Yes, this is a newbie question. But I can not find the command line.

I want to find the command line to alter the Grub files so that I can
change my default behavior.

I ideally would like grub to remember the last selection as the
current default. Any hope of that?

Sean

Sean Cleary wrote:

> Yes, this is a newbie question. But I can not find the command line.

1. Ctrl+Alt+F1 through F6.

2. Or, run xterm.

>
> I want to find the command line to alter the Grub files so that I can
> change my default behavior.

Define "behavior".

>
> I ideally would like grub to remember the last selection as the
> current default. Any hope of that?

Define "last selection". Define "current default". In other words, tell us
what you wanted, what you got, and how they differ.

--
Paul Lutus
http://www.arachnoid.com

Sean Cleary <seanearlyaug@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Yes, this is a newbie question. But I can not find the command line.

What window manager do you use?
Search through all the menues for things that vaguely sound like
'terminal', 'console' or similar.
Try hitting Alt+F2 and if you get a small input line, write
'xterm' into it and hit enter.

> I want to find the command line to alter the Grub files so that I can
> change my default behavior.
>
> I ideally would like grub to remember the last selection as the
> current default. Any hope of that?

I cannot help you with that as I don't know grub, but I guess it's not
possible.

Laurenz Albe

Paul Lutus <nospam@nosite.zzz> wrote in message news:<10lmp0hjcs272fd@corp.supernews.com>...
> Sean Cleary wrote:
>
> > Yes, this is a newbie question. But I can not find the command line.
>
> 1. Ctrl+Alt+F1 through F6.
>
> 2. Or, run xterm.
>
Thank you.
> >
> > I want to find the command line to alter the Grub files so that I can
> > change my default behavior.
>
> Define "behavior".
>
Ok, now when I boot up it defaults to booting Linux. Always. What I
want is when I have last booted up and chosen Linux, that it boots
Linux, but when I have last chosen Windows, it boots windows, and when
I have not made a choice it boots the OS selected at the last
selection point. I also must keep the option of chosing to boot the
non-selected OS.

Sean

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In comp.os.linux.setup Sean Cleary <seanearlyaug@hotmail.com> suggested:
> Paul Lutus <nospam@nosite.zzz> wrote in message news:<10lmp0hjcs272fd@corp.supernews.com>...
>> Sean Cleary wrote:
[..]

>> Define "behavior".

> Ok, now when I boot up it defaults to booting Linux. Always. What I
> want is when I have last booted up and chosen Linux, that it boots
> Linux, but when I have last chosen Windows, it boots windows, and when
> I have not made a choice it boots the OS selected at the last
> selection point. I also must keep the option of chosing to boot the
> non-selected OS.

The closest I could think of, remove grub, install lilo and use
the "-R" switch from some shutdown script to switch to booting
Linux, while leaving the default "M$" (shudder).

Use "timeout=" to specify the time lilo waits for manual boot
selection.

Good luck

--
Michael Heiming (GPG-Key ID: 0xEDD27B94)
mail: echo zvpunry@urvzvat.qr | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
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Sean Cleary wrote:

/ ...

> Ok, now when I boot up it defaults to booting Linux. Always. What I
> want is when I have last booted up and chosen Linux, that it boots
> Linux, but when I have last chosen Windows, it boots windows, and when
> I have not made a choice it boots the OS selected at the last
> selection point. I also must keep the option of chosing to boot the
> non-selected OS.

Hmm. Can I ask why this nice, crystal-clear statement of the problem was not
in your first post?

Are you running Grub? You can change the contents of the Grub configuration
file from Linux after booting into Linux, but you can't from Windows.

--
Paul Lutus
http://www.arachnoid.com

many questions, many answers, more questions:
>
> > Ok, now when I boot up it defaults to booting Linux. Always. What I
> > want is when I have last booted up and chosen Linux, that it boots
> > Linux, but when I have last chosen Windows, it boots windows, and when
> > I have not made a choice it boots the OS selected at the last
> > selection point. I also must keep the option of chosing to boot the
> > non-selected OS.
>
> Hmm. Can I ask why this nice, crystal-clear statement of the problem was not
> in your first post?
>
it is a heavily expanded restatement of:
"I ideally would like grub to remember the last selection as the
current default. Any hope of that?"
It assumed (a bit, in part) that my helper would be familiar with the
basic Grub boot up behavior, and so did not elaborately describe it.
The only obvious selections that Grub gives the user is which OS to
choose(1). Grub is a tool used to run two or more OSes on one
computer, one at a time, and with a boot between changing from one OS
to the next. How expanded does this need to be?

(1) with some options to use some commands, but not the generally
selected options

If this (grub config file or whatever is controling Grub) was a batch
file in Dos, I could have 3 files: one for the autoexec.bat, one
auto.1 and one auto.2 -- and copy the one selected into autoexec.bat
for the next boot. I can post this in expanded english version if
needed. Unix is supposed to be better/more powerful than DOS. So there
should be an awnser that does not involve going to a different Boot
loader. I though that Grub was the best, which is why I chose it.

> Are you running Grub?

Yes.

You can change the contents of the Grub configuration
file from Linux after booting into Linux, but you can't from Windows.

Thank you. I am ahead of my question, but your answer was kind,
useful, and could have been timely.
This is where I currently am:

Found the boot/grub directory. found grub.conf. Can not change it.
learned about chmod. found I do not have the permission to change grub
or read anything in that directory. Need to be sysop I guess. Since I
am (in a sense) (the only )sysop (this machine will ever have), how
can I convince the machine that I have permission to read the files in
grub? This might mean how can I log in as sysop in xterm. I have made
my login and password the same as the sysop one. Do I have to
reinstall the Linux system again? I think that I should get into the
sysop mode to change the sysop name and password. I can change the
password from the window system. Would this be enough? can the system
handle 2 users with the same user name?

Sean

Sean Cleary wrote:

/ ...

> This is where I currently am:
>
> Found the boot/grub directory. found grub.conf. Can not change it.
> learned about chmod. found I do not have the permission to change grub
> or read anything in that directory. Need to be sysop I guess.

$ man sudo

> Since I
> am (in a sense) (the only )sysop (this machine will ever have), how
> can I convince the machine that I have permission to read the files in
> grub?

$ man sudo

> This might mean how can I log in as sysop in xterm.

You do not need to do it that way. In fact, that is a bad idea. Use "sudo".

> I have made
> my login and password the same as the sysop one.

Extremely bad idea. Spectacularly bad idea.

> Do I have to
> reinstall the Linux system again?

No. Just don't log on as root.

> I think that I should get into the
> sysop mode to change the sysop name and password.

Do it this way:

$ su
(asks for root password)
# passwd
(change root password)

And DO NOT change the login name of the root account, or your own account.

> I can change the
> password from the window system. Would this be enough?

Enough for what?

> can the system
> handle 2 users with the same user name?

No. Why would you want to do this?

--
Paul Lutus
http://www.arachnoid.com

seanearlyaug@hotmail.com (Sean Cleary) wrote in message news:<1c5ac0c6.0409301616.ddf77af@posting.google.c om>...
> many questions, many answers, more questions:
> >
> > > Ok, now when I boot up it defaults to booting Linux. Always. What I
> > > want is when I have last booted up and chosen Linux, that it boots
>

Sorry if I may have sounded mean. I did not intend to do so. I was
tired. I need and appriciate your knowage and advice.
> Sean

> I cannot help you with that as I don't know grub, but I guess it's not
> possible.
>
> Laurenz Albe
Thank you for the small help that you have provided.

Sean