Linux Mint 20.1 Boot Menu Time Delay

[Oskar1224]

My desktop runs Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon 4.8.6 and today I installed from a DVD I made LinuxCNC 2.8.2 Debian 10 Buster.

I thought the LinuxCNC would install inside the Linux Mint until I realized during the install process that the LinuxCNC is a new OS. Anyway all went fine and now I can boot to either one.

However when the boot menu comes up it only last for a couple of seconds or so and I have to act fast until the LinuxCNC starts which seem to be the default OS.

Is there a way to have the boot menu stay there until I select an OS or at least to have it for a few minutes? Also can I change the default OS to Linux Mint?

If I have to edit the boot menu please give me instructions on how to do it since I never done this before.

Thanks

[manyroads]

My desktop runs Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon 4.8.6 and today I installed from a DVD I made LinuxCNC 2.8.2 Debian 10 Buster.

I thought the LinuxCNC would install inside the Linux Mint until I realized during the install process that the LinuxCNC is a new OS. Anyway all went fine and now I can boot to either one.

However when the boot menu comes up it only last for a couple of seconds or so and I have to act fast until the LinuxCNC starts which seem to be the default OS.

Is there a way to have the boot menu stay there until I select an OS or at least to have it for a few minutes? Also can I change the default OS to Linux Mint?

If I have to edit the boot menu please give me instructions on how to do it since I never done this before.

Thanks

Have you tried editing grub? See: https://www.howtogeek.com/196655/how-to ... -settings/

[Oskar1224]

Very good link, thanks,

I found the file and did the changes but when I try to save the file it says

"File is read only", "Could not save the file....you dont have permissions..."

I'm the only one using the PC and signed in with my password.

How can I open the file for edit if its read only?

[Cosmo.]

You did not say, how you opened the file exactly.

Use this:

Code: Select all

xed admin:///etc/default/grub

[Oskar1224]

Code: Select all

nf@nf-P5K3-Deluxe:~$ xed admin:///etc/default/grub

** (xed:1981): WARNING **: 07:19:52.636: The specified location is not mounted
nf@nf-P5K3-Deluxe:~$ 

Many thanks Cosmo,

I don't know why I got the above message because the grub text file came up, I was able to edit/save and after re boot it works

[Oskar1224]

Sorry, I don’t know what happened but after the grub file edit I re booted and the grub menu stayed open until I selected the OS I wanted. Then had to do some updates which required re boot and this time the grub menu was like before, stayed on the screen for just a couple of seconds.

So my edit of the grub text file was not saved

[Cosmo.]

After editing the grub file you must run in a terminal:

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

Did you do this? If not, do it now.

[Oskar1224]

nf@nf-P5K3-Deluxe:~$ xed admin:///etc/default/grub

** (xed:2025): WARNING **: 15:09:21.954: The specified location is not mounted
nf@nf-P5K3-Deluxe:~$ sudo update-grub
[sudo] password for nf:
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/50_linuxmint.cfg'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-126-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-126-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-125-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-125-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-122-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-122-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-99-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-99-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-97-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-97-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-96-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-96-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-94-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-94-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-58-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-58-generic
Found Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) on /dev/sdc1
done
nf@nf-P5K3-Deluxe:~$

This is what I get after update grub. I will re boot now and see the results

[Oskar1224]

Don't know if/what I'm doing wrong but I don't get what I want.

The attached shows the edited grub file and have changed the GRUB_TIMEOUT=-1 which should keep the Grub menu om screen until I click an OS but it doesn't work, it loads the first OS which is the LinuxCNC after a few seconds and I have selected GRUB_DEFAULT=3 which is my Linux Cinnamon
[img]file:///home/nf/Pictures/Grub%20TextFile.png[/img]

[Oskar1224]

Cant get the image, perhaps this will do it? otherwise I give up


here is the text

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
# info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=3
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT=-1
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

[ajgreeny]

The reason that grub waits until you have chosen the OS you want and then hit Enter is because the line GRUB_TIMEOUT=-1 in the file you show above.
However as you have two Linux OSs the Mint grub will possibly not be the one used by your system; you may need to edit the config file of your LinuxCNC system, an OS I don't know.

