Customize Your Ubuntu MOTD

There was once a time when I was enthralled with Linux; Building Gentoo from scratch, customizing every possible configuration for optimization,  compiling binaries and such. I’d spent hours perfecting my ANSI MOTD using carefully placed escape sequences. It was beautiful.

But the novelty wears, and as I fell to the dark side of precompiled binaries, my motivation toward fancy MOTDs waned as well. Here I will show you a simple method of presenting colorful ANSI logos at login in Ubuntu.

1.) Install the binary from repository.

sudo apt-get install welcome2l

2.) Redirect the output of the binary to the system’s MOTD file.

sudo welcome2l > /etc/motd

Alternatively, you can use Linux_Logo which creates the following displays:

• Debian Swirl(default)
• Debian Banner
• Tux Classic and Banner

sudo apt-get install linuxlogo
sudo linux_logo > /etc/motd

Now each user logging in will be greeted with a colorful ANSI MOTD along with the system’s Kernel Version, Architecture, Available Memory, and optionally (welcome2l -private) an Unauthorized Access message.

Welcome2L Screenshot

Linux_Logo Screenshot