Any Tutorial about GRUB2 and PUPPY?

[ICPUG]

Thanks Shinobar for expanding on your previous comments. They have really helped.

If that grub2 stub is always the same with regard to that long ID, d644d8da-1cd0-4976-bbba-91fa6de4c170 (what does it mean???), then I am sure it will be possible to incorporate in some instructions for newbies.

Nooby is right that we will have to provide something for grub2 because that will become dominant eventually. So far I have not really found the enthusiasm to really get to grips with grub2 - because:

(a) having to run a grub config update process seems a backward step. I disliked LILO because of this.

(b) I really don't understand why we have to use such long incomprehensible UUID. It must be correct because Microsoft have been doing it for ages (!). One day I will see the value of it but it hasn't come yet!

(c) In the words of Mr. Spock 'it is illogical captain'! Much mild criticism was made of legacy grub for numbering drives and partitions from 0 - very techie. That was going to change in grub2. So what happened? - they number partitions from 1 BUT leave numbering of drives from 0! That seems even more confusing to me and open to making mistakes because you can never remember which one starts from 0 and which from 1! If they had numbered both from 1 it would have made sense but I see no logical reason for the present state of numbering.

[frktons]

As you surely know, there are many different ways of doing the same thing.
I already said why I prefer to delve a little into GRUB2 to solve the question.
And so I did, by trials and errors, with some help from other posts you kindly
indicated, reading a little of GRUB2 docs, and especially trying lot of times.

The solution I found could not be the most elegant or efficient, but it is a
solution that works, so somebody could use it and improve it if they like.

Of course it is better to have a backup of the lines I manually added, and
that is what I did as well.

It is quite strange that most of the widely used distros use GRUB2 and
not GRUB4DOS, from what you said I'd expected some of them did.

The long UUID is a way of identificating in a unique way a partition on the
disk, and it does not change if you add a new partition on the same disk.
I think GRUB2 can also work without it.

[shinobar]

The long UUID is a way of identificating in a unique way a partition on the
disk, and it does not change if you add a new partition on the same disk.
I think GRUB2 can also work without it.

Right. You have several options to set root at the partition, but the uuid is most safe i think. The '(hdn)' numbering differs depending on the BIOS setting.
The uuid can be obtained by the next command:

Code: Select all

# blkid /dev/sda3
/dev/sda3: LABEL="PUPPYSYS" UUID="d644d8da-1cd0-4976-bbba-91fa6de4c170" TYPE="ext4" 

[nooby]

Here is a mystery???

I installed Linux Mint 12 LXDE from its own OS in live boot
unto a USB by telling its installer to do a regular install to
that 2GB or 4GB Kingston flash memory pin. thumb something.

Worked good booted fine and worked well. Then I moved it from the
HP/Compaq Pavilion d4000 to an Acer D255 and tried to boot it.

It gave an error message saying it could not find that UUID that
the grub2 had.

So does that mean that the UUID where unique for the combination
of the USB and the Desktop that it got created upon or what is going on?

Sure I could start up that Desktop again and maybe something has happen
that makes it fail but in case any of you have had similar experiences?

That desktop has some 5 or so USB sockets. 4 on back and one on front?
Does the UUID change depending on which port socket one use?

[frktons]

Here is a mystery???

I installed Linux Mint 12 LXDE from its own OS in live boot
unto a USB by telling its installer to do a regular install to
that 2GB or 4GB Kingston flash memory pin. thumb something.

Worked good booted fine and worked well. Then I moved it from the
HP/Compaq Pavilion d4000 to an Acer D255 and tried to boot it.

It gave an error message saying it could not find that UUID that
the grub2 had.

So does that mean that the UUID where unique for the combination
of the USB and the Desktop that it got created upon or what is going on?

Sure I could start up that Desktop again and maybe something has happen
that makes it fail but in case any of you have had similar experiences?

