Get Animated, Themed, Icon Only GRUB Menu Using BURG – now simple to use!

By , Published June 10, 2010

We all know that the GRUB loading menu that greets many of upon boot isn’t the most stylish or modern looking interface – even adding a poorly pixelated picture background can’t save it from looking lame.

Getting a gorgeous, animated and informative boot-loader is no longer a dream thanks to ‘Brand New Universal Bootloader’ (more commonly referred to as ‘BURG’.)

Admittedly, “BURG” may sound like something from the depths of Star Trek mythology but a bevvy of cool features and enhancements make it an option well worth considering if you like to beautify your system.

Install BURG

Whilst this method is straightforward be aware that you are dealing with a delicate area of your system and, as such, things can and will go awry without due attention or intention!

Add the BURG PPA:-

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ingalex/super-boot-manager

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install burg burg-themes

Install BURG to your Master Boot Record

Install burg to your MBR using the command below. Substitute ‘hd0′ with an alternative drive if needed.

sudo burg-install “(hd0)”

Update BURG entries

You MUST run this step or you may be left scratching your head upon reboot when nothing shows up

sudo update-burg

Theming

Now for the juicy stuff; the reason you’re probably installing burg – themes!
Selecting a burg theme is simple: reboot and when you see the default BURG screen press the ‘T’ button on your keyboard. A long list of themes will present itself to you. Using your arrow keys select one from the list and then hit enter for it to be applied.
Here are a selection of some popular themes: -
Sora
Radiance
Ambiance theme
Coffee

Previewing Your GRUB Menu

You can preview your GRUB theme without rebooting providing you have first done all of the above steps.

After installation run the command: -

burg-emu

A new window will open displaying your GRUB menu. To close it press the ‘c’ button on your keyboard and type ‘exit’.

Official BURG website code.google.com/p/burg

Related posts:

  1. Fatal flaw connected to GRUB found at very late notice, never fear!
  2. Simple GRUB Theming Script [Updated]
  3. BURG Gets Update, Updated Instructions
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  • http://twitter.com/Yogotiss Anthony Pate

    I’ve been using this for some time now and I must say that is gotten very sexy

  • http://lenindcruz.deviantart.com Lenin D

    Instead of:
    sudo burg-install “(hd0)”

    What worked for me is:
    sudo burg-install /dev/sda

    Perhaps this command is what you meant, but newbies like me would be lost without googling for other commands to type in :)

    Also, it would be useful to mention that after the initial commands typed, a ‘configuration’ screen shows up in the terminal itself for which I simply pressed ENTER twice followed by selecting the HDD in which I wanted to install Brug and then pressing ENTER again.

    • http://dropable.com Matt Wansley

      I thought something didn’t look quite right.

    • http://jdevelopthis.blogspot.com Jacky Alcine

      /dev/sda is understandable on the BASH.

      If you were stuck in the GRUB/BURG rescue dialog, (hd0,1) or (hd0) would be the only means of understanding..

      Google that.

  • Pingback: How to change your GRUB loader view using BURG « Linux T&T

  • http://twitter.com/natakusumah Ichsan Natakusumah

    nothing happened when i pressing “t”. any help?

  • http://twitter.com/speedytheartist Speedy The Artist

    Ok this was working find until I upgraded from Lucid to 10.10 now when I run “burg-emu” I get “error: can’t open `/boot/burg/themes/custom/theme_radiance’.
    error: unknown command `vmenu’.
    error: no such device: bb681fdf-d2ee-4fe1-8c9c-2e99e3a87721.” PLEASE HELP

  • http://twitter.com/speedytheartist Speedy The Artist

    Ok this was working find until I upgraded from Lucid to 10.10 now when I run “burg-emu” I get “error: can’t open `/boot/burg/themes/custom/theme_radiance’.
    error: unknown command `vmenu’.
    error: no such device: bb681fdf-d2ee-4fe1-8c9c-2e99e3a87721.” PLEASE HELP

    • http://jdevelopthis.blogspot.com Jacky Alcine

      You need to reupdate burg; it seems as if the Radiance theme was deleted. You can reinstall from the Software Center (burg-themes) or search it in Synaptic. Make sure you have the PPAs listed above.

      After that run “update-burg” and “sudo burg-emu -D”; everything should be running fine.

  • 776

    i tried to install it, and it kinda failed. then my laptop ran out of battery, and when i tried to start it up grub rescue told me that disk *horrible number* cant be found, and i just have a grup rescue command line. at least that we have a second pc. any help please?

    • http://jdevelopthis.blogspot.com Jacky Alcine

      This has happened to me quite a few times. The only way I found a method around this was constructing a LiveUSB of Ubuntu (on an alternate computer) and then reinstall GRUB on the hard drive that was not cooperating.

      For example, from the LiveUSB (given Ubuntu is loaded and all):

      1: Open Terminal
      2: sudo grub-install “(hd0)”
      3: sudo update-grub

      It should be repaired. If anything, reply back here with more information about your specs.

      • 776

        i reinstalled lilo coz i had a wubi

  • Anonymous

    this works great on my pc, but my coworker has a mac mini, dual booting osx/win7, and wanted to use this too. possible? also it’s a 64bit machine.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3HNEUSSDP36TO3PQLXFPNSE3PI mrcreativity

    Burg is amazing…but it breaks everytimes there is a linux kernel update.

  • http://twitter.com/LoxDev ⓁⓄⓧ

    nothing happened when i pressing “t”. any help?

  • http://twitter.com/LoxDev ⓁⓄⓧ

    nothing happened when i pressing “t”. any help?

    • http://twitter.com/olasitha Omal Mannapperuma

      try “T”
      if that doesn’t work, try F2

  • http://twitter.com/olasitha Omal Mannapperuma

    first press up arrow key once to stop the countdown. Then do those steps. k?

  • http://twitter.com/oqpie oqpie

    If I run “sudo update-burg”, I am shown “/etc/default/burg: 8: Syntax error: “(” unexpected” – What does this mean? How to correct it?

    • http://synclicious.blogspot.com/ Galih Pratama

      use this
      sudo burg-install “(hd0)”

      • Anonymous

        ?! works!
        what’s the difference ?

  • http://twitter.com/oqpie oqpie

    If I run “sudo update-burg”, I am shown “/etc/default/burg: 8: Syntax error: “(” unexpected” – What does this mean? How to correct it?

  • http://twitter.com/somarius Aaron Leal
  • http://profiles.google.com/anish4u999 anish j.l

    This article is very helpful.I tried it and it was installed successfully.For more details about Burg refer http://ubuntumanual.org/posts/257/burg-gorgeous-alternative-to-grub-add-icons-animated-menus-and-themes

  • http://profiles.google.com/ciszej Michał fubu

    I have Ubuntu installed inside Windows. How can I run Burg? When I follow instruction above none system can boot.

    • http://www.facebook.com/DBech1994 Daniel Bech

      this wont work for a wubi install because burg needs separate partitions to select from (i think) and your ubuntu partition is inside your windows one (i think)

  • http://profiles.google.com/frederickrabbit Avery Flores

    “sudo: burg-install: command not found”
    Is this just me? I checked each step, I did everything right. Now what?

    • http://techeverytime.com Ankur

      me too , any solutions ? 

      • Anonymous

        Same here! :(

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_P7HFFLFLW4V4ELGCGL7IKSEU2Q Karan

    I want to replace grub with burg because after the update grub again reload into MBR itself 

 
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