat and make sure to give props for the awesome package that allows you to choose your own splash screen easily. If for some reason, you don't want to create an account with Gnome-look (but you really should because they have a lot of amazing goodies, then send out a blog or a tweet, some kind of props and to help spread the word so others can use this too.