From http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_fbsplas...nd_fbsplash.3F
Fbsplash is part of the gensplash project. According to fbsplash's documentation, "the framebuffer splash is a kernel feature that allows displaying a background picture on selected consoles and switching the first console to the so-called silent mode, while booting/rebooting/shutting down the system." The fbsplash device is accessed through the /dev/fbsplash device node. For fbsplash to work, a frame buffer device is required.