How to have a graphical GRUB (Updated Package Available)

[mikeb]

especially by our lady members

all 3 of them ROFL

mike

[CatDude]

Hello mike

all 3 of them ROFL

Surely there is more than 3, isn't there ?

CatDude
.

[mikeb]

I was exaggerating...I know of only one at the moment...

ps Aitch has gone suspiciously quiet

mike

[CatDude]

I was exaggerating...I know of only one at the moment...

Mmm looks like a new thread/poll is required.

ps Aitch has gone suspiciously quiet

He has hasn't he, bad boy.

CatDude
.

[Aitch]

I'm still around...

Just been visiting a friend, ......with a broken PC

....and got snowed in, and network- less

So what do I find when I come back

Lady puppians gettin' the mikeb taken out of them.....tut, tut

Now who's a bad boy, eh?

Happy Xmas, Ladies......

Aitch, i could have posted message files showing scantily clad babes a long time ago,
i just thought it may have been frowned upon, especially by our lady members.

CatDude, I'm glad you didn't, thanks

Aitch

[Karl Godt]

I want to thank to point for

Open a terminal in WD1, (right click: Window > Terminal Here)
and enter:
cpio -iv < pupsta1

even cpio --help is saying

Examples:
# Copy files named in name-list to the archive
cpio -o < name-list [> archive]
# Extract files from the archive
cpio -i [< archive]
# Copy files named in name-list to destination-directory
cpio -p destination-directory < name-list

but after learning that 'patch -i' is the same as 'patch <' I always just tried `cpio -iv PIC` which didn't worked .
I want grub to go because the 'extlinux.conf' entries seems not to be overwriteable. Mine extlinux.conf on USB Flash looks like

default puppy
display boot.msg
prompt 1
timeout 150

F1 boot.msg
F2 help.msg

label puppy
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash pfix=ram debug panic=60 pkeys=de

which seems to boot in debug mode even if I adjust the Kernel command line.
It will take me some days to get it working I think, but thank you very much !

[russoodle]

especially by our lady members

all 3 of them ROFL

mike

Hey, c'mon mikeb, there are at least half a dozen of us that i can think of, offhand, probably heaps more though...and i can only imagine what you and our resident reprobate, Aitch, might've asked Santa for this past Christmas
(j/j, Aitch)

[russoodle]

Wow CatDude, you've done a great job on those new grub screens

Have to say, i'm inclined to favour #9...love that photo..

[Indy'spup]

I love the graphical interface lol especially the message.pup16

Works like a charm
Thanks!!!

[Indy'spup]

The graphix menu worked like a charm on a full install, but since trying many puppies and settling on a mijnpup Frugal install I was temporarily baffled with combining gfxmenu to Grub4Dos and the alternative complexity of Grub2 booting a Frugal install..

Thanks to CatDude for all his hard word on this gfxmenu project and the hint from mikeb i got the deal under control and found that Grub2 was totally unnecessary

A Frugal Puppy Install (mijnpup in this case)
Run the latest Grub4Dos
placed the message.pup16 gfxmenu to the same location as the grub menu and loader eg /home
then edited the menu, adding the Global comments and the gfxmenu line eg.

-----------------------------------------<>-------------------------------------

# menu.lst produced by grub4dosconfig-v
#
# Start GRUB global section
color white/blue black/cyan white/black cyan/black
timeout 5
default 0
gfxmenu /message.pup16
# End GRUB global section

# Frugal installed Puppy
title mijnpup 520
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /mijnpup520/initrd.gz
kernel /mijnpup520/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=mijnpup520
initrd /mijnpup520/initrd.gz

# additionals

# title Grub4Dos commandline\n(for experts only)
# commandline

title Reboot computer
reboot

# title Halt computer
# halt

-----------------------------------------<>-------------------------------------


Frugal puppy + grub4Dos + gfxmenu = awesome!!

Ok now what's up with that!!

meanwhile... here it is uploaded instead

Thanks

[ASRI éducation]

Hello CatDude.

I see that this discussion has not been used for two years...

My question: do you think the package grub-gfxboot-ext4-and-inode256-compatible.tar.gz is compatible with latest versions of Puppy Precise ?

Cordialement,

[ASRI éducation]

@ Mike
Thank you for your answer via mp.
I tested package (grub-gfxboot-ext4-and-inode256-compatible.tar.gz), it is fully compatible with Puppy Precise.
This is great!
So again, gfxmenu will be used by many French puplets.

When using the old version of the package, I asked myself a few questions. Today, I would place them on the forum.
1 - Is it possible to locate the help file (en.hlp)? It would be practical with the new multilingual Puppy.
2 - What is the function of "languages" ​​file?
3 - What is the function of "en.tr" ​​file?

I have other issues with my current tests.
4 - Obviously, I tried to edit the "pupsta1" file. I started by back.jpg file, normally it's simple, but I have a problem. I created an image (jpg 800x600) to replace the one included in cool-cat_no-penguins_800x600.gz.
But it does not work and Grub offers me a black screen (see, screenshots).
Why is the picture is not compatible??

