Re: Choosing default OS in multi boot system
Le 30.10.2013 14:55, Richard Owlett a écrit :
I have a laptop physically set aside for _experimenting_ with install
parameters to determine my optimum configuration. One install will
duplicate as closely as possible whatever comes with some donated
hardware for the church's after school program for pre-teens.
The combination of running the Debian Installer with as many defaults
as possible and Grub2 being automatically installed each time results
in two annoying characteristics.
ONE:
On boot, the the last system installed will be the default. That is
the least likely one to run correctly (IF AT ALL) due to bad choices
during install or subsequent tweaking. Resulting Grub rescue mode ...
;/
TWO:
When there are multiple Debian installs present, especially when same
kernel used, the Grub menu is not informative.
QUESTION_ONE:
Can I force the boot to default to the oldest rather than newest
install. It will always be a functioning install and usually is
completely normal with ONLY defaults chosen.
QUESTION_TWO:
Is there an automatic way for the Grub menu to display the associated
partition label instead of the kernel id? the partition designation
(sda1 ... sda8 etc) would be minimally acceptable.
I could manually edit the configuration file which advises "DO NT
EDIT" ;/
I do occasionally try to follow convention :)
TIA
My replies to your questions are: "probably". You probably can do those
things, but I have no idea about how, because grub became too complex to
maintain. I allow you to understand here, that I think grub is bloated
for my uses.
Your problems are the exact ones I had, and which made me switch to
lilo.
Where Grub is bloated, lilo obviously lacks small features:
_ no QWERTY text editor inside ( it is anyway a pain to use such
keyboard if you do not usually use qwerty keyboards, as I )
_ no automatic updates when you add or remove a kernel ( os-prober does
not change the /etc/lilo.conf file, so you must be careful on kernel
updates. But you should anyway always be, right? )
But, by being simple, it's damn easy to add a new OS, it takes 5 lines
(and some are not mandatory) at the end of the config file:
===
image = /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-2-amd64
label = "linux-old"
root = /dev/sda6
initrd = /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-2-amd64
read-only
===
I do not think I need to explain the content of those lines, except
that I have used the old way /dev/sda6 for partition names, but indeed,
other ones works too. It's simply that this way is easier to maintain
than "9dfd6ae9-d0ff-46ef-ac65-7bb9dbe7b614".
For the default system, there is a dedicated line:
===
default=Linux-old
===
There are other various things, mostly to configure the selection menu
( do you want a CLI interface, ncurse-like interface, or graphical one?
How much time do you want to have to choose default? etc) but you will
learn about them easily by reading comments in debian's default
lilo.conf.
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