grub 1.97 beta3 , if no /boot/grub/menu.lst

frenchn00b · 12-08-2009, 04:21 AM

Where could I find it? is it another possible place , or can it run without?

EricTRA · 12-08-2009, 04:24 AM

Hello,

Since grub2 the menu.lst is no longer used. Instead it uses grub.cfg in /boot/grub/. More info can be found here.

Kind regards,

Eric

frenchn00b · 12-08-2009, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricTRA

Hello,

Since grub2 the menu.lst is no longer used. Instead it uses grub.cfg in /boot/grub/. More info can be found here.

Kind regards,

Eric

ahhhhhhhhh I noted that they changed lot of things. Now I understand.. will be more complicated. Does it support usb and pendrive this new grub?

EricTRA · 12-08-2009, 04:33 AM

Hi,

Apparently it does, haven't tested it yet. Quote from wikipedia.

Quote:

GRUB can be installed on removable media such as an optical drive (bios access, and el-torito), floppy disk or USB flash drive in order to bring up a system which may not have or cannot boot from a hard disk.

Here's a small howto.

Kind regards,

Eric

frenchn00b · 12-08-2009, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricTRA

Hi,

Apparently it does, haven't tested it yet. Quote from wikipedia.

Here's a small howto.

Kind regards,

Eric

grub.cfg is ultra very complicated ... pff pfff

EricTRA · 12-08-2009, 05:00 AM

Hi,

Yeah, there are a lot of differences, one of them is that they advice against manually editing the file

Instead they advice to use the commands that come with it to automatically configure grub2:

Quote:

Four Ways to Edit your grub.cfg

1. The best way to make changes to this file is to simply run either the 'sudo update-grub' or 'sudo grub-mkconfig' command, and let the developer's scripts and programs scan your computer and update your /boot/grub/grub.cfg automatically.
update-grub - make a new grub.cfg file - for Jaunty Jackalope and earlier
grub -mkconfig - make a new grub.cfg file - Karmic Koala and later
Either of those commands will update your file with boot entries for all of the operating systems you have in discs plugged into your computer at the time. A list of boot entries for all of your bootable kernels in each operating system will be added to your .

2. Another way to have this file edited for us will be to use scripts and programs that are currently still under development by members of the Ubuntu community.
One that I know of already is called 'SUM', short for 'Start Up Manager', and it already supports GRUB 2 as far as I know, I haven't tried it out myself yet though.
Here's a link for more info about that, StartUpManager - Ubuntu Community Docs

3. If you want to customize your /boot/grub/grub.cfg file yourself, you first need to edit either /etc/default/grub or one of the files in /etc/grub.d and then run 'sudo update-grub' or 'sudo grub-mkconfig'.
The 'sudo update-grub' or 'sudo grub-mkconfig' scripts will read /etc/default/grub and the files in /etc/grub.d in numerical sequence and update your /boot/grub/grub.cfg file with your changes.

4. Not recommended - but possible, you can chmod your /boot/grub/grub.cfg and edit the file directly, but next time 'sudo update-grub' or 'sudo grub-mkconfig' are run, possibly automatically after your next kernel update, you'll probably lose all of your changes and be reverted back to your standard /boot/grub/grub.cfg file.
If you have your GRUB 2 in a 'Dedicated GRUB 2 Partition', it's okay and even advisable to chmod your /boot/grub/grub.cfg and edit it manually.
See 'How to make a Dedicated GRUB 2 Partition', under this link, grub-install.

Quote from Grub2 commands

Kind regards,

Eric

frenchn00b · 12-08-2009, 06:46 AM

man the TAB key isnt NOT working

to show the possibilities into grub command

linus72 · 12-08-2009, 06:52 AM

doesn't work for me either
grub2 really sucks in many ways

wish I could make a sub-grub2 grub.cfg...?

frenchn00b · 12-08-2009, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

doesn't work for me either
grub2 really sucks in many ways

wish I could make a sub-grub2 grub.cfg...?

they could have asked us before making any radical changes into GRUB

many many problems with arise.