I also note that the default chosen is #3 in your grub menu; by default this is usually 0, not 3. Is that OS #3 in the LinuxCNC grub Mint which you want as the default OS?
Did you change that yourself? Do you dual boot with Windows or some other OS you want as default

Finally, you have the menu set to be hidden which means that it will show only if you repeatedly tap Esc immediately on power-on of the computer, assuming it is installed in UEFI mode. If you installed in MBR/BIOS mode hold down Shift instead of Esc.

You may find grub is more easily dealt with if you edit the config file in use, ie, either from Mint or LinuxCNC, similarly to the one I use shown below meaning the menu will always show for 2 seconds, long enough to make changes if needed but short enough not to be a long wait. After editing the file you must run

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

for those changes to be used at boot.

Code: Select all

GRUB_DEFAULT=0 # You can change this to another OS if you want a different default to boot, eg Windows or other Linux distro
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu # This means the menu will always show
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false # This means the countdown of timeout will always show.
GRUB_TIMEOUT=2 # The number of seconds the grub menu will show before booting the default OS. Can be manually edited.
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

[Oskar1224]

I guess now it’s getting too complicated/confusing but I thank you both for your time. The grub menu I get at bootup has 4 entries;

LinuxCNC Debian…#thats the #0
LinuxCNC Debian…#thats the #1
Linux Mint…#thats the #2
Linux Mint….#thats the #3

Since the menu doesn’t stay open for long I don’t remember the exact description all I know is the first entry is when I want to boot to LinuxCNC and the third when I want the Linux Mint. I don’t have any other OS’s in my PC neither I have a preference which OS to be the default because it all depends on which OS I want to work. So I don’t want to have a default OS for now.

To edit the grub menu I was following a link on how to do it and it says:
GRUB_DEFAULT=3 means it will open the 3rd Item which is Linux Mint (my mistake, my edit should have been #2)
GRUB_TIMEOUT=-1 means the menu will stay open until I select which one I want and that’s what I want.

When I did the LinuxCNC installation the instructions were pretty good but too fast for me to digest however I gather the impression that LinuxCNC was going to incorporate LinuxCNC boot into the Linux Mint boot but I have no idea where the Config file is located in either OS. But I agree with your idea “ajgreeny” that the problem I have is inside a config which I should find and edit.

As far as I know the grub menu is not hidden and I don’t want it to be hidden because I’m new to Linux and I want all to be shown. After I get more experience then it will be fine to be hidden. Also I don’t know if the menu is installed in UEFI or MBR/BIOS, sorry my knowledge is very limited.

So now it remains to be told how to find the config file for either Linux Mint or LinuxCNC or both and establish which one is used at bootup

[linux-rox]

Also can I change the default OS to Linux Mint?

Better, you can put Mint back in charge of Grub, which has to be done before any of the edits you've made to Mint's Grub files will have any effect. Two steps. First, from the current boot menu, boot into Mint. Second, run this command: sudo grub-install /dev/sda. Reboot.

Note: The command given assumes your system has only one hard drive and it's called sda. If it's called something else, e.g., nvme0n1, replace sda with that. If you're not sure what it's called, check Disks (an app on menu). Also, be aware this simple command only works if you are booted to the system you want in charge of Grub.

[MiZoG]

LinuxCNC is debian-based so editing /etc/default/grub followed by sudo update-grub should do the trick. Dunno about the text editors installed in LinuxCNC though.
FYI, debian / ubuntu-based distros received a security update for Grub this week. Meaning that if you applied updates on LinuxCNC would make that distro take control of Grub over Mint and vice versa.

