Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid notes

Qestion/Answer

How to display the Grub menu automatically at every boot ?

In /etc/default/grub, replace the line:

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0

with:

#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0

and set GRUB_TIMEOUT to the amount of seconds you'd like the menu to be displayed before booting to the default entry.

then issue:

sudo update-grub

How to disable the splash screen and enable the kernel messages during the boot ?

In /etc/default/grub, replace the line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

with:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""

then issue:

sudo update-grub

How to disable GDM startup at boot time ?

In /etc/default/grub, add the word 'text' after 'quiet splash', on the following line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

that becomes:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash text"

then issue:

sudo update-grub

How to avoid acpi issues (computer does not boot)?

In /etc/default/grub, add the word 'acpi=off' on the following line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

that becomes:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="acpi=off quiet splash"

then issue:

sudo update-grub

How to change the console font ?

sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup

(my preference: console font=Fixed; size=16)

How to start gdm from the console ?

startx

How to change the resolution of the display in Gnome ?

System->Preferences->Monitor