[ubuntu-uk] Customising Ubuntu with Reconstructor (version 2.6) and Gimp (2.2.13)

[Matthew Larsen]

wow nice :D ace tut, thanks

Regards,

Matthew

On 31/07/07, alan c <aeclist at candt.waitrose.com> wrote:
> Customising Ubuntu with Reconstructor (version 2.6) and Gimp (2.2.13)
>
> I have been successful with customising Ubuntu version 6.06.1 (Dapper)
> and Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty). I happen to be using a kubuntu 7.04 machine
> for the work. The machine also has ubuntu-desktop and xubuntu-desktop
> installed, so additional libraries might be used without me being
> aware of it.
>
> For my limited needs I found Reconstructor to be the easiest to
> achieve things with, once I had grasped what I had to do. There is an
> excellent guide in the Ubuntu Community docs,
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/USplashCustomizationHowto
> which I did get some success with, although it was a bit above my
> experience just now so I did not continue at this time..
>
> I installed reconstructor from the repos, no problem. I cannot say
> which of th erepositories it is in, becasue I hav eall of them enable
> just now I think. Reconstructor runs with a GUI and a terminal display
> also alongside. I had to ignore the terminal display because it did
> not give me enough clues, The gui is ok once it is understood.
>
> I was successful with Reconstructor for Ubuntu, although I failed to
> get success with several attempted kubuntu customisations.
> Reconstructor seems geared to Ubuntu only afaik.
> At my experience level anyway.
>
> When investigating boot splash and usplash customisations I found a
> lot on the internet about size of graphic and colour depth and colour
> palette. I did begin to understand what this meant and how to use gimp
> for it. The restraints in image size and type are important and
> significant.
>
> Boot splash
> I now understand that the boot splash is what is seen initially and
> includes the initial overlay of boot menu choices.
>
> Usplash
> The screen with the oscillating progress bar is called the usplash
> screen.
>
> Desktop background
> The desktop background shown after the live CD is fully running is the
> default background or wallpaper. I note that for a live CD the
> background image is found in
> /usr/share/backgrounds whereas after an install, additional
> backgrounds are also available in /usr/share/wallpapers.
>
> My Initial Error messages after I start Reconstructor:
> The terminal shows errors as follows on my machine:
>
> =============
> X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
>     Major opcode:  145
>     Minor opcode:  3
>     Resource id:  0x0
> Failed to open device
> X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
>     Major opcode:  145
>     Minor opcode:  3
>     Resource id:  0x0
> Failed to open device
> Reconstructor -- (c) Reconstructor Team, 2006
>          Version: 2.6
>           http://reconstructor.aperantis.com
> =============
>
> However, I still got success.  :-)
>
>
> ============================================
> ============================================
>
>           Sequence of use of Reconstructor:
>
> 1) welcome screen
> [next]
>
> 2) I chose the desktop live CD
>
> 3) Live CD
> Working directory (the default was ok for me).
> Creation via checkboxes of three other working (sub) directories on
> first use. This was ok, then I subsequently ignored these on
> subsequent runs.
>
> Live CD iso filename - I had downloaded the iso (Ubuntu 7.04 desktop
> i386), and copied it into a temporary directory in my user area, and
> also used this temp dir to put any relevant graphics I used or needed.
> For example I called my temp dir agecon-1.
>
> Use of:
> [Next-button]
>
> 4) Customisation Boot screen tab:
>
> 4a) Live CD Splash (.pcx) this is the boot splash image, and will be
> first to be seen when booting, with a menu overlaid.
>
> This is required as a .pcx file, it must be I think a size of 640x480
> pixels with limited colours from a specific palette. The size is
> crucial and so is the fact that the colours must be 'indexed', and be
> a maximum of 16 colours (or less) only.
>
> Example: (I actually used a different graphic for my purposes but
> google is good for the example) of using gimp (version 2.2.13) for
