One of the annoying little setup items on my list of things to do every time I reinstall Kubuntu is changing the bootsplash screen resolution from 800×600 to something more appropriate for my monitor, specifically, 1280×1024. Here’s how it’s done:

sudo nano /etc/usplash.conf

The file should be altered to read:

# Usplash configuration file
# These parameters will only apply after running update-initramfs.

xres=1280
yres=1024

The final step is to update initramfs, the initial RAM disk used by the kernel when Linux first boots up:

sudo update-initramfs -u

If you skip the last step, you will probably only see your new usplash resolution during shutdown and not when your computer boots up.

That’s it!