SparkleBIOS
Not a neofetch clone. Here is the honest difference.
People find SparkleBIOS while searching for neofetch or fastfetch alternatives, so this page says plainly what it shares with them and what it does not. If you want a system summary you can paste into a screenshot, neofetch and fastfetch are the right tools today.
What neofetch and fastfetch do
They print a summary of your system beside a logo: OS, kernel, uptime, packages, shell, resolution, window manager, terminal, CPU, GPU and memory. You run them on demand, or from your shell startup. They describe the machine.
What SparkleBIOS does
It boots. Every new terminal tab shows a period-correct 1995 POST screen: a memory count, drive detection, a mascot the BIOS treats as ordinary hardware. Then it tells you things a summary never would: which repository you left with uncommitted changes, which forgotten process has held port 3000 for two days, and whether git is tracking a .env file. It is a health check wearing a BIOS costume. Some of what it shows overlaps a fetch tool (your OS, your shell, your memory), but the point of the screen is the findings.
Side by side
| neofetch / fastfetch | SparkleBIOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Describe the system | Boot the tab and check the machine |
| When it runs | On demand, or every shell start | Every new tab. Animated once a day, instant the rest of the time |
| Shows | OS, kernel, packages, CPU, GPU, memory and more | Memory, OS, shell, one fictional part, then real findings about your work |
| Speed | Varies by configuration and probes | 4 to 6ms for a whole boot on an Apple M3 Pro; no probe runs while the shell starts |
| Network | Depends on modules | None. There is no network code in the project, and CI blocks network crates |
| Personality | Distro logos, themes | Seven mascots, each with its own vendor, firmware and jokes, and ten Ghostty themes |
| Written in | Bash (neofetch), C (fastfetch) | Rust, five dependencies, MIT or Apache-2.0 |
Can you use both
Yes. They do different jobs. Many people keep a fetch tool for the screenshot and let SparkleBIOS handle the boot. A static POST screen on demand, filling the neofetch slot, is in the project's design and not yet shipped, so if that is what you want, watch the repository rather than installing for it today.
Turning it off, in case you are the cautious sort
SPARKLEBIOS_BOOT=0, or remove the one line from your shell config. The hook is guarded, so uninstalling the binary cannot break your shell either.