More Plymouth for Lucid & Maverick

In an earlier post I promised to describe the process for adding button icons and a banner message to the login dialog: I always try to keep my promises, so here it is!

Login Dialog
Customizing the computer icon is most easily achieved using Ubuntu Tweak, but you can also configure it manually by copying your selected icon to the /usr/share/icons/Loginicons/apps/64 directory (for Ubuntu 10.04 & 10.10). First, you'll need to rename the existing icon. Open a terminal and type:

sudo mv /usr/share/icons/Loginicons/apps/64/computer.svg /usr/share/icons/Loginicons/apps/64/computerBAK.svg

Next, copy your new icon to the directory making sure that it is renamed computer.svg:

sudo cp /icon_location/icon_name.jpg /usr/share/icons/Loginicons/apps/64/computer.svg

Now, let's add a bespoke login greeting or instruction to our login dialog:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/banner_message_text "text"

Where text is the text that you want to appear on your login dialog. Now we need to invoke the message at start up:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2--type bool --set /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/banner_message_enable true

Your bespoke message will now appear next time you boot your system.

Adding Icon Buttons
Adding button icons is just as easy. The icons will follow the system's default theme (in Ubuntu 10.10, the system theme is Loginicons). In a terminal:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --type bool --set /desktop/gnome/interface/buttons_have_icons true

There you have it; a few minor tweaks and you have a customized boot sequence.

Sources & References:
Towheed Mohammed: A Comprehensive Guide to Customizing the Graphics in Grub, Usplash, Xsplash and GDM
Artwork Backgrounds & Icons - Ubuntu Tribal Pack by thewer Gnome-Look.org Download