How to have a graphical GRUB (Updated Package Available)

[wolfwatcher51]

Well, I thought I could follow these simple directions, but I totally screwed the pooch, so to speak.

I thought I was doing ok but may have messed up the grub reinstall. I thought before I had installed to mbr of first disk so I told it dev/hda1

I did the rest of the procedure and rebooted. When it reboots, I do get the new screen, but it lists windows on sda1, and linux on all the other drives and partitions on hda except puppy301 on hda1.

PLEASE HELP, I have spent a lot of time invested, along with several forum members, setting up puppy as a server for 4 windows boxes, actually more like a NAS and now I have no clue as to how to get it to boot or get "inside" to change menu.lst back to original.

[nipper]

Well, I thought I could follow these simple directions, but I totally screwed the pooch, so to speak.

I thought I was doing ok but may have messed up the grub reinstall. I thought before I had installed to mbr of first disk so I told it dev/hda1

I did the rest of the procedure and rebooted. When it reboots, I do get the new screen, but it lists windows on sda1, and linux on all the other drives and partitions on hda except puppy301 on hda1.

PLEASE HELP, I have spent a lot of time invested, along with several forum members, setting up puppy as a server for 4 windows boxes, actually more like a NAS and now I have no clue as to how to get it to boot or get "inside" to change menu.lst back to original.

While the grub menu is up and before it times out to the default entry, push e (e for edit). That will allow you to edit the line and have it point to your Puppy install for this boot (it is only for this boot, it doesn't permanently edit the menu.lst). If this gets you in, then you can edit your menu.lst in the manner that you normally do to point where you want.

This is only going to work if there is nothing wrong with the install and somehow you just lost the menu.lst entry. If other things are wrong too, just giving the correct boot commands to grub may not help.

[CatDude]

Hello wolfwatcher51

You could also boot a LiveCD with "puppy pfix=ram" (without the quotes)
When puppy pauses for 5 seconds, type: puppy pfix=ram
Then when you get to the desktop, mount the partition where your grub directory is. (i assume hda1, from what you said above)

Now open your menu.lst in a text editor (right click on it and Open As Text),
in the same directory you may also see a file called menu.lst.old.#### (where #### are numbers).

If so open that as text also, now copy the contents from this file to your new menu.lst.

What i normally do is just copy everything below the line that says:

# End GRUB global section

then paste it into the new file, in the same place.

Now save the menu.lst, close the text editor, unmount the partition you mounted, then reboot.

When asked if you want to save your settings, answer Do Not Save.

Hopefully this will sort it out.

CatDude
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[wolfwatcher51]

Thank you nipper and CatDude.

I rebooted and when it got to the graphical screen I pushed e and nothing happened, it just sat there. Pushed e repeatedly and still nothing.

I use this box as a backup/server so I filled the two ide channels with hdds, changed boot order to floppy, USB CDROM, hdd, saved and exited. I hooked up a cd/dvd burner using an external case using usb2 from a pci add in card. When I rebooted, it went right back to the frugal install without reading the live cd in the cd/dvd burner.

Any suggestions before i tear into the box and replace a hdd with the optical disk on the secondary ide channel?

Thanks, Chris.

Edit: Sometimes in the heat of the battle we forget the simpler things. As I typed this it came to me that the pci usb would not get turned on soon enough. So, I moved its connection to the onboard usb 1.1 and rebooted. Sure enough the live cd booted. I was not fast enough though but it booted to the normal frugal looking install. I went to menu.lst and renamed it menu.lst-old and then copied the menu.lst I had backed up to my documents into the grub directory, removed the live cd and rebooted. Looks like it is back to normal now, atleast on the surface. Rebooted again just to make sure and it booted like normal.

WOW, much better now. CatDude, have I given enough information here for you to tell what I did wrong? I can see where the menu.lst that would not work had the contents just like the choices that came up on the graphical, but these are not correct for my system. Was I supposed to edit them to add what was in my menu.lst file? Do you think I could just edit my menu.lst file to uncomment out the timeout line, comment out the color line, and then add the line about the gfxmenu?

