BootLoader [FreeBSD WIKI]

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{*} {*} NOTE: This project is currently suspended because of lack of time, and because of significant collisions with loader changes by others.

{*} New: I've published [[OliverFromme/BootLoaderTest|a tarball]] for people
who would like to check this out.  Beware, it's work in progress!

//Note: [[http://www.pcbsd.org|PC-BSD]] >= 9.0-RC3 has the new [[/BootLoader|BootLoader]] enabled by default.//

===== "You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression" =====

Look at the current text menu of %%FreeBSD%%'s bootloader, look at the
old-fashioned ASCII logo.  %%FreeBSD%% aims to support
the most modern hardware platforms, to implement the latest protocols
and greatest algorithms.  Do you think it's appropriate that %%FreeBSD%%
greets its users with a boot screen that looks like a 20 years old
DOS program?

That's why I'm working on this:

====== Graphics support for /boot/loader ======

Lets start with a screenshot (this one is not completely up-to-date,
current WIP looks a bit different):

{{http://www.secnetix.de/olli/FreeBSD/vloader/screenshot.png}}

The project consists of the following parts (in bottom-up order):

  * Graphics functions that access the actual hardware and/or machine firmware (BIOS, EFI, whatever).
  * A switch structure that calls the appropriate functions depending on the platform.
  * FICL glue that binds the graphics functions to Forth words.
  * Forth code that uses the new words to construct a graphical menu.
  * A collection of themes.

Every theme has its own subdirectory ''%%/boot/themes/%%''//%%<%%name>// which contains at least
a configuration file, and possibly other files as well.  Example:

<code>
/boot/themes/default/biglogo.pcx
/boot/themes/default/default.font
/boot/themes/default/theme.conf
</code>

And the configuration file (''%%/boot/themes/default/theme.conf%%'') looks like this:

<code>
theme_background="/boot/themes/default/biglogo.pcx"
theme_font="/boot/themes/default/default.font"
theme_bgcolor="0 0 0"           # black
theme_fgcolor="255 255 255"     # white
theme_options_xy="64 10"
theme_actions_xy="64 82"
</code>

A theme is enabled by adding a line to ''%%/boot/loader.conf%%'':

<code>
beastie_theme="/boot/themes/default/theme.conf"
</code>

New themes can easily be created.  It is expected that the base system
will ship only with a limited number of themes (maybe just one), and
more themes can be provided through the ports collection.

If a theme wants to do more sophisticated things, such as using
multiple graphics files or fonts, or re-arrange the menu in completely
different ways, it will have to bring its own Forth code and modify
''%%beastie.4th%%'' directly (an appropriate mechanism to provide hooks into
may be provided at a later time).

===== Work in progress =====

Note this is currently work in progress, happening in the %%FreeBSD%% Perforce ("p4")
repository.  I plan to commit it to %%FreeBSD%% when it's ready, after proper review
and approval.

For those you are eager to check out the WIP, there's a tarball available for
preliminary testing.  Please see the [[OliverFromme/BootLoaderTest|testing instructions]]
for details.  Note this is "bleeding edge", so it might not work for you.

Current status:

^ Item ^ Lang ^ Status ^
| low-level graphics functions | C | ✔ done for i386/amd64 (BIOS-based, VGA, 4bpp) |
| platform switch | C | in progress |
| FICL Forth words | C | ✔ done |
| "beastie" menu graphics support | Forth | ✔ done |
| text/binary converter for fonts | awk | ✔ done (a version written in C also exists) |
| initial default theme | - | ✔ done (background image, font) |
| multiple themes support | Forth | ✔ done |
| documentation | - | in progress |

If you have any questions or requests, please contact [[/OliverFromme|OliverFromme]].

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{{tag>InactiveProject Stale}}