Ask Klaus
GRUB Selections
How do I change the default GRUB (and maybe LILO, too) boot selection on a multiple-OS system?
The GRUB config in /boot/grub/menu.lst (GRUB1) or /etc/default/grub (GRUB2) should contain a DEFAULT line that specifies which of the given operating systemd should be booted by default. For GRUB 2, you need to install the new configuration by doing:
sudo update-grub
after modifications in /etc/default/grub or /etc/grub.d/*.
Installing a Driver
How do you install drivers for hardware after installation (e.g., a card you've added later or that wasn't configured during installation)?
In Linux, the hardware driver is a kernel module that must match exactly the kernel version installed (i.e., if you update the kernel, you have to update the kernel modules as well, and if you install a new hardware module, it must be compiled from source to match the running kernels version). Loading or unloading modules works with
modprobe name_of_module
and
rmmod name_of_module
which should be done automatically by the udev daemon if it detects new hardware and there is a module present for the hardware's vendor and product ID (and, if the module is not blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf).
Klaus Knopper
Klaus Knopper is an engineer, creator of Knoppix, and co-founder of LinuxTag expo. He works as a regular professor at the University of Applied Sciences, Kaiserslautern, Germany. If you have a configuration problem, or if you just want to learn more about how Linux works, send your questions to: klaus@linux-magazine.com
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