I want to install Usplash so that my boot menu doesn't look so grim and ugly anymore. But when I tried to install Usplash through synaptic, it wanted to remove both sets of linux images from my new Debian 6.0 distro. I didn't think that was a good idea, so I cancelled the install.

What would happen if I followed thorough? How can I change the way my boot menu looks without Usplash? Is that possible? I have NO experience with this new grub setup. I really miss the old Grub -- one file to rule them all. I have a dual boot machine, by the way. Also, I already downloaded startupmanager, but it only controls the order in which kernels appear in my menu.

I have very little faith in my ability to change it manually after attempting, and failing, to change the background and theme of gdm3 -- another unnecessary software "upgrade" I don't care for.

I'm afraid that if I screw things up with grub/boot I may not even be able to boot up the computer at all, so I'm even more wary of tampering with it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

How many kernel images do you have? If the current kernel is working with your system, removing older versions won't hurt, although it's really a good idea to keep at least one extra in case something goes awry with the current version.

Mr. Bill is right. Besides that, Usplash will not change anything on your bootmenu, it displays a splash-screen while booting.
If you rather want Grub instead of Grub2 the just install it, it is in the Debian repositories.

There are two different images that came with Debian 6.0; one ends with 686 the other 486. I boot into 686 by default. I've never tried the other. But both are marked for removal when I try to install usplash. Don't understand why.

I've read that it's a bad idea to remove grub2 for grub legacy, and supposedly unnecessary. If I need to upgrade the kernel later it may interfere with that ability. Each time I tried (unsuccessfully) to upgrade Dreamlinux 3.5, I was told there was an issue with my grub. And Dreamlinux 3.5 came with grub legacy. That's why I wanted to try Usplash on this distro.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Anyway, can you "unmark" them and still continue with the installation?

Just tried it, and no, it did not work. Also, it wanted to remove something called live-boot and initramfs-tools(sp?) also.

Would it be possible to download Usplash from a repository and install it manually without issues? It doesn't seem to require dependencies installed just software removed.