I initially had a PC with XP.
Then I got a second hard drive installed and put Ubuntu 8.04 on it.

Now when I boot up it's default is Linux. I have tried to change it
using the command line interface but I don't really know what I'm doing.

Here's a cut n paste of the 2 methods I have tried
from helpful websites:

************start*************
simon at (no spam) simon:~$ sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo: unable to resolve host simon
simon at (no spam) simon:~$

So that didn't work so then I tried to use the Grub command:

Simon wrote:
I initially had a PC with XP.
Then I got a second hard drive installed and put Ubuntu 8.04 on it.

Now when I boot up it's default is Linux. I have tried to change it
using the command line interface but I don't really know what I'm doing..

Here's a cut n paste of the 2 methods I have tried
from helpful websites:

************start*************
simon at (no spam) simon:~$ sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo: unable to resolve host simon
simon at (no spam) simon:~$

You're on the right track--you have to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst

I don't know why gedit doesn't work.  Are you sure it's the editor in
your distro?

Just change the default to the OS you want as the default.
(It's zero based, so default 0 is for the first entry.

So that didn't work so then I tried to use the Grub command:

This is used to change where GRUB puts its stage1.  You want to leave it
in the MBR, and change just the menu.lst.

Someone more famaliar with Ubuntu and gnome may be able to help you get
to an editor that works.  You do have to have root privileges.

--
Virg Wall

On Jul 9, 11:50 am, VWWall <vw... at (no spam) large.invalid> wrote:
Simon wrote:
I initially had a PC with XP.
Then I got a second hard drive installed and put Ubuntu 8.04 on it.
Now when I boot up it's default is Linux. I have tried to change it
using the command line interface but I don't really know what I'm doing.
Here's a cut n paste of the 2 methods I have tried
from helpful websites:
************start*************
simon at (no spam) simon:~$ sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo: unable to resolve host simon
simon at (no spam) simon:~$
You're on the right track--you have to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst

I don't know why gedit doesn't work. Are you sure it's the editor in
your distro?

Just change the default to the OS you want as the default.
(It's zero based, so default 0 is for the first entry.

So that didn't work so then I tried to use the Grub command:
This is used to change where GRUB puts its stage1. You want to leave it
in the MBR, and change just the menu.lst.

Someone more famaliar with Ubuntu and gnome may be able to help you get
to an editor that works. You do have to have root privileges.

--
Virg Wall

~menu.lst is the file all right, nano is a good editor

I initially had a PC with XP.
Then I got a second hard drive installed and put Ubuntu 8.04 on it.

Now when I boot up it's default is Linux. I have tried to change it
using the command line interface but I don't really know what I'm doing.

Here's a cut n paste of the 2 methods I have tried
from helpful websites:

************start*************
simon at (no spam) simon:~$ sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo: unable to resolve host simon
simon at (no spam) simon:~$

So that didn't work so then I tried to use the Grub command:


completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> root (hd0,0)

Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

grub> root (hd0,1)

Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

grub> root (hd1,0)

Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

grub> root (hd1,1)

Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

grub> setup (hd0)

Error 12: Invalid device requested

grub

****************end*************
So I was pretty lost after that.
I made sure that windows had shutdown properly as I often use hibernate.
I also remember years ago being able to do this without command line
entries. It was either Mandrake or Debian and I may have changed
something in BIOS.

I am not too sure about Ubuntu, most of these newsgroups talk about
other Linux flavours. The only reason I loaded it was because it came
on the DVD with my local PC Magazine ( www.pcworld.co.nz )

Is there a better version which doesn't require the command line so much?
And what about the above commands?

thanks

Simon