12:20 PM
Paul B
I am primarily a Windows and Linux user. I have never really messed with MAC's too much. Not that I have anything against MAC's it's just not something I have bought into too much. I think it goes back to your first computer. For me it was a Packard Bell running Windows 95.
Enough about that though. As I have mentioned before, on my Windows boxes I use StyleXP to change the boot screen from the standard Windows splash screen to something more custom. On my Ubuntu laptop, I have found plenty of USplash screens at Gnome-Look.org. For MAC's, I have never really though about it.
That is until now. I found an application for MAC called BootXChanger that will allow you to change the Apple logo at boot up to the color or image of your choice.
There are some limitations of BootXChanger though. This is from their website:
BootXChanger will not change the background colour of the boot screen, so the background of your images must be the same (#BFBFBF). This is done so it won't spoil the spinner animation. For the same reason, there is a limited number of colours your image can use. If your image has too many, it will be reduced and probably look ugly. If this happens, you can try saving the image in GIF or PNG-8 with Photoshop, and making sure it uses 100 colours or less. On Intel Macs, it's even worse: images have to be compressed to fit in the boot file. If your image is too complex and doesn't fit, BootXChanger will show a message and you won't be able to apply it. Simply put:
- You can't change the background colour, it's #BFBFBF
- Use an image with less than 100 colours
- On Intel Macs, use simpler shapes or smaller images
Granted, it isn't quite the same as StyleXP or a new USplash theme, but it does allow for some customization on your MAC. Do you know of a better application for MAC's that allow you to make similar customizations as StyleXP? Let me know in the comments.
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