When the BalenaOS is booting, it shows a splash screen. I know I can change this screen, and I’ll do that in the future. I just have a few questions about it.
I see the splash screen, but most of the time, the splash screen hides after some time and I just see the text of the OS. My Balena application starts a kiosk and is connected to a touchscreen. So users interact with the Balena system. It would be awesome if the splash screen just stays on the foreground until the kiosk starts. Is this possible one way or another?
When I want to change the splash screen remotely for all my Balena devices in the same application, how can I do this? Is there any way to change the splash screen image without having to reflash the device? If there isn’t any Balena functionality for this, but with some commands, I can setup something within my app that listens to a server for when a new splash screen is available and change it with the commands.
And last but not least, are there any more details I should know when creating a BalenaOS device that interacts with users for security reasons? There is also a keyboard connected. So I don’t know if BalenaOS gives passwordless access to the HostOS for example or other critical security components that I should know off.
On my production test setup of the Up Squared, I also saw some kernel logs. Is there a way to completely hide all text and just show the splash screen?
About the updating of the splash screen, let me know if something is possible! It would be nice to have!
And about the security on the production image, you are talking about SSH. Is SSH completely disabled for local networking, or is there still a password? If yes, how is this password created? Or only keys, and also if yes, which keys?
And what about logging in via the screen itself. So opening a tty screen via Alt+F3 for example. Does that have a password, and how is that calculated?
I’ve taken some time to check the development image. I’ve checked the booting and a basic security issue, the command prompt when going to another console (e.g. CTRL+ALT+F3). But I don’t get a login prompt, which is absolutely great!
Still 2 questions about it.
Is it possible to disable multiple consoles? The first one is default for booting / splash screen, and the kiosk uses console 2. So all other can be disabled. Or is this not recommended for some reasons?
I’ve added an image while the UP Squared was booting. It has some fsck messages before showing the splash screen. It’s only there for a few seconds. It would be nice if this messages can be hidden, because when a system boots up, the first thing the user sees, is a warning and the name “resin”. It’s not that I don’t like that name , but for us, it would be better to not see anything at boot at all except for the splash screen.
About the consoles, it’s not a must-have, but it would be nice if they can be disabled. But I understand it’s not a priority. I would like to hear it if anything changes!
I’m seeing the same error “applink” warning message on the production image (v2.36.0+r2 intel-nuc). It’s shown right before our company logo which doesn’t feel great.
Hi Daniel, indeed it’d be nicer not to see such warning messages on boot. Feel free to add your +1 to the above linked github issue. Although we cannot promise when we will resolve that issue, adding your voice definitely increases the priority there.
We’ll post an update here when we release the fix. You could also follow up the progress if you watch that linked github issue.
I’m not sure I agree with the proposed solution. The auplink warning feels like it should be resolved by fixing the underlying issue, not by just hiding all console messages.
Oops. I was searching for the wrong keyword. Here’s the underlying issue:
It looks like auplink is installed on our balena OS (intel-nuc 2.36.0+r2 production), but for some reason balena-engine cannot find it.
I’ve just checked a 2.32 NUC image (both production and development), and I don’t see the warning from balenaEngine. auplink is indeed present in both. Could you let me know the device type you’re using, and the balenaOS version? This would help me check to see if this is the same case for that device.
We’ve discussed this internally, but we will shortly be moving over to the overlayfs graph driver for future future balenaEngine releases. Because of this, the decision has been made not to rectify the benign warning in the meantime. This issue will be resolved on the move to the new graph driver.
, but for us, it would be better to not see anything at boot at all except for the splash screen.
