now that ive finally got XP and Ubuntu on my system, i thought id try to get rid of that DOS looking boot! :s

To explain my situation (probably default)
when i start up after bios a black screen appears with a list of options:

1. ubuntu
2. ubuntu recovery
3. xp
4. xp recovery

something like that not sure the exact order or titles...

what i wanna do is make it have a GUI where i select which OS i want.
ive seen this done before and if its not too much hassle bring on the knowledge!

Do you mean you wanna Graphical Grub Boot Menu?
Like a picture background and text colors,etc?

There are a few ways to do this
is that what you mean?

yeh man something along those lines, you know like when your signing into an OS and have different user accounts. But instead of user accounts you have the OS.

Ive seen it on a triple boot system between windows OSX and Linux

You mean the login window?
GDM themes?
Gnome Display Manager

maybe this might help:

How to Customize GRUB in Ubuntu

http://hacktivision.com/index.php/20...-ubuntu?blog=2

and this:
http://tuxenclave.wordpress.com/2008...rub-in-ubuntu/

they both seem to be outdated....are you sure they'll work?

the first one doesnt have the same steps, since there is no add/remove under apps anymore in karmic

If you're using Karmic and you installed Karmic from the Live CD/DVD; then you're using Grub2; and those instructions probably won't work. If you upgraded from Jaunty to Karmic, then it MAY (I am not certain) have left you with Grub Legacy; in which case those instructions should work. But to be on the safe side; post the file /boot/grub/menu.lst, then we'll be able to tell if you're using Grub2 or Grub legacy.
EDIT: I should have specified that if you don't have a menu.lst file; post the grub.conf file.
EDIT: Tutorial for Grub2 splash images:
http://digitizor.com/2009/11/11/how-...ge-for-grub-2/
Just follow that. If you run into a problem, post your grub.conf or menu.lst file.

yes i did install karmic using an ISO image that was put on a flash stick. Not sure if im running grub or grub 2 but i do know i am running a grub since the update manage prompted something about that.

where can i find out what grub i am running?
ie. where do i go to find the menu.lst file??

Since you installed from the Karmic image; you are using Grub2 by default unless you changed it, but I would assume you would know if you had changed it. So the tutorial I linked to will work fine. As for the menu.lst file; you will either not have it; or it will be a link to grub.conf; or grub.conf will be a link to the menu.lst file. They will be located in /boot/grub/

alright cheers for the help. After reading the whole article im not really after sticking a wallpaper over the blank screen

what i want to do is have a sort of login screen for the two OS

something like this image

http://www.insanelymac.com/wp-conten...ads/2009/02/24

Your link is broken dude..

woops! heres another example

http://blog.gnist.org/images/article...4_original.jpg

Help anyone?

you can have a graphical grub boot menu
but not with "buttons" that i know of

is it possible to replace to the Grub with something else that can?

how about people that triple boot....and after loading Bios they get there three OS and then select. Cant find anything about how to do it but i can seem to find that it can be :/