notANON

The latest version of U-Boot(as of 8/19/2010) adds the ability to use the screen and keypad on your Zipit Z2 to display a console(albiet sideways).  U-boot also allows a splash screen on the LCD during boot up if a sideways console is not useful to you.  Personal I like the console on my serial port anyways so a nifty splash screen would be a nice touch.  Since I have a serial mod, I will provide instructions to add the splash screen via ymodem.  First thing is first, you will need a bitmap file that is 320×240 and rotated 90 degrees counter-clock-wise.  It also has to be 8 bit color depth.  In order to save a BMP as an 8-bit file in Photoshop, you will need to change the mode to “indexed color”.

From your serial console, type in the following command:

loady 0x5c000000

Next, you will need to write that file to memory.  Use the flinfo command to make sure your memory matches mine.  The last two sectors are where we will store your file.  Make sure your file won’t take up more than two sectors(it shouldn’t).  The bmp file I’m using is only 79k or so which uses only one and a third of a sector or so.  After you’ve checked your memory, use the following command to move your bitmap to a permanent location:

protect off all; erase 0x7e0000 +20000; cp.b 0x5c000000 0x7e0000 0x13034

The last number 0x13034 is your file size in hex.  If you look up the screen a bit, your loady command should have outputted a file size in hex and decimal.  Use YOUR file size instead of mine unless you are using my file of course.  Now you can test your image:

bmp display 0x7e0000

Cool, eh?  Now it’s time to make it load automagically on bootup:

setenv splashimage 0x7e0000

saveenv

Now when you reset, you should see your splash screen.