Grub 2 Basics

[morbs_gt]

Hello OP.

I'm on Maverick Meerkat, and have a custom boot menu, with custom background and font colors. It looks neeto like I want it.

My issue is that I like the verbose boot with scrolling text which follows the OS selection from the grub boot menu, but would like to modify the background behind the scrolling text. Is there a way to do such a thing with grub2? Or is it a grub2 related file at all? Thanks for any info and your patience

[drs305]

Hello OP.

I'm on Maverick Meerkat, and have a custom boot menu, with custom background and font colors. It looks neeto like I want it.

My issue is that I like the verbose boot with scrolling text which follows the OS selection from the grub boot menu, but would like to modify the background behind the scrolling text. Is there a way to do such a thing with grub2? Or is it a grub2 related file at all? Thanks for any info and your patience

I know you were referred to this thread but I've already posted in the other one.
The short answer is that I don't know what controls things immediately after grub passes control to the kernel. I know that the Grub devs are making improvements to keeping gfxmodes such as resolutions, but I'm not aware of anything on backgrounds or colors.

If you find something, let us know.

[masque7]

Hi drs305,

If you don't want other Operating Systems to be entered in the menu, disable /etc/grub.d/30_osprober
Run this command to stop the script from running: sudo chmod -x /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober
DISABLE_30_OS-PROBER='true' in /etc/default/grub

This needs to change to (underscore instead of hyphen):

DISABLE_30_OS_PROBER='true'

Cheers

[drs305]

Hi drs305,


This needs to change to (underscore instead of hyphen):

DISABLE_30_OS_PROBER='true'

Cheers

Fixed. 2 other entries were correct, but I obviously missed this one. Wonder if it's been wrong since I first created the post?

Thank you masque7 for catching it and calling it to my attention.

[drs305]

Hi drs305,


This needs to change to (underscore instead of hyphen):

DISABLE_30_OS_PROBER='true'

Cheers

Fixed. 2 other entries were correct in later posts, but I obviously missed this one. Wonder if it's been wrong since I first created the post?

Thank you masque7 for catching it and calling it to my attention.

[gustavson12]

Can the grub menu title be changed?

Its the title that's on the top of the grub menu screen.

Currently it says something like GNU GRUB version 1.98+2010084... blah blah blah

Can this be changed to something like GRUB2 MENU? or what ever...

Thanks!

[drs305]

Can the grub menu title be changed?

One of the great things of these forums are the unexpected questions that pop up.

The G2 title is not editable by any of the normal configuration scripts found in /etc or /etc/grub.d

I did some exploring the library files and others in /usr/lib/grub and /usr/sbin. While I found editable files which contained plain text which appeared to be linked to the title (/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/config.h) no changes I attempted to make appeared in the G2 title.

As I have time and the inclination I may pursue this a bit more, but I suspect the title may be coded in areas not accessible in the grub text files. Perhaps someone else will respond.

[kapetr]

Hello,

I have problem using GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT.

I have just Ubuntu 10.10 installed == just one OS.
But my experience differs from described:

1. what ever I set or unset to GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET, I newer get countdown on screen.

2. if I interrupt hidden timeout with SHIFT, then rest time to default boot is (GRUB_TIMEOUT - elapsed time ) => not GRUB_TIMEOUT

3. even if GRUB_BACKGROUND set (and working) - by GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT it is not shown - just blank screen

I thing, that it should work like described by author of thread, but unfortunately it does not


BTW: Can anybody tell me, how to disable border in menu ?
It unnecessary covers my nice GRUB_BACKGROUND picture.


--kapetr

[drs305]

1. what ever I set or unset to GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET, I newer get countdown on screen.

The timeout should be set to false to display the timer as it count's down. I haven't experimented with the timeout feature with a background but will report back. It's possible that as G2 evolves some of the settings have changed.

2. if I interrupt hidden timeout with SHIFT, then rest time to default boot is (GRUB_TIMEOUT - elapsed time ) => not GRUB_TIMEOUT

I'll have to play with this.

3. even if GRUB_BACKGROUND set (and working) - by GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT it is not shown - just blank screen

Again, I'll check my systems and report back when I have some time.

BTW: Can anybody tell me, how to disable border in menu ?
It unnecessary covers my nice GRUB_BACKGROUND picture.

The border is written into the basic Grub 2 code. The developers are aware of the issue but to date I don't believe there is a way to remove the border unless it can be done with themes. There is no simple entry I'm aware of that can be made to the normal G2 scripts.

Grub 2 themes are slowly coming along, and there is now at least a parameter for border colors in progress bars, so it may be possible if you are willing to create a theme and are willing to dig into the manual. Here is the GNU GRUB manual theming link:
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...me-file-format

You might visit some of the threads regarding BURG, which is much more advanced on the theming side of bootloaders. It would not surprise me if it's developer has a solution.

UPDATE: I am having much the same experience with my tests today with backgrounds and hidden timeouts. I will try some test settings but I don't have a single OS system so I'll have to trick the scripts. If I come up with a solution or script modification for you I will post it.

UPDATE 2 I cannot get the GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT to count down either. The best I can do is to get a blank screen, which when I press a key, displays the hidden timeout remaining. Pressing another key brings up the menu and timeout.

I don't have a true single OS machine. I recommend filing a bug via "sudo ubuntu-bug grub-pc". It's possible my description no longer applies; there have been a lot of updates to Grub2 since its inception and the "timeout" section has changed/moved. Describe your situation and perhaps Colin Watson or one of the other Ubuntu gurus will respond.

As I currently cannot get the countdown to display even on a blank screen, I've edited these entries in the first post and currently reflect only what is stated in the GNU GRUB (2) manual.

[kapetr]

Thank you for yours time and answers.
ad 1 - to set "false" I had try - no change.
Yours results are the same as by me with "true" 1 OS.

I'm not sure, that my knowledge of problem and English is good enough to make bug report - maybe link to this thread could be enough ?

--kapetr