For some usrs, i'm installing a Debian 5.0 on their laptops. And when the system starts, they are scared of all the 'hacking-like' codes that the system notices.
It is useful for me, but not for them.
So my question is how can i hide those notices ? and replace them by spinner, or any progress bar.
I would have liked to do Windows XP like starting.
Any ideas ?
If you're installing Debian on someone who isn't used to Linux, I'd recommend using Ubuntu instead. It's a little bit more user friendly on the desktop and has a splash start up screen.
Ubuntu is pretty much identical to Debian in most respects as far as you would be concerned.
If you must use Debian, investigate USplash, which is what Ubuntu uses, but is already integrated. I couldn't tell you how simple it is to use.
I second the suggestion to consider Ubuntu. Debian-based, already does a splash-screen out of the box, and otherwise less likely to confuse inexperienced users.
For debian, look at splashy, which looks like it's the preferred Debian way to do this, and there's packages for it in lenny. I've never personally done anything with it, though.
I think what you're looking for is a framebuffer splash screen.
Here's a howto: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=41709