Updating the GRUB2 boot menu

Some time ago, I indicated how to manually update the grub boot menu (see: GRUB2 revisited). This required quite a lot of effort to change file permissions and edit several text files. A much simpler method, that uses a graphical user interface, is to use the Grub Customizer application developed by Daniel Richter [Thanks Daniel!]

Installation is simple using Daniel’s PPA with the following commands in a Terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

The application shows up in the Administration menu and, when run, displays a list of boot menu items in the program’s window.

After installing Linux Mint Version 19.3 (Tara), my need was to remove a boot menu item for my dedicated data partition (/dev/sda2). This partition is formatted as NTFS in order that it can be used in both Linux and Windows in my dual-boot system. However, for some reason, grub identified this data partition (on which no operating system is installed) as a bootable Windows 7 menu entry. Needless to say that, any attempt to boot using this menu entry failed.

Removing this redundant menu item using Grub Customizer is as simple as selecting the item in the List configuration tab and clicking on the Remove menu item. This has the effect of moving the entry from the list configuration to the list of removed items at right. I also took the opportunity to simplify the boot menu by removing all items except for Linux, memtest86+, and Windows, resulting in the following screen display:

Another useful feature of Grub Customizer is that grub identified my Linux installation as Ubuntu. This was easily changed by selecting the menu entry, clicking on the pencil icon (edit), and replacing the text for the distro’s name with Linux Mint 19.3 Tara.

Once all the modifications were complete, all that was left to do was to click on Save and reboot the computer in order to display my newly “minted” boot menu!

References:

GRUB2 revisited
https://linuxnorth.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/grub2-revisited/

Grub Customizer
https://launchpad.net/grub-customizer

GRUB Customizer – GRUB configuration with style
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/grub-customizer.html

Verifying a Linux Mint ISO file with a GUI

Some time ago, I downloaded and authenticated the ISO file for Linux Mint Version 18 (see: Verifying the Linux Mint 18 ISO file), using a mostly manual method, through a series of Linux commands. A much easier method is to use the GtkHash app which provides a graphical user interface (GUI).

The Recycle Bin in Asus File Manager

When you first delete a file in Asus File Manager on your Android smartphone, a dialogue box pops up to confirm that you want to temporarily delete the file to the Recycle Bin. Included on this screen is a check box labelled “Permanently delete”. Checking this box has the advantage that disk space is saved since the file is actually deleted rather than being stored in the Recycle Bin for possible future recovery (or permanent deletion when the recycle bin is cleared).

Removing a “missing” PPA

Running Update Manager resulted in an error message to the effect that a Personal Package Archive (PPA) for the Opera web browser, was missing and/or unavailable.

LineageOS 14.1 receiving OTA updates again!

I recently downloaded and installed the LineageOS 14.1 custom ROM (Nougat) developed by MSe1969 (see A Stable Custom ROM for the Moto G3). My rationale was that this is one of the few – the only one that have found – custom ROM’s that has a recent history of monthly updates with Google’s security patches.

And in that very moment… a cock crowed

A bizarre consequence of installing the 14.1-20190810-UNOFFICIAL-oms-osprey (LineageOS 14.1) custom ROM proved to be that the timer in the clock app was set to use the Rooster Alarm sound file – and there didn’t seem to be anything that I could to the app to change this.

OpenGapps Variants

One of the annoyances with certain versions of Android is its insistence on indicating that “You are running low on free space” and, in particular, refusing to update apps even when the available free space is much greater than the size of the update. Of course, this is mainly a function of the limited internal memory of my (now) ancient Moto G3 smartphone. But, even so, this senior citizen nominally has 8 GB of memory, and usually has at least 500 MB of free space (with tons more on the separate SDcard – which evidently doesn’t count!)