Howto Have Grub Like SUSE on Ubuntu

By default Ubuntu has a text based grub, which at best looks very plain.
When we compare it to the beautiful grub of distros like OpenSUSE and PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu default grub screen looks ugly.
OpenSUSE has the most elegant grub GUI and I decided to install that.
Luckily Ubuntu Forums are the best technical resource too.
I followed this post on Ubuntu Forum and was able to easily install the alternative grub.
Though this is still nothing in comparison to original grub GUI in OpenSUSE, still it is much better looking than the default Ubuntu text-based grub.

Here are the detailed instructions

REMOVE OLD GRUB

Code:

sudo apt-get remove grub

DOWNLOAD & INSTALL GRUB-GFXBOOT

Code:

wget http://quasarfreak.googlepages.com/grub-gfxboot_0.97-5_i386.deb

Code:

sudo dpkg -i grub-gfxboot_0.97-5_i386.deb

GET THE ANIMATED IMAGE & COPY IT TO YOUR GRUB DIRECTORY
(You can also get some from gnome-look.org or from the bottom of post #1 in this thread)

Code:

wget http://quasarfreak.googlepages.com/message.suse

Code:

sudo cp message.suse /boot/grub/

EDIT YOUR GRUB MENU TO USE THE ANIMATED IMAGE
(good practice to backup the file first and then edit)

Code:

sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup

Code:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

ADD THE FOLLOWING LINE (IN RED) TO THE TOP OF THE FILE SO IT LOOKS LIKE THIS...

Code:

gfxmenu /boot/grub/message.suse

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

THEN, INSTALL THE BOOT-LOADER
(this may vary based on your computer)

Code:

sudo grub-install hd0

OR

Code:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Reboot and enjoy
Thanks to Quasar_freak and kno and Ubuntu Forums

here are some themes/modifications for the above.

Light Green generic theme [message.gobo] | Link | Screenshot
Dark Brown (Dapper look) generic theme [message.new] | Link | Screenshot
Medium blue kubuntu theme [message.kubuntu] | Link | Screenshot
Dark grey ubuntu theme [message.ubugrey] | Link | Screenshot
Medium brown ubuntu theme [message.ububrown] | Link | Screenshot
Light orange ubuntu theme [message.ubu] | Link | Screenshot
Red ubuntu theme [message.new] | Link | Screenshot
Fuzzy blue and black ubuntu theme [message.bluspash] | Link | Screenshot
White / Grey Snowish generic theme [message.snow] | Link | Screenshot
Linspire-style blue kubuntu theme [message.kubu] | Link | Screenshot
Old- Grub style dark blue and light blue [message.kubu] | Link | Screenshot
Light blue / grey Xubuntu theme [message.xubu] | Link | Screenshot[/quote]

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