Arch: Plymouth

Plymouth can be used to 'pretty up' the boot process on Linux.

References:

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Plymouth
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mkinitcpio
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_boot_process#initramfs

Install

Plymouth is only available through the AUR.

yay -S plymouth

Initramfs

Since plymouth loads before the kernel, it must be added to the initramfs. So, edit the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf config file, and change the hooks to the following:

HOOKS=(base udev plymouth autodetect keyboard keymap consolefont modconf block plymouth-encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)

It's also a good idea to make sure the display driver is injected into the initramfs:

MODULES=(ext4 i915)

Theme

The theme can be selected in /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf

sudo plymouth-set-default-theme -R spinner

Display Manager

Enable smooth-transition by using the plymouth variat of the display manager:

sudo systemctl disable sddm
sudo systemctl enable  sddm-plymouth