Okay, it’s not really an INIT in the Macintosh sense, but an application. With that out of the way...
This application is used to cycle through a number of different StartupScreen files that may be present on a system. A StartupScreen is a file that contains a picture to be displayed on the monitor when the Macintosh boots up. The default picture is the “Welcome to Macintosh” that everyone is familar with. In order to see some new, fresh pictures all you need to do is create a file called StartupScreen and place it into your system folder. Many paint programs allow you to save a picture into the StartupScreen format. I wrote this program because I was getting tired of seeing the same StartupScreen over and over again.
In order to use this application,
1. Create a folder in your system folder called Startup_Screens. Into this folder drag all of the different startup screen files that you have. Of course they will all need a different name. Mine are named “StartupScreen ...” where the “...” is a descriptive name for the scene.
2. Create a file in Startup_Screens named SCREENS.TXT using your favorite word processor. The very first line of the file should be the number 1. On the lines following this should be the names of the startup screens in your folder, one per line. In this way, by listing the files, you may determine the order of your screens, possibly duplicating your favorite.
3. When you have finished creating the file, save it as a text file.
4. In order for this to run every time you start up your Mac,
a. If you are running System 6 and under, select SCREEN INIT and under the special menu, choose “Set Startup...”.
b. If you are running System 7, place SCREEN INIT into the Startup Items folder.
When the application runs, it deletes the existing startup screen file from the system folder, selects the number of the file listed in the text file, copies it to the system folder and then increments the number for the next time.
SCREEN INIT must be located on the same drive as the System Folder in order for it to find the System Folder!
Below is a sample of the text file that could be used where your Mac is started every day.
1
StartUpScreen Monday
StartUpScreen Tuesday
StartUpScreen Wednesday
StartUpScreen Thursday
StartUpScreen Friday
StartUpScreen Saturday
StartUpScreen Sunday
For all of you that may have tried version 1.0 of SCREEN INIT, sorry about the bugs. I hope I’ve gotten them all out. I’ve also upgraded SCREEN INIT to work with color StartupScreens.
This program is totally free. If you like it, use it.
P.S. There are tons of Startup Screens on bulletin boards such as Compuserve.