Next Chameleon bootloader to have a fully customizable GUI
[float=right] Some new features from the next version of Chameleon have been previewed on the Chameleon blog: "Finally, we’re getting there. I have no doubts about the most demanding feature is should be a graphical user interface for the…
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- @Voyn1x Published 2009-02-05
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- 48,139 historical reads · 19 curated field notes (from 25 dispatches) · 2009-02-05 – 2009-12-22
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[float=right]Some new features from the next version of Chameleon have been previewed on the Chameleon blog:
"Finally, we’re getting there. I have no doubts about the most demanding feature is should be a graphical user interface for the boot loader. We have reached to a stage where I can show you something really cool. Yes, we have a fully customizable GUI.
How do you mean customizable?
You can replace all the images, the icons, the funny chameleon artwork, the fonts. Also you can set the background color, the transparency levels, the dimensons, positions of certain user interface elements. The image resource files can be either embedded into the booter or can be loaded at runtime by using a special .plist style configuration file.
Doesn’t embedding the images makes the boot loader too large?
With the current set of icons, images, fonts embedded, the booter size is about 300k. Without embedding the resources you will get about a 110k large booter. The maximum size of the booter is 392704 bytes (383.5k).
What image formats are supported?
The booter has built-in support for true color 24 bit PNG images with 8 bit transparency layer. We wanted to offer a high quality lossless image format which can be created, edited with many graphics applications across all platforms.
What if I still prefer the text mode interface?
We can’t switch between text mode and graphical mode at the moment after the booter has been started, but you still have a Boot.plist option to disable the GUI. This way you get the well known text based Darwin boot menu.
Ok, this is all fine. Can I see something?
Sure! Click below on the pictures in the gallery to see these shots in full size.
Can I have it now?
No. Please don’t ask for it as you will get it when it’s released.
What’s next? Do i have to wait for next christmas ;-)?
We’re still fighting with issues and polishing the code but freezed the features. So instead of staying quiet, we’re going to reveal other features in the next post on this week."
Source: chameleon.osx 86.hu/articles/introducing-new-features-added-to-next-version-of-chameleon-part-1
Hit the link above for images :
Synthesized Community Field Notes
19 technical responses curated from 25 original dispatches
That is great news! Hopefully this will come out in the very near future.
hmm, to be honest - it looks very cool. good work hope to see it hitting my machine soon.
I hope it will also work with an MBR bootblock, I don't like GUID so much. I had a lot of harddisks with a blinking cursor after formatting it with GUID, I never got them to boot with MBR again.
sooo is chameleon just to costomise OSX? It also looks like its another distro? Im confused...does anyone ellse have any more info on it?
ohhhh so its just a screen before you boot your computer?
@naquaadaI hope it will also work with an MBR bootblock, I don't like GUID so much. I had a lot of harddisks with a blinking cursor after formatting it with GUID, I never got them to boot with MBR again.
Sure it works on MBR too.
i saw on the pictures u can boot linux, how do i do that?
Chameleon 2.0RC1 is out
It's Out check out this link chameleon.osx 86.hu/articles/chameleon-20rc1-is-out
it works great ..
Tried already, doesnt work for me ( Freezes at prompt ) Had to restore previous version.
Updated : It works now. Made second attempt and bum, everything ok
I still use v11 with dsdt override. I will try this one maybe when the final is out, not to mess with rel.candidate. I heard that some ones have instant reboots and things like that.
Works fine for me. (hara.ip wn.me/blog/?p=150)
I even managed to get it working on a USB flash drive (hara.ip wn.me/blog/?p=176) as a backup booter in case something goes haywire with my hard drives.
Chameleon 2.0 kicks ass.
Worked for me =)
Only problem is that my linux partition isn't showing up under it. Windows and OSX show up fine though =D
I have my Linux (ubuntu 8.10-32) showing up alongside W7 and mac. I formatted its partition as EXT3, and installed GRUB onto the part that has ubuntu on it. Maybe you need to reinstall you linux?
@oneshotWorked for me =) Only problem is that my linux partition isn't showing up under it. Windows and OSX show up fine though =D
you need to install grub on your root linux partition
Chameleon 2.0
Yeah, Chameleon 2.0 is pretty damn good, got a slightly weird bug with it though, If I set the CDROM as the first boot device, and then load up chameleon, all the drives are multiplied by two so, I have Mac HD, Mac HD, Backup, Backup etc.. set HDD as first boot device and its back to normal, mighty odd.
@erick2redyou need to install grub on your root linux partition
Yes I agree... install grub on e.g. /dev/hda2 or /dev/sda2 rather than /dev/hda or /dev/sda
That works for me...
Yeah, it look great the damn thing, but could someone tell me how can i set the options.
And how check if it did it. I added to com.apple.Boot.plist in /Extra, but there's no way to know if there is.
Edited: Yes, i found it, you can set the options by adding it to the com.apple.Boot.plist in /Extra folder.
@NebKiwiYeah, Chameleon 2.0 is pretty damn good, got a slightly weird bug with it though, If I set the CDROM as the first boot device, and then load up chameleon, all the drives are multiplied by two so, I have Mac HD, Mac HD, Backup, Backup etc.. set HDD as first boot device and its back to normal, mighty odd.
All working good from this end.. I love it
But very soon, there will be a better boot loader…
Documentation
Hello, I'm new to Chameleon. Just got this installed as part of iAtKos distro. I have Ubuntu and Mac on my system. How can I use the GUI Support to configure my boot options?
Any documentation or links would be appriciated.
Sources & Contributor Provenance (18 credited usernames · Thread #2070)
| Username | Dossier Contribution | Dispatches | Active Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| @oneshot | Core Contributor | 3 | 2009-02-06 → 2009-04-14 |
| @cmdshft | Core Contributor | 3 | 2009-02-06 → 2009-04-05 |
| @erick2red | Core Contributor | 3 | 2009-02-06 → 2009-04-28 |
| @Taisto | Contributor | 2 | 2009-02-05 → 2009-04-01 |
| @Voyn1x | Primary Author | 1 | 2009-02-05 |
| @aquanutz | Contributor | 1 | 2009-02-05 |
| @naquaada | Contributor | 1 | 2009-02-05 |
| @fassl | Contributor | 1 | 2009-02-06 |
| @CamDean | Contributor | 1 | 2009-02-22 |
| @demigod | Contributor | 1 | 2009-04-01 |
| @zephyroth | Contributor | 1 | 2009-04-01 |
| @milanca | Contributor | 1 | 2009-04-04 |
| @blast9999 | Contributor | 1 | 2009-04-15 |
| @NebKiwi | Contributor | 1 | 2009-04-26 |
| @andyvand | Contributor | 1 | 2009-04-27 |
| @SaCleoCheater | Contributor | 1 | 2009-05-03 |
| @jakx86 | Contributor | 1 | 2009-12-21 |
| @derekreid | Contributor | 1 | 2009-12-22 |