[arch-general] Install Archlinux on HP Elitebook

[David Rosenstrauch]

On 2017-12-22 1:14 pm, Eli Schwartz via arch-general wrote:
> On 12/20/2017 09:45 AM, David Rosenstrauch wrote:
>> More of a workaround than a solution, but I stopped using grub
>> altogether once they upgraded to grub2.  (The complexity of the grub2
>> config file as compared to the simplicity of the grub-legacy menu.lst
>> file is what eventually turned me away.)  I've started using syslinux 
>> in
>> recent years, and have been quite happy with it.
> 
> Kind of offtopic for this thread, but "the grub2 config file is too
> complex" is not actually a valid reason to stop using grub... because 
> it
> isn't even true in the first place.


... in your opinion.


> Oh, wait. None of those have any such tool, and you are *required* to
> write your own handwritten config. :p

Usually an example/stub config file is provided, which makes it very 
easy to adapt it to your needs.


> And in fact, you can do the same exact thing with grub2 as well!
> Consider my grub.cfg reproduced below, or Earnestly's example grub.cfg
> at https://ptpb.pw/mk7y (courtesy of #archlinux on freenode):

> Consider the simplicity of this grub.cfg. A couple simple variable 
> flags
> for setting colors and timeout, then the dead-simple menuentry for
> booting, replicated a couple times for each kernel/initramfs I have.

Perhaps it's possible to hand-author a grub2 cfg to look like this.  But 
whenever I went to edit a grub2 cfg on one of the systems I administer 
it always looked like a massive, complex bash script.

Even the grub.cfg that Arch ships reads more like a shell script than a 
config file:

https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk/grub.cfg?h=packages/grub

And I've seen grub.cfg files on other machines (mostly redhat-oriented) 
that run into thousands of lines.


> I hate when people spread this misinformed FUD about grub, but I 
> suppose
> it is largely grub's fault for encouraging the use of beginner tools 
> and
> making it seem intimidating to even learn how it works. :(

Not misinformation, or FUD, just a difference of opinion.  In my opinion 
- and in my experience - the grub legacy menu.lst and the syslinux.cfg 
scripts are short, simple, and very easy to understand while the grub2 
config scripts I've run into are extremely long, complicated, and hard 
to understand.


> Hmm, I think I will invest the time in updating the Wiki page. This
> travesty cannot continue, I must make sure people are well-informed.

I welcome any effort you make in trying to make the grub config simpler 
and more understandable.  I have no inherent bias against the tool, and 
would be open to using it if I felt that it was becoming as easy to use 
as grub-legacy or syslinux.

DR