How to have a custom Grub2 menu that is maintenance free

[Cavsfan]

It appears omploader is down and has been for the past few days. If they don't come back soon, I'll put the pictures on another hosting site.

The possible font colors picture I will put on the other site first.

[Cavsfan]

Since omploader doesn't appear to be coming back I have to replace 4 pictures on this so it may be down for a bit.

[Cavsfan]

I am finished with updating the pictures. I put them on the Community Wiki site so they won't disappear again.

Sorry if I inconvenienced anyone.

[fantab]

I have a question related to Grub2 but not related to Ubuntu, specifically.

I dual boot Ubuntu and Arch. I don't install Grub in Arch and let Ubuntu-Grub load it. Yesterday, however I was forced to install Arch-Grub because I had to append some kernel parameters and I couldn't do so without /etc/default/grub. Anyways.

I have been trying to customize Grub Menu, nothing much, just background picture and font colors. Arch-Grub does NOT use /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme, we have to edit /etc/default/grub for all the changes. So far so good. However, when I change font colors only the box and the text within it is affected and not the text outside the box. By outside text I mean the one on top-center which reads Grub version and below which gives instructions on how to use the menu.

I am sure there is another entry somewhere which specifies font-color for the text outside the box. I can't seem to find it. I have looked in /boot/grub, /etc/default/grub and /etc/grub.d/ but I am yet to find it. Since there is no 05_debian_theme I am having a tough time figuring it out. I'd be grateful if I can be pointed in a right direction.

[Cavsfan]

I have a question related to Grub2 but not related to Ubuntu, specifically.

I dual boot Ubuntu and Arch. I don't install Grub in Arch and let Ubuntu-Grub load it. Yesterday, however I was forced to install Arch-Grub because I had to append some kernel parameters and I couldn't do so without /etc/default/grub. Anyways.

I have been trying to customize Grub Menu, nothing much, just background picture and font colors. Arch-Grub does NOT use /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme, we have to edit /etc/default/grub for all the changes. So far so good. However, when I change font colors only the box and the text within it is affected and not the text outside the box. By outside text I mean the one on top-center which reads Grub version and below which gives instructions on how to use the menu.

I am sure there is another entry somewhere which specifies font-color for the text outside the box. I can't seem to find it. I have looked in /boot/grub, /etc/default/grub and /etc/grub.d/ but I am yet to find it. Since there is no 05_debian_theme I am having a tough time figuring it out. I'd be grateful if I can be pointed in a right direction.

I have no idea how to change the fonts in Arch Linix but, this link looks promising:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...d_bitmap_fonts

See the part about Menu colors on that page. It looks like the font colors go in /etc/default/grub and are then generated with this command: grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
However I can not test that but, it looks like it should work.

If you wanted to move control of grub back to Ubuntu all you would need to do is login to Ubuntu and enter sudo grub-install /dev/sda (sda is whatever hard drive your Ubuntu partition is installed on).

[fantab]

Thanks Cavsfan. But I know all that. The problem is after I have changed the font color in /etc/default/grub, like I said, only the box outline and the menu inside changes but NOT the text outside the box. And also the sub-menus remain unchanged. I have even tried to create and add 05_Arch_theme based on 05_Debian_theme, but it does not help either. Wonder what patches Ubuntu/Debian apply to Grub. I will keep trying until eventually I re-install Ubuntu-Grub. This is the first time I have used Grub from any other Distro.

Thanks again...

[Cavsfan]

Thanks Cavsfan. But I know all that. The problem is after I have changed the font color in /etc/default/grub, like I said, only the box outline and the menu inside changes but NOT the text outside the box. And also the sub-menus remain unchanged. I have even tried to create and add 05_Arch_theme based on 05_Debian_theme, but it does not help either. Wonder what patches Ubuntu/Debian apply to Grub. I will keep trying until eventually I re-install Ubuntu-Grub. This is the first time I have used Grub from any other Distro.

Thanks again...

You are welcome!

It was sort of a shot in the dark but, it looked good from here.

Good luck!

[fantab]

Well it turns out that the solution was as simple as creating a new file /etc/grub.d/01_theme with the following script:

#!/bin/sh
cat << EOF
    set color_normal=dark-gray/black
    set color_highlight=cyan/black
EOF

... and making it executable.

It has given me some ideas about Ubuntu too...

Regards...

[Cavsfan]

Well it turns out that the solution was as simple as creating a new file /etc/grub.d/01_theme with the following script:

#!/bin/sh
cat << EOF
    set color_normal=dark-gray/black
    set color_highlight=cyan/black
EOF

... and making it executable.

It has given me some ideas about Ubuntu too...

Regards...

Sweet! I am glad you found a solution. I know absolutely nothing about Arch although I have a spare partition.
But, I have enough trouble keeping up with the 6 operating systems I already have as it is!
I prefer Precise 12.04 LTS and keep the others mainly for Grub updates for this wiki.
I have Mint 14 installed but, it is either based on Quantal Quetzal 12.10 or vice versa. Even many of the sources have "Quantal" in the name.

[Cavsfan]

A light picture with blue normal and black highlight font colors.

pic1a.jpg

echo " set color_normal=blue/black"
echo " set color_highlight=black/black"