Boot Menu Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint (+ New Logo)

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Boot Menu Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint (+ New Logo)

Post by sebastjava »


Automatic or manual installation, at your choice.

https://www.opendesktop.org/p/1247545/

Preview_800x600-LR.png

One Size Fits All

I tried to make a theme that fits all different screen resolutions. We call this Responsive Design. But there are no sophisticated Responsive Design features on Grub2. So i just made wise use of relative plus absolute unit combinations to get a design that is flexible enough to look good on Grub2 screens ranging from 640x480 to 1024x768 resolutions. Grub2 screens are usually in lower resolutions like these. Grub2 is a kind of small system running before your actual system starts, so this explains the lower screen resolutions and other limited features. Your screen will automatically use one of these compatible resolutions, preferring the higher ones when possible. This is just for the boot menu, before you start your computer system. Your screen will automatically switch back to your preferred screen resolution right after booting.

Also, to make sure the text does not look small on higher resolution screens, i selected a font size that fills 100% of the smallest screen width. On higher resolutions, the boot menu is aligned to the left of the screen, and the right side is decorated with this sunshine picture. On smaller screens, it overlaps and still looks good.

Optional: There is also a matching screen background for your login screen; this screen where you pick which user account to login to.

Note: This is just a theme. It only adds some graphic design to your Grub screen. This Grub screen will be displayed if you have a dual-boot or multi-boot installation.

Download and Installation Instructions: https://www.opendesktop.org/p/1247545/
  • Did it work? Tell us!
  • Does it looks good? Tell us!
It would be great to include a Grub2 theme such as this one in every Linux Mint distribution...
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 9 times in total.
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gm10

Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by gm10 »

Nice, but you vertically condensed that logo quite a bit, looks a bit weird.
ajgringo619

Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by ajgringo619 »

Looks great - thank you!
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by Resistor »

Looks promising. Thanks.
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by sebastjava »

gm10 wrote: Sun Jul 15, 2018 1:55 pm Nice, but you vertically condensed that logo quite a bit, looks a bit weird.
I know. Thanks for pointing that out. But in fact, i did not change this logo width-height ratio. What is happening is this: most screens are in 16:9 ratio while most Grub screens resolutions are in 4:3 ratio, if my readings are not outdated. So it is true, this logo gets slightly horizontally expanded, or vertically condensed. But that's because i did not do any change to compensate this occurring minor visual distorsion...

I should change this logo width-height ratio to make it look better. I already did compensate the background sun image width-height ratio. I guess i was too shy or scared to change the logo as well.

Coming soon, i guess...
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by gm10 »

Actually I was purely going by the screenshot in the OP, haven't tried your theme so far. My GRUB runs in 16:9 native resolution for my laptop display.
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by sebastjava »

gm10 wrote: Sun Jul 15, 2018 1:55 pm Nice, but you vertically condensed that logo quite a bit, looks a bit weird.
OK: Logo is now re-scaled.
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by MrEen »

While I usually have my finger on the Enter key waiting for the Grub screen to appear, I do like what you have done. I think the LM logo looks much better now and my only little niggle is the word Mint looks just a tad schmushed™, almost like it is spaced perfectly without the alternate color border.

Nice work. :D
gm10

Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by gm10 »

sebastjava wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:52 pm
gm10 wrote: Sun Jul 15, 2018 1:55 pm Nice, but you vertically condensed that logo quite a bit, looks a bit weird.
OK: Logo is now re-scaled.
Perfect.
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by sebastjava »

MrEen wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:08 pm [...] the word Mint looks just a tad schmushed™, almost like it is spaced perfectly without the alternate color border.
The logo outline is now changed; this should help. Note: i cannot post hi-resolution previews on this forum... This subtle change appears in the small image on top of this page.

Many files were updated, so if you already installed this theme and you want this update, just do a complete re-install.
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by MrEen »

I do like that improvement. Enough that I'm going to go ahead and install this. Thanks again. :D
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by CaptainKirksChair »

I installed this on a Dell Inspiron 3400 with Mint 18.3 Cinnamon / Win 10 dual boot. Followed the instructions in the ReadMe file and everything works fine. Even let Update Manager update the system after I changed GRUB but before the reboot.
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by sebastjava »

Small update:
  • Enlarged symbols on help menu (on bottom-left)
  • Subtle corrections on the logo
  • Bigger preview
Follow the link to GitHub for manual installation instructions and download.
Coming soon: automatic installer.

https://github.com/SebastJava/Grub2-the ... -LinuxMint
Last edited by sebastjava on Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by tinca »

sebastjava,

I have installed it on my Mint 19 Mate and it works just fine.

I tried to use the .png as a desktop background, but it was a bit bright for me.

many thanks

Best regards Keith
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by CaptainKirksChair »

sebastjava wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 8:54 pmComing soon: automatic installer.
Might I suggest as a feature, a way to choose your own background? There may need to be some instructions on file size, type (PNG,JPG), and width/height. I've already done this and it does work okay. I just had to resize a photo to 1024x768. It's so much nicer to use your own background because it make it more personal.

Cool utility by the way...
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by sebastjava »

CaptainKirksChair wrote: Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:22 pm Might I suggest as a feature, a way to choose your own background?
I am not a professional programmer. I just have a small experience with lots of things, like CSS, scripts, etc. Before creating this Grub theme, i followed this tutorial: http://wiki.rosalab.ru/en/index.php/Gru ... e_tutorial I also took a look at many other Grub themes... But creating this automated background select feature sounds too complicated for me. I think i can't do that.

Here is the manual procedure:
  1. Install the theme. (by hand or using the auto installer coming soon)
  2. Create your own image. Allowed formats are: PNG, TGA, JPG; transparency is supported.
  3. Things get complicated here... In order to fit any screen, this theme is designed for small, 4:3 formats: 640x480 px, or 800x600 px, or 1024x768 px. Many Grub screens are "old-fashioned" like that. And "high-end" computers can switch to these lower resolutions (just for booting), while "low-end" computers could not switch to higher resolutions.
  4. So, for this theme, start with an image in high-res, 16:9 format, like 1920x1080, for example. Then shrink it to this 4:3 format: 1024x768. That is because with this theme, during boot time, your screen will use some 4:3 format resolutions. But your screen's physical proportions are probably 16:9. So everything gets horizontally expanded on this Grub screen: width = 133 %, approximately. Just take a look at my "Sunshine-LinuxMint/sunshine-background-CC0.png" image, from your desktop. See? It is horizontally condensed, but looks OK on the Grub screen.
  5. ...Of course, if you just want clouds or waves pictures, you don't have to go through this; just make it 1024x768 px.
  6. Put your picture in Sunshine-LinuxMint folder.
  7. Edit the theme.txt: desktop-image: "NAME.extension"
That's it. You do not have to run sudo update-grub for this.
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Re: Boot Screen (Grub2) Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint. One Size Fits All.

Post by sebastjava »

NEW! Easy Automatic Installer!
MOVED! You can now download easily here:

https://www.opendesktop.org/p/1247545/
  • Did it work? Tell us!
  • Does it looks good? Tell us!
Last edited by sebastjava on Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boot Screen Theme: Sunshine-Linuxmint (+New Logo)

Post by sebastjava »

Mint-Y-logoLM-02-1.png

I created a new version of the Linux Mint logo. I proposed it to the team and the community. I do not know if it will become official one day, but I could not wait and I integrated it everywhere: here on this Grub theme and included menu icon, and on a Plymouth theme that completes this set.

Check the updated image on the original post...
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