How to: Create a Customized GRUB2 Screen that is Maintenance Free.

[CowzRule]

Hi,
Just thought I'd show off my customized Grub menu.

[Cavsfan]

G'day Cavsfan,
I managed to get past that little issue I was having with grub, and after going through your very easy to follow tute, have started with this one.

Please excuse the crappy cameraphone quality, I'll take another with my camera when it's here later and replace it.

Looks good! Thanks for posting! I guess you didn't make up the 06_custom file?
If you did, the top entry could say "Maverick Meerkat" or what ever you wanted. That is what is maintenance free about it.
The line never has to be edited and it will always pull the latest kernel. The same with the other entry for recovery; it will
always pull the latest kernel. And if you leave the other files executable it will show the normal entries below the custom ones.

Looks great and thanks again for posting!

[Cavsfan]

Hi,
Just thought I'd show off my customized Grub menu.

Looks great! Thanks for posting!

[von Stalhein]

Looks good! Thanks for posting! I guess you didn't make up the 06_custom file?
If you did, the top entry could say "Maverick Meerkat" or what ever you wanted. That is what is maintenance free about it.
The line never has to be edited and it will always pull the latest kernel. The same with the other entry for recovery; it will
always pull the latest kernel. And if you leave the other files executable it will show the normal entries below the custom ones.

Looks great and thanks again for posting!

he he - not yet - baby steps

I like to stuff up one thing at a time - the next part of your tute may get a run tonight or tomorrow

I've put a few images in that directory, and when I get bored all I need to do is rename the file and I'll have a change.

Later - I've done the second part of the tute, and after some trial and error got to this stage - next is to remove some of the old entries. Your tip to hang on to a couple for a while is a good one!!

[Cavsfan]

he he - not yet - baby steps

I like to stuff up one thing at a time - the next part of your tute may get a run tonight or tomorrow

I've put a few images in that directory, and when I get bored all I need to do is rename the file and I'll have a change.

Later - I've done the second part of the tute, and after some trial and error got to this stage - next is to remove some of the old entries. Your tip to hang on to a couple for a while is a good one!!

Very good idea to go slow! Looking good so far! I am down to just 3 entries, but the other day I had
to make 10_linux executable so I could get into recovery mode because I don't know of a key that will do
it if there is one. I updated my nVidea driver to the latest and needed to get into command prompt to do part of it.

I also have several pictures in the folder and have the colors and the pictures commented out in the file, except the one I am using.
It makes it easier to switch back and forth and the colors that work with dark pictures are there as well as the colors that work well with
light pictures. It's always nice to mix it up now and then.

Thanks for having the interest to post what your menu looks like.

EDIT: DO'h! I already had recovery mode! I just realized that after I posted this. I didn't need to change anything!

[von Stalhein]

Sounds like me - although I'm getting better at NOT pushing the enter key until I have a plan to get back to where I was!!

I'm down to 5 - the current kernel, its recovery version and XP, but I've also left the two previous kernel entries for insurance.

Thanks again for your work and advice

[Cavsfan]

Sounds like me - although I'm getting better at NOT pushing the enter key until I have a plan to get back to where I was!!

I'm down to 5 - the current kernel, its recovery version and XP, but I've also left the two previous kernel entries for insurance.

Thanks again for your work and advice

I am down to just Maverick, Maverick Recovery and Windows 7 in the 06_custom file. I never used the memtest and I am
confident enough that I do not need 10_linux or 30_os-prober to be executable. All I see when I enter sudo update-grub is
the image name appear.

Ranch Hand, a very knowledgeable guy showed me how to do all of this stuff and he said he has used just the custom file for a long time.

I have also had it this way ever since Ranch Hand showed me how to do it. I think since Karmic.
The only time I could see leaving anything executable; displayable is if you have more than just Ubuntu and one version of Windows.

However, even then you could make the other version of windows fit into the custom file.

But, if you have other Linux OSs on there, you would need those to display. But, since we both only have the afore mentioned setup,
we can get by with just the custom file.

I believe even drs305, the GRUB guru around here has his setup this way, but I am not for sure.

Even if something should run amuck, you can always get into recovery mode or at the worst command line mode and all you would
have to do is maneuver to /etc/grub.d/ and make 10_linux executable and viola you can access an older kernel and should be good to go.

I have only one kernel since installing Maverick and would not benefit by making 10_linux executable anyway.

And while this tutorial is intended for you to eventually have just the 3 entries in a simple dual boot system, I
do realize that caution rules over anything else. So, what your menu displays is entirely up to you and your machine.

I am going to post my newest screen when I get a chance.

[Cavsfan]

Here is my current GRUB2 screen







These colors are normal yellow/black and highlighted white/black
And don't forget that instead of rebooting to see your changes, you can simply press "c" to get a grub command line
and enter different combinations until you have one that suits your taste.

Enter

set color_normal=first-color/black  and/or set color_highlight=first-color/second-color

Then press Esc to view the changes and you can repeat until you find the colors you like.

The possible colors are black, light-gray, blue, brown, cyan, dark-gray, light-green, green, light-cyan, light-blue,
light-magenta, magenta, light-red, red, white and yellow.
And remember to leave the second color black or it may become transparent.
There are a few ways you can use the 2nd color - if you wanted the line to be blue and the text to be white, you could
enter white/blue. I would be careful about trying this though. Generally you want the 2nd color to be black.

[von Stalhein]

^^
Cool!!

My next project is to get another hdd and then I'm going to try triple booting with Maverick, XP and Arch.

[von Stalhein]

Hey Cavsfan - seen this??

I haven't had a chance to research it yet - will be interesting to find out the pros and cons.