Thanks, Chris.

[wolfwatcher51]

Ok, I got it.

CatDude thanks for the graphical, very nice.
PLEASE understand that the following is NOT looking to be critical of you or complain in any way. Merely a way for the "lowest common denominator" (noobs) to have success with your great contribution!

I think that you intended your instructions in the how to for people with at least some puppy skills. I am reminded about the old dilemma about knowing how to do it rather than what you are doing. People with experience can follow the instructions and "know" what parts they need to "fill in".

Then there are us noobs, some of which, like me, know very little and so we try to follow instructions explicitly. That is where i went wrong with my install. I failed to look at the new menu.lst file past the grub section to see it would be looking for windows on xx and linux on several other, different partitions. Naturally, that is your set up and nothing like mine, or anybody else with a basic frugal puppy install. I guess it was my perception that the install would modify my menu.lst file, hence the instruction to back it up.

It is our lack of experience that kept us from "knowing" what you meant rather than what you said. There are so many incredibly talented people like yourself in this forum, it was not unreasonable for me to perceive that your install package was "that smart".

I think that it would be easier for us noobs if the instructions said something like, backup your menu.lst file and then modify the original. Uncomment out the timeout line and set for the length of time you want puppy to wait before loading the default version. Comment out the color line. After the color line insert a line with "gfxmenu /boot/grub/message.puppy. Save and exit then reboot and be pleased.

Again, thanks for the graphical and the lesson. Keep up the great work, Chris.

[nic2109]

I've only just come across this topic, so sorry if this is all too little, too late.

Back to the "newbie-friendliness vs geekyness" discussion from a little earlier................

One of the nice things about booting up the heavier-weight Linux distros is the splash screen and the way the progress of the boot process is presented.

It's that crucial first-impression and puppy is currently tending to geekiness in that respect.

I'll give this offering a try as it looks really "nice".

[CatDude]

Hello wolfwatcher51

Glad to here that you got it sorted.

There are so many incredibly talented people like yourself in this forum

Very kind of you to say, but i dont think of myself like that, just as somebody who likes to dabble

I think that it would be easier for us noobs if the instructions said something like, backup your menu.lst file and then modify the original. Uncomment out the timeout line and set for the length of time you want puppy to wait before loading the default version. Comment out the color line. After the color line insert a line with "gfxmenu /boot/grub/message.puppy. Save and exit then reboot and be pleased.

Again, thanks for the graphical and the lesson. Keep up the great work, Chris.

Well, i have just edited it, and hope it is a little bit clearer, please take a look and let me know.

CatDude
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[wolfwatcher51]

Hello CatDude, sorry for the delay in responding.

I have looked over the new instructions and I think that they ought to do it.

Obviously, I know nothing of building .pet packages or their capabilities. I think the most important thing for anybody that is going to make changes is that they backup the original, either by renaming it and leaving it where it is, or copying to another directory, or both.

What I think is going on with the .pet package is that it replaces or overwrites the original menu.lst file, hence the backup first. Under the corporate heading of "no job is too tough for somebody else to do", would it not be simpler to just have the .pet package modify the current menu.lst to uncomment out the timeout, comment out the color line, and insert the gfx menu line? Then it would not require any of the editing of the new one to make it like the current one.

Or, even just replace the section that starts with Start Grub Global and ends with End Grub Global? I guess that people modifying their menu.lst files could make it so that the global grub section was not always on the same lines, so the .pet would actually have to open the file and locate the section. Probably too much work. Yea, much easier to just open the directory and replace the menu.lst file I guess. But you are the one freely doing and sharing your work, so we are lucky to get it any way we can

Again, thanks for the work and the input, Chris.

[CatDude]

Hello wolfwatcher51

I have looked over the new instructions and I think that they ought to do it.

Thank you for taking a look.

