some instances of menu.lst

micro_xii · 03-14-2007, 08:45 PM

Greetings:

Under some menu.lst instances....

some states:

title Linux
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 vga=0x314 selinux=0 splash=silent resume=/dev/sda1 elevator=cfq showopts
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/initrd

and some states:

title linux
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb7 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img

Im confused

1. Why is't linux distro's have different vga? Can I make them the same?
2. What are vga, splash, elevator and etc...FOR??
2. Correct me if Im wrong...In the above menu.lst config, what is the very most important thing there. I mean can I have only this config instead

title linux
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb7
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img

Without adding attributes such as vga, splash, elevator and etc.

PTrenholme · 03-14-2007, 09:37 PM

Well, you can, of course, do anything you wish to do. (That’s what the “free” in “free software” usually means.)

The various options control what the kernel does as it’s booted, and (if the option is not processed by the kernel) the option is passes to the initrd (The inital RAM drive) for processing by the distribution being loaded.

Thus the meaning of the various options may depend on the kernel being loaded or on the distribution being loaded. Some of those listed in your example seem obvious: “selenux=0” is disabling the SELinux security system, “resume=/dev/sda1” is specifying where the resume-after-suspend partition is located, and “splash=silent” is turning off the distribution’s splash screen.

The “elevator” parameter controls the I/O scheduler:

Code:

        elevator=       [IOSCHED]
                        Format: {"anticipatory" | "cfq" | "deadline" | "noop"}
                        See Documentation/block/as-iosched.txt and
                        Documentation/block/deadline-iosched.txt for details.

But I’d have to guess what the “vga=” does since it’s not listed in the kernel-parameters.txt file, so it’s most likely a distribution specific setting.

micro_xii · 03-14-2007, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTrenholme

But I’d have to guess what the “vga=” does since it’s not listed in the kernel-parameters.txt file, so it’s most likely a distribution specific setting.

In this config:
title Linux
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 vga=0x314 selinux=0 splash=silent resume=/dev/sda1 elevator=cfq showopts
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/initrd

and turn into this:

title linux
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb7
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img

I need to know if there a big possibility that my Grub wont boot. Just like you guessed "vga", is a distribution specific setting

Correct me if im wrong

syg00 · 03-14-2007, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTrenholme

But I’d have to guess what the “vga=” does since it’s not listed in the kernel-parameters.txt file, so it’s most likely a distribution specific setting.

It's in there - older than dirt. Strictly speaking it's a bootloader parm, but why quibble.

Quote:

Originally Posted by micro_xii

I need to know if there a big possibility that my Grub wont boot.

Try it and see - best way to learn.
Make a new stanza for any "playing around" - that way if you screw up, you can always boot back to your working system.