Bitcoin ASCII art and Ubuntu MOTD

Recently I had the desire to create a cool MOTD (message of the day) for my Bitcoin miner box that runs Ubuntu 11.04. As I sought the needed information to convert an image to ASCII art text and update the default Ubuntu MOTD to include my ASCII art I found that there weren't a whole lot of useful resources for existing Bitcoin ASCII art so I decided to provide some samples here that you can use for your own purposes.

There are many sites out there that will let you convert an image file to ASCII art but many of them do not output text that will work well in a Linux terminal. I have gone through the trouble of finding a conversion tool that provides acceptable ASCII text for use in an MOTD so that you won't have to do it yourself.

The tool that I used to create the Bitcoin Icon ASCII art below can be found at http://sporkforge.com/imaging/ascii.php

After the samples, I will also describe how to add the ASCII art to your MOTD files in Ubuntu. First, the Bitcoin ASCII art samples:

The Bitcoin Icon

                  ,.=ctE55ttt553tzs.,
             ,,c5;z==!!::::  .::7:==it3>.,
          ,xC;z!::::::    ::::::::::::!=c33x,
        ,czz!:::::  ::;;..===:..:::   ::::!ct3.
      ,C;/.:: :  ;=c!:::::::::::::::..      !tt3.
     /z/.:   :;z!:::::J  :E3.  E:::::::..     !ct3.
   ,E;F   ::;t::::::::J  :E3.  E::.     ::.     \ttL
  ;E7.    :c::::F******   **.  *==c;..    ::     Jttk
 .EJ.    ;::::::L                   "\:.   ::.    Jttl
 [:.    :::::::::773.    JE773zs.     I:. ::::.    It3L
;:[     L:::::::::::L    |t::!::J     |::::::::    :Et3
[:L    !::::::::::::L    |t::;z2F    .Et:::.:::.  ::[13
E:.    !::::::::::::L               =Et::::::::!  ::|13
E:.    (::::::::::::L    .......       \:::::::!  ::|i3
[:L    !::::      ::L    |3t::::!3.     ]::::::.  ::[13
!:(     .:::::    ::L    |t::::::3L     |:::::; ::::EE3
 E3.    :::::::::;z5.    Jz;;;z=F.     :E:::::.::::II3[
 Jt1.    :::::::[                    ;z5::::;.::::;3t3
  \z1.::::::::::l......   ..   ;.=ct5::::::/.::::;Et3L
   \t3.:::::::::::::::J  :E3.  Et::::::::;!:::::;5E3L
    "cz\.:::::::::::::J   E3.  E:::::::z!     ;Zz37`
      \z3.       ::;:::::::::::::::;='      ./355F
        \z3x.         ::~======='         ,c253F
          "tz3=.                      ..c5t32^
             "=zz3==...         ...=t3z13P^
                 `*=zjzczIIII3zzztE3>*^`

Bitcoin Text

______ _ _            _
| ___ (_) |          (_)
| |_/ /_| |_ ___ ___  _ _ __
| ___ \ | __/ __/ _ \| | '_ \
| |_/ / | || (_| (_) | | | | |
\____/|_|\__\___\___/|_|_| |_|

                              _..._      .-'''-.
                           .-'_..._''.  '   _    \
/|        .--.           .' .'      '.Y   /` '.   \ .--.  _..._
||        |__|          / .'         .   |     \  ' |__|.'     '.
||        .--.     .|  . '           |   '      |  '.--.   .-.   .
||  __    |  |   .' |_ | |           \    \     / / |  |  '   '  |
||/'__ '. |  | .'     || |            `.   ` ..' /  |  |  |   |  |
|:/`  '. '|  |'--.  .-'. '               '-...-'`   |  |  |   |  |
||     | ||  |   |  |   \ '.          .             |  |  |   |  |
||\    / '|__|   |  |    '. `._____.-'/             |__|  |   |  |
|/\'..' /        |  '.'    `-.______ /                 |  |   |  |
'  `'-'`         |   /              `                  |  |   |  |
                 `'-'                                  '--'   '--'

 ______  __________________ _______  _______ _________ _
(  ___ \ \__   __/\__   __/(  ____ \(  ___  )\__   __/( (    /|
| (   ) )   ) (      ) (   | (    \/| (   ) |   ) (   |  \  ( |
| (__/ /    | |      | |   | |      | |   | |   | |   |   \ | |
|  __ (     | |      | |   | |      | |   | |   | |   | (\ \) |
| (  \ \    | |      | |   | |      | |   | |   | |   | | \   |
| )___) )___) (___   | |   | (____/\| (___) |___) (___| )  \  |
|/ \___/ \_______/   )_(   (_______/(_______)\_______/|/    )_)