I think the most important thing for anybody that is going to make changes is that they backup the original, either by renaming it and leaving it where it is, or copying to another directory, or both.

I do actually say to do just that at the start, prior to Step 1.

What I think is going on with the .pet package is that it replaces or overwrites the original menu.lst file, hence the backup first.

I dont think its the .pet package itself that replaces or overwrites the original menu.lst,
but the re-installing of GRUB in Step 3.
It seems to create a new menu.lst while renaming the original to something like menu.lst.old.9642 (yours will have different numbers)

Under the corporate heading of "no job is too tough for somebody else to do", would it not be simpler to just have the .pet package modify the current menu.lst to uncomment out the timeout, comment out the color line, and insert the gfx menu line? Then it would not require any of the editing of the new one to make it like the current one.

You give me credit for abilities that i do not possess.
I honestly would not know where to start, to achieve that.

But you are the one freely doing and sharing your work, so we are lucky to get it any way we can.

All i did was gather together the necessary files and put them into .pet package
I just tried to make it easier for people if they fancied a little extra eye-candy.

Again, thanks for the work and the input, Chris.

No probs, your welcome.

CatDude
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[yangmusa]

Thank you for this .pet!

I followed the instructions in the original post, and it worked first time on Puppy 4 beta (3.98 ). Magic!

Now if only I could find a way to suppress all the ugly text spewing out when Puppy is loading... On my Mac, there's just a gray screen with an Apple logo while the machine boots, so much better looking

[HairyWill]

You give me credit for abilities that i do not possess.
I honestly would not know where to start, to achieve that..

sounds like a job for sed

[CatDude]

Hello again HairyWill

You give me credit for abilities that i do not possess.
I honestly would not know where to start, to achieve that..

sounds like a job for sed

Thanks for the link.
It looks like i have got some reading / learning to do as its all klingon to me mate.

CatDude
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[nutts4life]

I know this is a little off topic, but while we're talking about splash screens:
Is it possible to add a splash screen to the puppy startup (like slax).

Just needs to be a static image with the test flowing underneath.

How do you do that?

n4l

[CatDude]

Moved to first post of thread.

[prit1]

@CatDude: Great job !!. I can definitely use them for Macpup and for my laptops.

[CatDude]

Hello prit1

@CatDude: Great job !!. I can definitely use them for Macpup and for my laptops.

Your welcome mate, but as it says in the included README.txt,
it is used entirely at your own risk.
But saying that, i haven't had any problems so far.

CatDude
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[puppyluvr]

Hello

@Catdude
Works great!! Installed pet..ran grub.. added 1 line to grub..(I used message 6 because its the default background for my Buddapups anyhow),,VIOLA..very professional looking..yes?? Little touches like this are everything..Thank you..
...Jay...

[CatDude]

Hi puppyluvr

Hello

@Catdude
Works great!! Installed pet..ran grub.. added 1 line to grub..(I used message 6 because its the default background for my Buddapups anyhow),,VIOLA..very professional looking..yes?? Little touches like this are everything..Thank you..
...Jay...

Glad you like it mate.
I may add some more when i get round to creating them,
its just deciding what pics to use, any suggestions welcome.

CatDude
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[nic2109]

Tried this - I like it! This one will definitely stay.

IMHO the next step is a nice splash screen while Puppy is booting up with the progress messages appearing in a window. Sorry to say this, but "just like Ubuntu" applies here.

[CatDude]

Hi nic2109

Tried this - I like it! This one will definitely stay.

IMHO the next step is a nice splash screen while Puppy is booting up with the progress messages appearing in a window. Sorry to say this, but "just like Ubuntu" applies here.

Pleased that you like it.

If all you want, is to just hide the bootup text and have an image displayed instead,
then maybe [url=file:///root/dudesdata/Setting_up/Remastering-Etc/pebble/viewtopic.php.html]Pizzasgood's Pebble[/url] would fit the bill.
But i suspect you have already looked at it.

CatDude
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