How to go back to Grub legacy?

[PaulBx1]

I have a couple of issues with grub2 that are beyond my ability to fix unless I want to invest a tremendous amount of effort into learning grub2 (which I find absurdly complex so my heart wouldn't be in it). So, I want to go back to grub legacy in my install and if necessary, back to the old MBR rather than GPT. So if anyone has an idea how to uninstall grub2 and install legacy, please give me some idea how it's done. I'm looking for the broad strokes, not a detailed recipe as I'm not a complete linux newb (I've been running Puppy Linux for some years now).

If I have to reinstall I will probably do that as I haven't completed my transition from Puppy yet.

This system is just a single boot. The only thing at all complex is that the partitions are encrypted. I tried LVM but I didn't see that it bought me much (this is not a big company server after all) so I tossed that. I like things uncomplicated.

I searched here but found nothing about it yet.

Woops, sorry, I found something to try:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showth...ht=grub+legacy
I'll report back...

---------- Post added at 03:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 PM ----------

Well, it looks like I need rescue mode to swap to grub legacy. Apparently rescue mode does not appear on live ISOs. And going to the main Fedora download page, it appears that live ISOs are the only kind of F16 offered!

So I'm stuck again. Any suggestions?

[JEO]

You can download the F16 net install iso that is the smallest image that will contain rescue mode (I have tried it). Search the Fedora page for all download options and you should be able to find it.

[lightman47]

Full Fedora 16 DVDs (32 & 64 bit) can be found: http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options#formats

[sonoran]

You can use the LiveCD environment to install gparted and then create an mbr partition table, set up your partitions, and install F16. I don't know if reverting to grub from grub2 is as simple as uninstalling grub2 and installing grub, but since a legacy grub package exists for F16, it might work.

Grub2 does not require gpt - it has worked well on my bios/mbr drives when installed to the first sector of the /boot partition (actually /boot directory, no separate /boot partition) with mbr booting controlled by legacy grub from another distro.

Maybe just setting up a partition table and partitions before you install Fedora would give you a grub2 you could live with.

[PaulBx1]

I already did that. I'll probably stick with gpt for now. I thought maybe legacy grub did not support it but on further investigation it appears to do so.

Funny I looked all over for that full install image but I must have missed a link. 3.5GB is a bit much to get a rescue disk though. I downloaded the net install image and tried to use it for a rescue. It did a panic. The checksum is correct. <sigh>

I wonder if I can just install grub from the repository and run it? Would I have to remove grub2 first? Does yum extender have a facility to remove packages? I haven't noticed it...
<later>Oh yeah, now I see how to do it.

[JEO]

I don't understand why you would get a kernel panic with the net install iso since it has the same kernel version as the live cd.

Did you check the checksum of the actual burned disc? I use this command to verify a burned disc (after ejecting and reinserting to remove it from memory cache):

sha256sum /dev/sr0

[PaulBx1]

Who the hell knows?

Just for grins I used dd on the flash drive I used for boot and piped it to sha256sum. Same result.

But anyway, is there anything wrong with uninstalling grub2 and installing grub with yum extender? I will probably try it since I have a backup if the thing fails. What's the command to install grub to the MBR and the stage 1.5 stuff? Any funny business setting up menu.lst with a GPT? I do have a bootbios partition. I was just going to leave that alone.

Never mind, I found it: "grub-install /dev/sda"

---------- Post added at 02:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:22 PM ----------

Nope. I can't just install grub because yum extender complains it conflicts with grub2. And I can't remove grub2 because one of the dependencies, /sbin/new-kernel-package is needed by the installed kernel.

I may reinstall. Someone remind me, does the installer allow one the option of taking grub legacy over grub2?

[chrismurphy]

Despite being absurdly complex, I've found it easier to just move forward with grub2. You shouldn't need to interact with it all that much. There are a handful of keys in /etc/default/grub such as GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true, and anytime that file is changed you need to run the obligatory:
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

So I'm not sure really what more you want unless your needs are complex enough that you're manually editing the grub.conf file.

[fpmurphy]

Originally Posted by PaulBx1

I have a couple of issues with grub2 that are beyond my ability to fix unless I want to invest a tremendous amount of effort into learning grub2 (which I find absurdly complex so my heart wouldn't be in it)

GRUB2 is fairly simple if you just directly edit /boot/grub2/grub.cfg. That is what I do - just like in GRUB Legacy except name of configuration file is different and contents are somewhat different. All the crap in /etc/grub.d and /etc/default/grub and the use of grub2-mkconfig to create /boot/grub2/grub.cfg is what complicates things beyond what is necessary.

Anybody else notice the current thrend in Fedora? If it is not complicated, then make it complicated. If it is already complicated, then make it really complicated.

