Grub2 Tweaks for Natty

[Snowhog]

For Natty users, using Grub2.

This describes how to:

Set the screen resolution for the Grub Menu.
Always display the Grub Menu.
Remove the 10-second countdown timer.
Enable display of boot messages and splash screen.
Add a background image.

So far I have not figured out how to change the Grub Menu text colors (normal and highlighted). It's controlled somewhere in the /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme file, but this file is very different from it's predecessors!

You need to make changes to one file:

/etc/default/grub

Open this file for editing (as root) in your favorite text editor.
To allow the background image to 'look good' we are going to set the resolution. Locate and uncomment (remove the #) this line:

#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

Change the specified resolution to one that is supported by your monitor/lcd screen. For me, my laptop has a native resolution of 1440x900 when the Desktop is displayed, so a Grub2 resolution of 1024x768 is best. My line looks like:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768

Change:
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
to:
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true

Change:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
to:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=-1

Change:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
to:
#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Save and close the file.

Now you just need to copy (as root) the background image of your choice (must be a .png, .tga, or jpg image) to the /boot/grub folder. The image will look it's best if it is the same size as the resolution you set for GRUB_GFXMODE=

With these changes done, you need to update grub.cfg. In a console type:

sudo update-grub

Now you can shutdown and reboot your PC. Your Natty Grub Menu should be displayed with the specified resolution and your background image should be there in all it's glory.

Have fun.

[Rog131]

Re: Grub2 Tweaks for Natty

So far I have not figured out how to change the Grub Menu text colors (normal and highlighted). It's controlled somewhere in the /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme file, but this file is very different from it's predecessors!

Hmm - both the "old" and the new are using the configuration file if available.

Maverick 05_debian_theme:

...
# this allows desktop-base to override our settings
f=/usr/share/desktop-base/grub_background.sh
if test -e ${f} ; then
 . ${f}
else
...

Natty 05_debian_theme:

...
# Include the configuration of desktop-base if available.
if [ -f "/usr/share/desktop-base/grub_background.sh" ]; then
	. "/usr/share/desktop-base/grub_background.sh"
fi
...

Making the configuration file with the background image, text color and the highlight color.

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/desktop-base/

and

kdesudo kate /usr/share/desktop-base/grub_background.sh

WALLPAPER="/usr/share/wallpapers/Horos/contents/images/1920x1200.png"
COLOR_NORMAL="light-gray/black"
COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="green/black"

Save and exit.

Updating:

sudo update-grub

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found background image: /usr/share/wallpapers/Horos/contents/images/1920x1200.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-5-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-5-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-4-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-4-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Kubuntu 10.10 (10.10) on /dev/sdb1
Found Microsoft Windows XP Professional on /dev/sdc1
done

Booting

Seems to work...
[img width=400 height=251]http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8710/quiccapture.jpg[/img]


Links:
> Grub2
> Topic: Common Splash From Start To Finish

[Snowhog]

Re: Grub2 Tweaks for Natty

Thank's Rog! Okay, followed your suggestion. Going to see how it looks here.

Works great! Makes changing Natty's Grub theme easier as well, as there is no tweaking of the 05_debian_theme file. I'll go back and do the same for my Maverick and Lucid setups as well.

[kc1di]

Re: Grub2 Tweaks for Natty

Thank You for the great info