OMG! Ubuntu (a blog you should certainly be reading if you don’t already have it in your reader) has the complete guide to tricking out XSplash, the new bootscreen manager in Ubuntu 9.10.

One of the great things about XSplash is that it starts XServer, what displays good graphics on your screen in Linux, BSD, and OS X systems, a few seconds into the boot instead of near the end.  This means that you no longer have to really know your stuff to change the bootscreen; all you need to do is follow some very simple instructions.

First off, if you just want to change your bootscreen, play with the files in /usr/share/images/xsplash

But I’m not here to talk about that:  I’m talking about a seamless boot experience that changes your login window and XSplash background to be your normal wallpaper.

Note:  This might not be a good idea for multi-user systems.

These instructions were pulled from OMG! UBUNTU!: Automatically Change Your Xsplash Background To Your Desktop Wallpaper

Download

@Gnome-look.org

Installation/How To Use

1. Extract the archive you have just downloaded.
2. Move ‘wallpaper_daemon.py’ somewhere safe where it won’t get deleted [the Gnome-Look entry suggests making a folder at /home/[youruser]/.scripts
3. Make it executable via the terminal using ‘chmod +x wallpaper_daemon.py’ [run = chmod +x "~/.scripts/wallpaper_daemon.py"]
4. Run ./wallpaper_daemon.py –install to set necessary permissions etc. [run = "cd ~/.scripts" and then "./wallpaper_daemon.py --install"]
5. Add the ‘wallpaper_daemon.py’ to startup applications via System > Preferences > Startup Applications
6. [Additional step - it will only work once you change your wallpaper.  What I did (and what Gnome Look suggests) is run "./wallpaper_daemon.py" while in the scripts folder and open the wallpaper-changer.  Then open a new terminal and type sudo xsplash to test it out without rebooting]

Now whenever you login and change your wallpaper the daemon will automatically adjuct the xsplash background to the same image.

(Written – mostly – by the genius at OMG! UBUNTU! licensed under the Creative Commons Share-Alike/Attribution license)

Now if you look at my picture you’ll see that I don’t have the “Cylon-eye” (not my name for it) throbber on the Ubuntu bootscreen.  I have what’s on the Xubuntu screen, called “Swarm”.  How do you get that?  Well, let’s turn to another OMG! UBUNTU! post, where you can get the throbber adapted for Ubuntu.

Just another thing that shows you the power of Linux.