That desktop has some 5 or so USB sockets. 4 on back and one on front?
Does the UUID change depending on which port socket one use?

The UUID works for the machine in which you use it, I think.

Generate the correct UUID for the machine you're in and it should work fine.

use the command line:

Code: Select all

# blkid  

with the correct parameters and see what are the UUIDs for the machine, then you can modify the grub.cfg.

This could be a limitation if you use the same usb-pen on different PCs.

These are only suppositions, because I never experienced it directly.

[nooby]

Thanks I should test this right away tomorrow. Need to go to bed now
Much appreciated you have this tip.

But another thing to test is the code you used with search?

that way one don't need to specify any UUID?
So would be cool if that one help me to get it booting on any machine.

[ICPUG]

Thank you frktons And Shinobar for the useful information about the UUID and educating me.

I can see the value of a partition code that stays fixed to someone constantly creating partitions - although it looks as if it is no good for portable USB. Why the UUID is so long is another question I personally have but not relevant to this discussion.

I think it is time to start collecting and filing the info from these posts so I have it for future reference!

frktons said:
It is quite strange that most of the widely used distros use GRUB2 and
not GRUB4DOS, from what you said I'd expected some of them did.

I think part of the problem is that grub4dos was an offshoot of the legacy grub line with the specific intention of cooperating with MSDOS boot loaders. The purists in the Linux community seem to resist ANYTHING that smacks of cooperation with Microsoft in any way. I can see their point but not much good in getting Linux to the masses.

Over time grub4DOS has expanded to become a fully fledged boot loader in its own right - solving some of the problems of grub legacy along the way. Its name clearly confuses many people as to what it can do now. MSDOS or NTFS is NOT needed for grub4DOS. It can happily work on Linux partitions.

grub2 is the 'official' project for taking grub legacy to the next level and so it is used by the major distros.

There is in fact a grub24DOS offshoot as well, but so far I have not looked at it or seen it used by any Linux I come into contact with.

[shinobar]

It gave an error message saying it could not find that UUID that
the grub2 had.

So does that mean that the UUID where unique for the combination
of the USB and the Desktop that it got created upon or what is going on?

No.
UUID is portable, it is given to the partition on the device, does not depend on the PC.
Your problem is something mismatch with the specific PC and the USB device, i guess.

[nooby]

Thanks shinobar. Yes could be some mismatch indeed.

Here is how LM12 looks when I look at that USB which LM12
made a full install upon.

Big Surprise. there is no grub.conf anywhere or I fail to find it.

Should I look in var or usr or etc or where? It is not in boot which
I had the notion it should be in. Any suggestion?

PS thanks to ICPUG for the true words here:
"The purists in the Linux community seem
to resist ANYTHING that smacks of cooperation
with Microsoft in any way. I can see their point
but not much good in getting Linux to the masses. "
So true. Kudos from Nooby

[frktons]

grub.cfg is in the /boot/grub directory. I don't know if there is a grub.conf somewhere.
I manually edited the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file.

I'm on Linux Mint 12 right now, and that is what I can see.

And shinobar is right, the UUID is portable, so it should work on other machines as well. I didn't try it because I am relatively new in the Linux World and I had no occasion yet.

[nooby]

Yes that is why I looked there first thing
and there is none such there at all.

So maybe I need to look for 40_custom somewhere then.

But how could this usb have been booted at all if there is no
grub.cfg anywhere? A mystery to me but it explains why it fails
to boot now though.

So somehow the grub.cfg has been deleted by some accident.
I remember I where very happy when I finally had it booted
I felt even proud but maybe all of it where some kind of illusion then?
I wrote about it in triumph here in the forum some months ago.

I guess I have to start all over then. Anyway thanks for not giving up
on me. No hurry to have a real Linux Mint going. I am a true Puppy fan
so I only deal with Linux Mint in case there are programs out there
that only works in the big distros and fail in Puppy. No hurry at all.