Cordialement,

[mikeb]

Pas de probleme

4. Check background=back.jpg in the gfxboot.cfg name matches your jpg. I cannot see any other problem with the image you have used.

1. locate.... as in have a french version? The basic idea seems to be the languages file specifies which xx.lng file to use. Perhaps there is a way to select a language...
2...see above
3 don't know though related to language too.

On a general note the graphical menu will also work with standard grub 1 and when used with such the editing of the kernel parameters works as intended.

mike

[ASRI éducation]

4. Check background=back.jpg in the gfxboot.cfg name matches your jpg. I cannot see any other problem with the image you have used.

Hello mike.

4 - background=back.jpg in the gfxboot.cfg => it seems to be ok

Code: Select all

; Sections are read in the order given in base::layout, with section 'base'
; implicitly added at the end. If a config value is given more than once,
; the first entry wins.
;
; If a screen resolution can't be set, 640x480 is used as fallback (and
; section '640x480' added to the layout list).
;
; If the penguin screen is active, section 'penguin' is automatically added
; to the layout list.
;
; Setting livecd=1 implicitly adds section 'live' to the layout list.
;
; Color values: 24 bit RGB (e.g. 0xff0000 = red).
;

[base]
layout=800x600
; menu background transparency (0..255)
menu.transparency=0x20
; default font
font.normal=16x16.fnt
; main menu font
font.large=16x16.fnt
; background image
background=back.jpg
; max. visible main menu items
mainmenu.entries=8
; minimal main menu selection bar width
mainmenu.bar.minwidth=300
; main menu selection bar transparency (0..255)
mainmenu.bar.transparency=80
; main menu colors
mainmenu.bar.color=0xffffff
mainmenu.normal.fg=0xffffff
mainmenu.selected.fg=0x000000
; boot option colors
bootopt.label.fg=0x00FF00
bootopt.text.fg=0xffffff
; menu colors
menu.normal.bg=0xd8deed
menu.normal.fg=0x000000
menu.selected.bg=0x6c6c6c
menu.selected.fg=0xffffff
; window colors
window.bg=0xd8deed
window.fg=0x000000
window.title.bg=0x217b05
window.title.fg=0xffffff
window.title.error.bg=0xc00000
; help system colors
help.link.fg=0x0000a0
help.link.selected.fg=0xffffff
help.link.selected.bg=0x0000a0
help.highlight.fg=0x009000
; panel colors
panel.normal.fg=0x00FF00
panel.title.fg=0xffffff
panel.f-key.fg=0xffe050

[800x600]
; screen size
screen.size=800,600
; upper left corner, if x = -1, center horizontally
mainmenu.pos=-1,160
; boot option input field position
bootopt.pos=165,565

[640x480]
; screen size
screen.size=640,480
; upper left corner, if x = -1, center horizontally
mainmenu.pos=-1,122
; boot option input field position
bootopt.pos=263,380

In console

Code: Select all

# cpio -iv < pupsta1
16x16.fnt
back.jpg
en.hlp
en.tr
gfxboot.cfg
init
languages
timer_a.jpg
647 blocks
# ls | cpio -ov > pupsta1
16x16.fnt
back.jpg
en.hlp
en.tr
gfxboot.cfg
init
languages
cpio: File pupsta1 grew, 294912 new bytes not copied
pupsta1
timer_a.jpg
1157 blocks
# 

1. locate.... as in have a french version? The basic idea seems to be the languages file specifies which xx.lng file to use. Perhaps there is a way to select a language...

I have a french version avaible, but I only use Puppy. So I do not know if other distribution (suze?) propose the Grub boot multilingual.
If this is possible, we must try to use it, it will be easy to find translations.

Très cordialement,

[mikeb]

hmmmm

are you removing the original pupsta1 before repacking? Sorry if stating the obvious....

If a screen resolution can't be set, 640x480 is used as fallback

I assume you have had it running at 800x600 with a sample graphic...ie the framebuffer is happy at that resolution

I have no information on multilingual use and a search produced nothing as yet...

If it continues to be stubborn I will try building it here....

mike

[mikeb]

Ok yes weird... it did not work here either.
I tried saving as another jpg...the same.

I finally opened a working back.jpg, opened the problem one and copied and pasted and saved.... that worked. Here is the working image file. I really do not know what is different about it....

mike

edit... the working one has ppi set to 300dpi yours was 72dpi...though I do not see how that would affect it...

[ASRI éducation]

Mike,
Yes, with your image file, all is ok.
All was in the dpi.
Again thank you!

[ASRI éducation]

I finally opened a working back.jpg, opened the problem one and copied and pasted and saved.... that worked. Here is the working image file. I really do not know what is different about it....

This is exactly what I did.
The problem may come from the configuration of Gimp (I have not changed the default config).

[mikeb]

Lets do a working graphical grub dance........

now for a matching bootsplash....

mike

[ASRI éducation]

@ mikeb
I tried to create a new image, but it does not work.
I propose to continue the discussion here Message files for the GRUB gfxmenu.