[PaulBx1]

My objections are:

1) I intend to protect /boot as described here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...boot_partition
This won't work very well if modifications to /boot occur outside my control.

2) It seems buggy. My boot menu shows 4 items, two of them repeated and apparently identical.

3) I don't really know what the itemss in the boot menu are. The names don't help much, are chosen by someone other than me (some default behavior), and it would take effort for me to find out plus I would have to spend time bugging you guys about it.

4) I am philosophically opposed to unneeded complication. We are not talking a server farm here. I will never need or use 98% of the power of grub2. It is bloatware as far as I'm concerned, an engineering circle-jerk. It's the sort of thing that caused me to escape Windows. I want to feel as if I run my computer, not the reverse.

fpmurphy, your idea sounds good if I understand it right. Are you saying you simply never run grub2-mkconfig? And that the output file of grub2-mkconfig is grub.cfg? I've done the sort of thing you suggest before, to cut the extraneous crap. Maybe I'll just make grub2-mkconfig non-executable to make sure grub.cfg never gets overwritten.

Feel like showing me your grub.cfg? I want to get an idea what parts of it can be tossed.

[chrismurphy]

Originally Posted by fpmurphy

GRUB2 is fairly simple if you just directly edit /boot/grub2/grub.cfg. That is what I do

Directly editing the configuration file is for experts. The whole point of grub2-mkconfig is to avoid broken config files. There are enough syntax changes to the config file that it seems substantially easier to me to learn grub2-mkconfig and a couple of keys for /etc/default/grub, than new syntax and directly editing a file that says not to directly edit it.

---------- Post added at 09:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 PM ----------

Originally Posted by PaulBx1

My objections are:

1) I intend to protect /boot as described here:
This won't work very well if modifications to /boot occur outside my control.

Modifications to /boot/grub2/grub.cfg vs /boot/grub/grub.conf - what's the difference? You have exactly one file being modified with either Legacy or 2.

2) It seems buggy. My boot menu shows 4 items, two of them repeated and apparently identical.

Without a screen shot or a posted grub.cfg this is a vague complaint. If you've found a bug the thing to do is file a bug report so it can get fixed.

3) I don't really know what the itemss in the boot menu are. The names don't help much, are chosen by someone other than me (some default behavior), and it would take effort for me to find out plus I would have to spend time bugging you guys about it.

But you're going to bug people about how to unwind GRUB2 from a current installation, to regress to unsupported GRUB Legacy? I've got a number of posts bitching about the complexity of GRUB2, I suggest you move forward.

4) I am philosophically opposed to unneeded complication. We are not talking a server farm here. I will never need or use 98% of the power of grub2. It is bloatware as far as I'm concerned, an engineering circle-jerk. It's the sort of thing that caused me to escape Windows. I want to feel as if I run my computer, not the reverse.

If you posted the EXACT behavior you wanted from GRUB2, chances are someone would have provided a close approximation for /etc/defaults/grub by now, rather than speculation on how to get grub legacy to work with F16. The Grub Legacy on F16 ship has sailed, unless you're using UEFI machine, in which case F16 still uses a pretty heavily modified Grub Legacy EFI.

fpmurphy, your idea sounds good if I understand it right. Are you saying you simply never run grub2-mkconfig? And that the output file of grub2-mkconfig is grub.cfg? I've done the sort of thing you suggest before, to cut the extraneous crap. Maybe I'll just make grub2-mkconfig non-executable to make sure grub.cfg never gets overwritten.

Feel like showing me your grub.cfg? I want to get an idea what parts of it can be tossed.

This is the Rube Goldberg method of avoiding GRUB2... you're just extending your pain. I'm pretty much an expert in having done that because I resisted GRUB2 in ways I shouldn't have, trying to make it easier. And it is such a clustf|ck of complexity that it will win. You're better off unlearning GRUB Legacy, understanding GRUB2 is different, and learning the handful of things you need to get what you want done. In the end it will be easier than GRUB Legacy.

[sonoran]

Originally Posted by PaulBx1

I am philosophically opposed to unneeded complication.

In that case why not use Arch instead of Fedora? Far simpler, no bloat except what you add.

[PaulBx1]

I can't get arch to work on my machine for some reason. Finally gave up on it. Fedora does work, which really helps.

Chris, you're right. It is stupid to edit grub.cfg. Half-assed measure. I'm going to go back to figuring out how to get legacy on my machine. Either that, or just use syslinux.

[chrismurphy]

So far you've got about 2 minutes of learning involved with GRUB2, and hours into it thus far trying to find an alternative that doesn't involve GRUB2. Again, if you were really specific about what you don't understand about GRUB2 that you want behavior wise, someone can probably tell you - but you have to be more specific.

[PaulBx1]

I went back and got arch linux working, which has grub legacy as an option in the installer. Thanks everyone for your assistance.