EricTRA · 12-08-2009, 06:56 AM

Hi,

From a forum I got this in a very extensive manual:

Quote:

TAB completion (grub>)
While typing after the grub>, try pressing the TAB key and see what happens: in many cases, GRUB will try to help you complete the line with something meaningful or with choices. So type as much as you can recall or type a guess, then press TAB, then you may have to type another guess and press TAB again, and so on until you complete the line the way you want it.

I should work 'out of the box'.

Kind regards,

Eric

linus72 · 12-08-2009, 06:59 AM

EricTRA: do you know the means by which one
could make a 2nd,3rd,etc grub.cfg that branches off the main grub.cfg
like with grub-legacy??

I can't seem to make one....

EricTRA · 12-08-2009, 07:08 AM

Hello linus72,

What's up, how are you? Not sure but maybe you can play around with the Custom Boot Entries option in Grub2. I've read something about it here on the lower half of the page. This site also might come in handy: Tweaking Grub2.

Kind regards,

Eric

linus72 · 12-08-2009, 07:11 AM

EricTRA, can Debian boot from iso as Ubuntu's do?

EricTRA · 12-08-2009, 07:12 AM

Lorax has done that if I recall using Grub4Dos because his She-Beast has no way to boot neither from CD/DVD nor USB. If I recall correct he used the NETINST CD.

Kind regards,

Eric

linus72 · 12-08-2009, 07:19 AM

yes, I know of grub4dos,

I made a couple grub2 iso's, like 5 really
3 of them unbootable

the most successful was my SuperBuntu DVD
which boots every Ubuntu 9.04/9.10
off iso's

I put isos of ubuntu 9.04 & 9.10
kubuntu 9.04/9.10
& xubuntu 9.04/9.10
and they all boot!

but, I cant make a damn sub-menu!?

heres the SuperBuntu grub.cfg

Code:

#
# Sample GRUB configuration file
#

insmod biosdisk
insmod pc
insmod gpt

# Boot automatically after 30 secs.
set timeout=30

# By default, boot the first entry.
set default=0

# Fallback to the second entry.
set fallback=1

# For booting GNU/Hurd
menuentry "Ubuntu Live 9.04 32bit" {
    loopback loop /boot/iso/ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/boot/iso/ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Ubuntu Live 9.10 32bit" {
    loopback loop /boot/iso/ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/boot/iso/ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Kubuntu Live 9.04 32bit" {
    loopback loop /boot/iso/kubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/boot/iso/kubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Kubuntu Live 9.10 32bit" {
    loopback loop /boot/iso/kubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/boot/iso/kubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Xubuntu Live 9.04 32bit" {
    loopback loop /boot/iso/xubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/boot/iso/xubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Xubuntu Live 9.10 32bit" {
    loopback loop /boot/iso/xubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/boot/iso/xubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso --
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

# For booting GNU/Linux
menuentry "GNU/Linux" {
	set root=(hd0,1)
	linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1
	initrd /initrd.img
}

# For booting FreeBSD
menuentry "FreeBSD (or GNU/kFreeBSD), direct boot" {
	set root=(hd0,1,a)
	freebsd /boot/kernel/kernel
	freebsd_loadenv /boot/device.hints
	freebsd_module /boot/splash.bmp type=splash_image_data
	set FreeBSD.vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:ad0s1a
}
menuentry "FreeBSD (or GNU/kFreeBSD), via /boot/loader" {
	set root=(hd0,1,a)
	freebsd /boot/loader
}

# For booting NetBSD
menuentry "NetBSD" {
	set root=(hd0,1,a)
	netbsd /netbsd
}

# For booting OpenBSD
menuentry "OpenBSD" {
	set root=(hd0,1,a)
	openbsd /bsd
}

# For booting Microsoft Windows
menuentry "Microsoft Windows" {
	set root=(hd0,1)
	chainloader +1
}

# Change the colors.
menuentry "Change the colors" {
	set menu_color_normal=light-green/brown
	set menu_color_highlight=red/blue
}