     ...     ..        .        s                          .
  .=*8888x <"?88h.    @88>     :8                         @88>
 X>  '8888H> '8888    %8P     .88                   u.    %8P     u.    u.
'88h. `8888   8888     .     :888ooo      .   ...ue888b    .    x@88k u@88c.
'8888 '8888    "88>  .@88u -*8888888 .udR88N  888R Y888r .@88u ^"8888""8888"
 `888 '8888.xH888x. ''888E`  8888   <888'888k 888R I888>''888E`  8888  888R
   X" :88*~  `*8888>  888E   8888   9888 'Y"  888R I888>  888E   8888  888R
 ~"   !"`      "888>  888E   8888   9888      888R I888>  888E   8888  888R
  .H8888h.      ?88   888E  .8888Lu=9888     u8888cJ888   888E   8888  888R
 :"^"88888h.    '!    888&  ^%888*  ?8888u../ "*888*P"    888&  "*88*" 8888"
 ^    "88888hx.+"     R888"   'Y"    "8888P'    'Y"       R888"   ""   'Y"
        ^"**""         ""              "P'                 ""

                                  ___         ___                  ___
    _____                        /\__\       /\  \                /\  \
   /::\  \     ___         ___  /:/  /      /::\  \     ___       \:\  \
  /:/\:\  \   /\__\       /\__\/:/  /      /:/\:\  \   /\__\       \:\  \
 /:/ /::\__\ /:/__/      /:/  /:/  /  ___ /:/  \:\  \ /:/__/   _____\:\  \
/:/_/:/\:|__/::\  \     /:/__/:/__/  /\__/:/__/ \:\__/::\  \  /::::::::\__\
\:\/:/ /:/  \/\:\  \__ /::\  \:\  \ /:/  \:\  \ /:/  \/\:\  \_\:\~~\~~\/__/
 \::/_/:/  / ~~\:\/\__/:/\:\  \:\  /:/  / \:\  /:/  / ~~\:\/\__\:\  \
  \:\/:/  /     \::/  \/__\:\  \:\/:/  /   \:\/:/  /     \::/  /\:\  \
   \::/  /      /:/  /     \:\__\::/  /     \::/  /      /:/  /  \:\__\
    \/__/       \/__/       \/__/\/__/       \/__/       \/__/    \/__/

 ,ggggggggggg,
dP"""88""""""Y8,         I8
Yb,  88      `8b         I8
 `"  88      ,8P  gg  88888888                         gg
     88aaaad8P"   ""     I8                            ""
     88""""Y8ba   gg     I8      ,gggg,    ,ggggg,     gg    ,ggg,,ggg,
     88      `8b  88     I8     dP"  "Yb  dP"  "Y8ggg  88   ,8" "8P" "8,
     88      ,8P  88    ,I8,   i8'       i8'    ,8I    88   I8   8I   8I
     88_____,d8'_,88,_ ,d88b, ,d8,_    _,d8,   ,d8'  _,88,_,dP   8I   Yb,
    88888888P"  8P""Y888P""Y88P""Y8888PPP"Y8888P"    8P""Y88P'   8I   `Y8

@@@@@@@  @@@ @@@@@@@  @@@@@@@  @@@@@@  @@@ @@@  @@@
@@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@
@@!  @@@ @@!   @@!   !@@      @@!  @@@ @@! @@!@!@@@
!@   @!@ !@!   !@!   !@!      !@!  @!@ !@! !@!!@!@!
@!@!@!@  !!@   @!!   !@!      @!@  !@! !!@ @!@ !!@!
!!!@!!!! !!!   !!!   !!!      !@!  !!! !!! !@!  !!!
!!:  !!! !!:   !!:   :!!      !!:  !!! !!: !!:  !!!
:!:  !:! :!:   :!:   :!:      :!:  !:! :!: :!:  !:!
 :: ::::  ::    ::    ::: ::: ::::: ::  ::  ::   ::
:: : ::  :      :     :: :: :  : :  :  :   ::    :

Now, to add these to your MOTD that displays when you login to your miner machine (via ssh or on the box itself) you just need to edit the /etc/motd.tail file and add in any text that you wish. If the file does not exist you can create it. The /etc/motd.tail file gets appended to the end of all the existing MOTD info that Ubuntu spits out by default. After you have edited and saved the file just logout of your terminal and log back in to see the new text.

If you wish to customize these samples or add more ASCII text to your /etc/motd.tail file I would highly recommend that you use the ASCII art generator tool at dtools.net.

If you found this information useful please feel free to donate some BTC to 1CReFacZwSzZ9oFYWeTRVMdZCpU7CXVqT4