> this: using an image (I take the google logo from its main page as
> sample)(google page, right click onto the logo, save image as). I
> saved the logo as a file logo.gif,
> open with gimp. Use the Image>Scale Image to resize it to 640x480
> exactly. Note the link fixing proportionality must be broken for
> this example...... There are other ways I am sure but this is a quick
> and dirty example!
>
> Exactly 640x480 size.
> (for interest now try dialogues>colormap) then
> Image>Mode>RGB  then
> Image>Mode>Indexed (set to 16 colors maximum)
> [ok]
> Dialogues>colormap  (observe the colormap).
> I note that there are detail requirements for some specific colours
> for example colour 13, the failure colour. See,
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/USplashCustomizationHowto
> I have ignored this level of detail at this stage. More experiments
> with gimp here are not difficult ;-) and more needs to be learned
> about arrangement and managing indexed colours.
>
> Save the image as (for example) a newboot64048016 as a .pcx file
> (Select File Type) in to your temp dir chosen location. This will be
> your initial boot menu screen.
>
> In the Reconstructor GUI use the Live CD Splash file finder ... to
> choose this pcx file.
>
> The Live CD text color can be chosen - this is the colour of the
> initial boot menu text.
>
> 4b) Usplash Filename:  this is required to be a .so file (shared
> object library or something I think). There is some compiling etc to
> be done, and unless you want to go the DIY scenic route,
> start with a .png file - and use the choice here of the *[Generate]*
> button (*not* the Usplash Filename field which is intuitively next and
> which is
> required as a completed .so file) (I found this all very confusing at
> first).
>
> Google logo.gif
> Gimp
> Image Scale>Image to 640x680 and indexed to 16 colors as before, then
> unlike before,
> Save as .png file (using Select File Type) into your temp dir as for
> example newusplash64048016.png
>
> Then use the button:
> [Generate]
> This will offer a file finder to enable a suitably sized prepared .png
> file to be converted into a .so file
>
> I noted losing the file name and or file target location entry on
> some occasions when using the file finders -  might have been my
> fingers maybe.
>
> The generated file is named by yourself as a  .so file. For example,
>  newusplash64048016.so
>  I cannot recall if it is essential to ensure it is saved with a .so
> extension. However I think I made sure the  .so extension was in place
> *manually* in my
> own activities.
>
> Click [Apply] (or your entries will be ignored)
> [ok]
>
> 5) Click the Gnome Tab
> and then the Desktop dropdown triangle to expand the list.
> Choose your previously created and prepared desired background
> wallpaper file. This is finally required as a .png file. I do not
> believe there is any unusual size or other restraint about this file.
> I wanted to modify the desktop originals, not just replace, so I
> needed to locate them. In the live CD see /usr/share/backgrounds  in
> an installed system also see  /usr/share/wallpapers. I put prepared
> work and work in progress into my temp dir to find it easily.
>
> I used Gimp to edit the default background. I opened  a copy of the
> background file, also opened a logo, scaled the logo, selected all
> (logo), copy and paste into the background.
> Then: Dialogues>Layers, (note floating selection is selected,
> therefore is the current layer)
> now I moved the Opacity Slider to a low figure (16% say) and then
> anchored the layer. Saved as .png into temp dir. This is now the
> intended custom default background for the live CD desktop
>
> Used the file finder to set this for Gnome tab Wallpaper entry
> click
> [Apply] (or the entry will be ignored).
> [ok]
> Then click Next
>
> 6) Select the components to build (Defaults were ok for me so I did
> not select anything)
>
> click
> [Next]
>
> 7) then Yes
> to build Live CD.
>
> Make a relaxing hot drink. Mine took about 10 minutes or more to build
> on my machine.
>
> hth
> --
> alan cocks
> Kubuntu user#10391
>
> --
> ubuntu-uk at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
>


-- 
Matthew G Larsen
   > mat.larsen at gmail.com
   > +44(0)7739 785 249