When logging into Ubuntu or most any GNOME-based Linux system, users see a blank one-colour screen until the actual desktop is loaded—which can make you feel like something’s broken, or at least make your boot experience less fluid. One intrepid Ubuntu hacker, however, shows how to banish the blank screen and have GNOME display your chosen background image or colour right away. The tutorial requires installing an “xloadimage” package in Ubuntu, but the open-source package is available in many distributions.