(Here is an example of the Ubuntu MATE old LightDM screen.)Īll three parts are customizable to some extent, each with its own way to do it (and limitations) and specific theme format. LightDM: the login screen, where you enter your credentials to access the desktop. Plymouth: when the OS is booting, Plymouth displays a nice logo with a small animation rather than a black screen with a lot of technical infos as text (here is an example of the Ubuntu Plymouth screen ) GRUB (only appears under specific conditions): allows you to select the OS to boot from (in case of multiboot) or other options (recovery mode, Memtest…) (here is an example of the GRUB screen ) The boot process of Ubuntu MATE can be divided in three parts (at least visually): Grub scripts are sort of a moving target I’ve avoided.
I’m debating a HowTo but outside of 16.04 I haven’t experimented at all. It’s probably easier to make a graphic that fits grub than configure grub to accept wide-screen images. The above graphic looks pretty bad with the MATE logo no longer a circle, a more advanced topic I won’t get into at this time. It will stretch/distort a wide-screen graphic into the 4:3 format grub is probably in. usr/share/backgrounds/ubuntu-mate-xenial/ubuntu-mate-bubble.pngĪnother detail is how it displays. This is probably why themes include these backgrounds. PNG almost always works but JPG must be 256 colors which isn’t common. I tested incompatible images and they simply don’t show with no other issue. You should see the image be detected.Ī compatible image is a key. As root, place a compatible image in /boot/grub.It works with the 16.04 grub scripts that already exist. It doesn’t change the Plymouth theme and quite frankly, I’ve never attempted that. I’m hesitant because I’d hate to have someone end up unbootable.īut it is actually quite simple to add a graphic to the grub background. Hi I’m a little hesitant to describe what I’ve found with the existing theme and scripts that comes in Ubuntu-MATE 16.04.