tty1-replace-login

Original article: link

Instructions

1. Create a new user

   sudo useradd conusr -s /bin/rbash -M

2. Lock the new user

   sudo usermod -L conusr

3. Initialize new user's home directory

   sudo mkdir -p /home/conusr/{.fonts,bin}
   sudo chown conusr /home/conusr/
   

4. (optional) Download font

   wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xxxserxxx/gotop/master/fonts/Lat15-VGA16-braille.psf
   sudo mv Lat15-VGA16-braille.psf /home/conusr/.fonts/
   

5. Pick what's going to be displayed

   The original guide uses btop, but you can replace it with something else. You'll need to install or build your desired software.

   1. btop

      Example (Debian): sudo apt install btop -y

   2. cbonsai

      Example (Debian): sudo apt install cbonsai -y

   3. Anything else!

      ArchWiki has a good page on ASCII art software.

6. Create symbolic links

   1. (optional) setfont

      Running the following command assumes you've done step 4.

      sudo ln -s /usr/bin/setfont /home/conusr/bin

   2. What you're going to be displaying

      1. which YOURBINARY

      2. sudo ln -s FULLPATHFROMWHICH /home/conusr/bin

         (example: sudo ln -s /usr/games/cbonsai /home/conusr/bin)

7. Create .profile

   cat << EOF | sudo tee /home/conusr/.profile
   HOME=/home/conusr/
   PATH=/home/conusr/bin
   # Uncomment the next line if you did step 4
   # setfont /home/conusr/.fonts/Lat15-VGA16-braille.psf
   
   # Replace YOURBINARY with binary name from step 6
   YOURBINARY ; exit
   EOF
   

8. Test if everything works

   sudo su - conusr

   Ctrl-C to exit if everything looks fine.

9. Edit the getty service for tty1

   Assuming step 8 went smoothly, you can proceed to edit the getty service for tty1

   sudo systemctl edit getty@tty1.service

   This will open your text editor.

   At the very beginning of the file, you will see the following text:

   ### Editing /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf
   ### Anything between here and the comment below will become the new contents of the file
   
   
   ### Lines below this comment will be discarded
   

   Proceed to paste the following text between "### Anything between here..." and "### Lines below this comment..."

   [Service]
   ExecStart=
   ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --noissue --autologin conusr %I $TERM
   Type=idle
   

   After pasting that, save the file and exit your editor.

10. Restart the service

    sudo systemctl restart getty@tty1.service

With that, you should be all set!

Restore login prompt

If you want to restore the login prompt on tty1, run the following commands:

sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart getty@tty1.service