LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] Help with grub

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Quote:

Originally Posted by sycho123321 (Post 4817097)

wait so 1.98 is grub 2?

I (think) so-

OK, I'll say this first, I did not read all of the posts, but from the OP's first post, I'm assuming he/she is trying to customize/theme GRUB2. And since the OP's info shows that he/she is using Debian, I'll assume it's Debian stable or Squeeze. Squeeze installs GRUB2 by default, no need to install it again (unless or course you screwed it up).

Ubuntu has been using GRUB2 since Karmic (9.10) or probably even before that. I really started using Linux seriously from that point. Karmic used GRUB v1.97~Beta4. All GRUB versions above 1.97 is referred to as GRUB2, while all GRUB versions up to 0.97 is now referred to as GRUB-legacy.

Take note of this: BURG is a fork of GRUB2. It is no longer maintained, which means bugs and the like go unchecked.

Since the OP is also dual-booting with Backtrack, the GRUB version used by the latest release of Backtrack (from distrowatch.com) is v1.98. Depending on how the installations were done, the GRUB version in use will normally be from the last distro installed, provided of course that the user selected to install the bootloader from the installation scripts.

The version of GRUB in Squeeze is presently 1.98+20100804-14+squeeze1.

The following is purely informative. You can change the distro (Squeeze or Backtrack), which controls the configuration of GRUB2 that boots the system.

Let's assume you want the version of GRUB2 from Squeeze to control the boot sequence and your primary boot device is /dev/sda.

Boot into Squeeze.
Open a terminal window and enter

Code:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

.This will install the bootloader to the MBR of /dev/sda. Note that it is not recommended to install the bootloader of GRUB2 to a partition as may have been done previously for GRUB-legacy. If the installation was successfully, you'll get a Installation finished message.
Now update the GRUB configuration file (/boot/grub/grub.cfg). In the terminal window, enter

Code:

sudo update-grub

. This will cause GRUB2 to search through the system for OSes and create a menuentry for each OSes and kernel versions found.

On your next reboot, the system will boot the version of GRUB2 from Squeeze and present you with a menu to select the OS/kernel to boot.

Now if you are looking to customize/theme GRUB2, have a look at my The Definitive Guide to Theming GRUB2 v1.99 Edition 3 Revision 1. The download also includes the second edition which covers GRUB2 v1.98. The download link is in my sigs.

For quite a few themes, check out this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1823915

OK, I should have taken the time to do it first. After looking at the other posts, I'll add these.

Where are you seeing GRUB v1? You also said, the GRUB2 version was 1.98-Ubuntu. This says you are booting GRUB2 from Backtrack, since it's based on Ubuntu. To see the version of GRUB you are using, open a terminal window and enter:

Code:

sudo grub-install --version

You'll get something like: grub-install (GRUB) 1.99-14. Post the output from the above command.

If you installed GRUB-legacy, you can revert to GRUB2, but first please clean up your sources.list file. I would not recommend that you install anything from the backports unless you know exactly what you are doing. You can really screw-up your installation. Leave that for after you have gained a bit more experience.

Here's a stock Squeeze sources.list file (use it to get your system back to normal):

Code:

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main non-free contrib

deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main non-free contrib



deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib non-free

deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib non-free



# squeeze-updates, previously known as 'volatile'

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main contrib non-free

deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main contrib non-free

After saving, enter in the terminal window:

Code:

sudo apt-get update

This will pull in all the updates. If you wish to install the updates at this point, go ahead:

Code:

sudo apt-get upgrade

This will upgrade the packages. If some kernel packages are held back, you may also want to do:

Code:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Now if you want to install GRUB2 in Squeeze (for a PC/BIOS architecture):

Code:

sudo apt-get install grub-pc grub2-common

This will install GRUB2, configure it and generate the /boot/grub/grub.cfg configuration file.

Your next reboot will be from GRUB2 installed from Squeeze.

You can now further customize/theme GRUB2 according to my guide. Further info for configuring GRUB2 via /etc/default/grub can be found at (enter in the terminal window):

Code:

info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

Or read the complete manual with:

Code:

info grub

Hope this sheds a bit more light.

Towheedm:

Thank you for jumping in and helping.

I was not aware that Burg is no longer maintained-
I couldn't find the guide for Sycho 123321 but you did. Thanks!
That Definitive Gude to Theming Grub2 looks good-

I knew from the beginning that Sycho 123321 had Grub from his Debian install but didn't know which (v1.99 or 1.9.8) he had.

Thanks again; Towheedm for helping us!

Sycho 123321:

Towheedm provided great information and instructions for you and now you can give this a go.

Keep in mind that Debian does not use "sudo" in Debian we use "su" than put your rootpassword in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztcoracat (Post 4817873)

Keep in mind that Debian does not use "sudo" in Debian we use "su" than put your rootpassword in.

Are you sure? From what I recall, I had to set a root password in Squeeze. The sudo utility was installed by default.

You can verify this from a clean install of Squeeze by looking at the /etc/shadow file:

Code:

root:!:15342:0:99999:7:::

And from man shadow:

Code:

      encrypted password

          Refer to crypt(3) for details on how this string is interpreted.



          If the password field contains some string that is not a valid

          result of crypt(3), for instance ! or *, the user will not be able

          to use a unix password to log in (but the user may log in the

          system by other means).



          This field may be empty, in which case no passwords are required to

          authenticate as the specified login name. However, some

          applications which read the /etc/shadow file may decide not to

          permit any access at all if the password field is empty.



          A password field which starts with a exclamation mark means that

          the password is locked. The remaining characters on the line

          represent the password field before the password was locked.

See:

Code:

man passwd    # or

man shadow

for more information.

I had two members in Debian testing tell me to only use 'su' and su only.

Continuing that debate here would hijack to OP's thread. Probably you'd like to start a new thread for that.

BTW: I was simply responding to what you said:

Quote:

Keep in mind that Debian does not use "sudo" in Debian we use "su" ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by towheedm (Post 4819351)

Continuing that debate here would hijack to OP's thread. Probably you'd like to start a new thread for that.

BTW: I was simply responding to what you said:

Oh, only responding sorry, I got carried away:o

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztcoracat (Post 4817873)

Towheedm:

Keep in mind that Debian does not use "sudo" in Debian we use "su" than put your rootpassword in.

I use sudo

can i just use grub-custumizer?

Of course you can. It's your choice. I have never used it, so I can't say what it's capable of. I could not find it in the Debian repos.

ya i had to biuld it from source

on the theaming guide install.sh does not work

now it working tanks everyone!!!!:p :p ;) :)