a customizable start-up/boot screen

[MajiKool Dragonâ„¢]

i think it would be nice to be able to customize the rockbox start-up/boot screen with a background, picture, one's name, or other text.

[GodEater]

This is on the NODO list.

[MajiKool Dragonâ„¢]

ok... no problem....
sorry about that then.

[lumino]

Err... forgive me but i cannot see it on:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/NoDo

Is there another list?

[Chronon]

You can easily do this if you care to compile the build yourself.  You can just swap out the appropriate bitmap before you compile and you will have a custom boot screen.

Someone posted a windows tool for swapping bitmaps out of compiled Rockbox binaries a while back called LogoSwapper (wiki name for convenience).  Here's the caveat from that wiki page:

Use at your own risk. This tool is not officially supported by Rockbox or part of the Rockbox project. We are not able to help with any problems you might experience while using it. Any use of it will convert your build into an UNSUPPORTED build. Any bugs experienced should be reproduced with a clean build (redownloaded from the official servers, without a swapped logo) before reporting.

It doesn't appear on that NoDo list and I wasn't under the impression that this was strictly off the table -- though maybe I missed something.  I do have the impression that this is not considered to be much of a priority by anyone

[soap]

I believe "binary size increase in the name of eyecandy without an arguable usability improvement" is an unwritten NoDo.

Perhaps it should be a written one - but I'm not going to speak for the dev community.

Then again, AlbumArt fits my above definition - so I clearly don't speak well.

[Llorean]

It's also a NoDo for the reasons the discussed in the patch that implemented it, unless they can all be overcome.

[brunovdbh]

Yeah, you can just change the appropiated image in the /apps/bitmaps/ folder in the source code, then recompile it (btw, I've changed mine this way). It would be a lot easier to do that if the bitmap was loaded direct from disk - not built in the mi4 file - but since you CAN change the boot image, this isn't as needed as it might sound.

[delt]

Anyway what would be the advantage? i mean, it just shows up for like, a second or 2 when you turn on the player.

[Strife89]

You could put a message saying "This DAP belongs to: <name>. <Contact Information>" in case the DAP is lost.

[ZincAlloy]

You could make the boot splashes suiting the themes you're using..

[Llorean]

It doesn't matter. It is impractical for this to be implemented without causing inconvenience to those who wouldn't use it.

[Angelfire]

Sorry but I do not get the bit about being "impractical for this to be implemented without causing inconvenience to those who would not use it".  Surely an option to turn the facility on and off could be included, with the default being off?

 I happen to agree with the view that it is a fairly pointless exercise, with one important exception.  It might deter theft, especially if password protected or write protected.  After all most chavs and neds are hardly Mensa candidates, so would not be able to remove a unique identifying start-up/boot/splash screen.  As most stuff these numpties steal is sold on, they are going to have some hard explaining to do, when the buyer switches the unit on and it says " This Sansa e280 belongs to Mary Jane, 25 Rosebush Avenue, Posh Town, Herts etc...  Also useful if they are apprehended by the police while still in possession of said swag!

Just a thought.

Angelfire

[Llorean]

By the time Rockbox can check config.cfg the logo has been onscreen for a bit already. So, how would you have Rockbox know in advance, without delaying the draw of the logo until Rockbox checks config.cfg? And if we delay it until you can check the config file, then the logo displays for a very, very short time.

Basically, the only option for custom logos is to actually slow down the boot so that the custom logo can display, or compile it in so that it can be displayed before the .cfg file is loaded, or check the disk in a certain place for a file, and use it if present (which also slows down the boot).

[Angelfire]

Well as I said if the default is off and from the tone of this discussion, it seems most people would not bother turning this option on, me included.  Then only people who desperately want this function would be inconvenienced at boot up.  As the config.cfg is read and the system takes the time to search and load the requested file, with a user defined variable to set how long the logo is displayed for.  If the value is zero or null it is ignored.

I am, I think, with the majority, apart from the possible, anti-theft application, in not desperately wishing or waiting for it's implementation.  However it is equally obvious that some people would like this or a variation on this idea implemented.

Angelfire