Platform Builder: Creating a CEPC Splash Screen

July 12, 2009 · 2 min read

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The CEPC BIOSLoader is capable of displaying a splash screen while it loads the OS. The splash screen is a picture that you can create. 

The picture is a Windows bitmap file with a.BMP file extension, or a compressed Windows BMP file with a.BMX extension. The compressed Windows bitmap file is created by first creating the BMP file and then running bincompress to create the BMP file.   I don’t know the advantages of using a BMX vs BMP file for the splash screen.

BIOSLoader loads the splash screen based on the following:

·         Video=on is set in boot.ini

·         To display the splash screen correctly the display settings must be set in boot.ini

·         A splash.bmx exists in the root folder of the boot storage device

o   If a splash.bmx does not exist, a splash.bmp must exist

·         The BMP file that is used either for display or to create the BMX file:

o   Must be less than 64 KB in size, the temporary buffer used for the file is 64 KB.

o   I found that the BMP file should be 256 colors. Others either don’t display or don’t display correctly.

Certainly, if any of the restrictions above don’t satisfy your requirements, you can modify the code. The size limit seems arbitrary and could be changed with some caution because changing it will require modifying the memory map of other things also. The code for handling BMP files could also be modified using sample code easily found on the internet.

To create the splash.bmx file:

1.       Create the BMP file and save it as a 256 colors file. This is simple enough to do with Windows Paint, although there are probably better picture file editors available.

2.       Open a build window (Platform Builder: Build Tools, Opening a Build Window)

3.       Run “bincompress /C splash.bmp splash.bmx”

Bincompress can also be used to uncompress a BMX file using the /D flag – “bincompress /D splash.bmx splash.bmp”

Copyright © 2009 – Bruce Eitman

All Rights Reserved

Sunday, July 12, 2009 6:38 PM

This article is part of the GWB Archives. Original Author: Bruce Eitman

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