iPXE framebuffer (pictures)...

[Torgeir]

Hi!

I have been following the commit changes for quite som time now, and the framebuffer part looks pretty cool

Managed to get a better resolution, but I still think it "feels" better without FB for our Linux installmenu (which uses iPXE).

But I have a question regarding pictures. How to "get" pictures when "inside" iPXE? Use the kernel/initrd/module command to download from http server, or build iPXE image with a picture inside?

Keep up the great work

Regards,
Torgeir

[mcb30]

(2013-12-10 10:22)Torgeir Wrote:  I have been following the commit changes for quite som time now, and the framebuffer part looks pretty cool

Managed to get a better resolution, but I still think it "feels" better without FB for our Linux installmenu (which uses iPXE).

But I have a question regarding pictures. How to "get" pictures when "inside" iPXE? Use the kernel/initrd/module command to download from http server, or build iPXE image with a picture inside?

Use the --picture (or -p) option to the console command. For example:

Code:

console -p http://www.fensystems.co.uk/~mcb30/ipxe.pgm

If you don't specify a resolution, it will be chosen automatically based on the picture size. For now only PNM (.pbm/.pgm/.ppm) images are supported; PNG will be added soon. You need to enable IMAGE_PNM in config/general.h.

HTH,

Michael

[Torgeir]

I see...

Would it be possible to have this "picture" feature in the "login" menu, and the "menu" commands?

Or is that "out of scope"?

--Torgeir

---

Nevermind!

Saw the "transparent" commit... Looks good

--Torgeir

[MultimediaMan]

This is working well...



I haven't really delved into this yet, but what is the effect of loading images on different menu items? Are they just pushed through FIFO or are they somehow resident?

[mcb30]

(2013-12-17 09:07)MultimediaMan Wrote:  I haven't really delved into this yet, but what is the effect of loading images on different menu items? Are they just pushed through FIFO or are they somehow resident?

I'm not sure exactly what that question means. Hopefully the following may be relevant:

Background pictures will be automatically imgfreed (unless the --keep option is specified in the "console" command).

Extra memory is allocated to hold the pre-rendered copy of the background image; this is automatically freed when shutting down iPXE (e.g. to boot an OS, or to exit), or when resetting the console (e.g. to load a new background image, or to switch back to text mode).

The external memory allocator is quite simplistic. It is definitely possible to create usage patterns which will quickly exhaust the available memory.

Michael