[linux-rox]

Meaning that if you applied updates on LinuxCNC would make that distro take control of Grub over Mint and vice versa.

Might. Depends whether the user reinstalls Grub in response to a dialogue during the update process. Usually no good reason to do so and I've never understood why it's part of the update, except probably seems harmless to Grub's maintainers and they don't consider the impact on multi-boot.

In any event, reinstalling Grub (after the update) while booted to Mint will restore it to control.

[Oskar1224]

My thanks to all for the help but it turns out editing the grub menu is more difficult than I thought so I have to leave this task for later when I have more experience.

I have 3 disks in my Linux dedicated desktop, 240GB SSD, 160GB HDD and 80GB HDD. I know Linux Mint is installed on the 240GB SSD and LinuxCNC is installed on the 80GB HDD. Since I learn Linux, all the disks are almost empty.

During the LinuxCNC installation I thought that the LinuxCNC was another program so I tried to install it on the 240GB SSD but then it was asking to make a new partition and I realized it was a new OS so I install it on the 80GB HDD.

I will ask now at the LinuxCNC forum how to uninstall LinuxCNC and put it on the 240GB SSD which is a newer disk and faster/better to run “eventually” a cnc machine.

I must say the LinuxCNC installation process was one of the best I have seen in comparison to a Windows based disk installation which provides minimum instructions. It provided lots of info with suggested next step and I remember at the end it said to combine the existing Linux Mint grub menu with the LinuxCNC grub so I have one grub menu for both systems but still I don’t know in which system the final grub menu is installed (Linux Mint or LinuxCNC).

[linux-rox]

I have one grub menu for both systems but still I don’t know in which system the final grub menu is installed (Linux Mint or LinuxCNC).

In all cases I've ever seen, the OS at the top of the list is the one in control of Grub. Even if a different OS has been made default boot by editing one of the config files, it will be lower on the list and what identifies it as default is that it will be highlighted.

[Oskar1224]

This explains why the changes I did in the grub text file didn’t work, the changes made inside Linux Mint.

I found the same file inside LinuxCNC but editing that file is different and I will not bother since I plan to re install LinuxCNC.

Thank you for the info

[linux-rox]

Ahem, I did say that a few posts ago. Also, how to fix it.

If the primary purpose of the computer will be running LinuxCNC (to control some sort of machine), making it the primary OS makes sense. If it's going to be a dual purpose machine where you use Mint sometimes, that should be primary, IMHO. Your choice, though.

By the way, have now taken a look at LinuxCNC and see why you thought it would install as an app. Says "Runs under Linux" and "Simple installation on Debian and Ubuntu, or via our Live/Install DVD/USB images." Except, turns out the alternate method is anything but simple, and the reference to Ubuntu disingenuous, as the last version supported directly was Precise, version 12.04 (ten years ago). Don't know whether the Debian Buster instructions work on Mint (should on LM20), but that's what you were supposed to do if you wanted to run this as an app.

[Oskar1224]

If the primary purpose of the computer will be running LinuxCNC (to control some sort of machine), making it the primary OS makes sense. If it's going to be a dual purpose machine where you use Mint sometimes, that should be primary, IMHO. Your choice, though.

My desktop is dedicated to learn LM and if/when I learn enough from LinuxCNC, I will transfer the L_CNC to a new desktop in my workshop

By the way, have now taken a look at LinuxCNC and see why you thought it would install as an app. Says "Runs under Linux" and "Simple installation on Debian and Ubuntu, or via our Live/Install DVD/USB images." Except, turns out the alternate method is anything but simple, and the reference to Ubuntu disingenuous, as the last version supported directly was Precise, version 12.04 (ten years ago). Don't know whether the Debian Buster instructions work on Mint (should on LM20), but that's what you were supposed to do if you wanted to run this as an app.[/size]

I selected the easiest install since I'm not very knowledgeable in either LM/LinuxCNC and the Debian Buster instructions worked fairly well