Create your own GRUB Splash Image

In my last post, I’ve written a howto on beefing up your GRUB loader by using a splash image. But, you’re not restricted to just using the few images given in the packages or the ones available on other sites. You can infact create your own!

First let’s see the few requirements for creating them:

1> The file should be of the type .xpm.gz only.
2> The xpm file should have a resolution of exactly 640 x 480.
3> Only, the xpm files with 14 colors are supported.

To create a new file in Gimp use this howto.

But if you want to use an existing image like a wallpaper or a photograph, you’ll need to modify it.

Open your image using GIMP.
Choose Image >> Scale Image.
In the dialog box that opens, put Width as 640 and Height as 480 pixels.

If you want to convert your image into Grayscale (i.e. Black, White and Gray format) go to
Colors >> Desaturate…

Now convert the image into 14 colors by going to
Image >> Mode >> Indexed

In Generate optimum palette, choose 14 as the Maximum number of colors.

Now right-clck on the image and select
File >> Save As

In the dialog box, choose the type as X Pixmap image i.e. .xpm and name the image as sankz.xpm and save it to the desktop.

Open a terminal, change directory to the desktp using the following command:

$ cd Desktop

Then compress it using GNU-zip

$ gzip sankz.xpm

This’ll create sankz.xpm.gz file! That’s just what we need. Copy this file to the /boot/grub/splashimages folder and use it as explained in my previous post.

Done! Restart you computer and see the cool new Grub Loader with splash image of your choice!

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