Show device name in top level menu

[Len Ovens]

Now that sub menus are being used, the "( on /dev/XXX )" description of other linux installs is not visible without looking into the submenu. It should be added to the top level entry as well.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately, we cannot work on this bug because your description didn't include enough information. You may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of the problem.

We have instructions on debugging some types of problems at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingProcedures

At a minimum, we need:
1. the specific steps or actions you took that caused you to encounter the problem,
2. the behavior you expected, and
3. the behavior you actually encountered (in as much detail as possible).
Thanks!

[Len Ovens (len-ovenwerks)]

I have Ubuntu Studio installed, grub shows Ubuntu as it's menu item Thats ok because that is the only ubuntu on the drive. Older versions on different partitions show up as the version number.

Now I install xubuntu. Grub now shows Ubuntu, Ubuntu and older versions. Which ubuntu is studio and which is xubuntu? Now I install lubuntu... These are all 13.10 dailties BTW, and grub shows three selections that are the same. no partitions numbers, No way to differentiat three partitions. I know that the top one in Lubuntu because I installed that last.... until I am working in xubuntu (should I be able to find it on the grub menu... probably by chance) and the kernel is updated... now xubuntu is the top selection in grub. However, the user may not even know that the kernel was replaced as the software updater by default does not display what is being updated and kernel updates are not the only changes that ask for reboot. The user now has no idea what grub selection is what.

Further investigation reveals that there is really no indication of what flavour this is. now I understand a user may install the desktop meta from another flavour and have more than one kind of DE or a multi-flavour install, but I would think the flavour of the original ISO install would make sense.

Perhaps in /etc/os-release the version instead of being "13.10, Saucy Salamander" could be "flavour 13.10, Saucy Salamander" on the iso install.

In any case the script that generates the grub menu should make sure all entries are unique. It should add a partition number if nothing else.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

The other detected installs should show the partition they were detected on in parenthesis after the name. Please attach your /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

[Len Ovens (len-ovenwerks)]

I did look and the partition name is there but not on the main screen. With each partition I have to go and check if it is the one I want in it's advanced menu. IMO, the partition should be in plain site. Again, right now the main grub entry is sdb9. I boot sdb8 and update the software... that update includes a new kernel. Now, the main menu item in Grub is sdb8. The user may not be aware a new kernel is installed or that the grub menu has changed. The next time they boot the Grub menu looks the same, but the order has been changed and the user would find that unexpected. They would likely boot the wrong partition first, and then on the next boot have to check each advanced menu to find the one they want.

This obviously a lot less than optimal.
(note, from included file I need to clean up all the extra kernels)

My first thought (or maybe a few down) is that a new boot loader is needed. One that has it's own configuration as part of it's it's own mini-partition. That way no matter which OS told it to update, or did the update, the user could freely name each partition and be sure that redhat/slackware/ubuntu or whatever would treat things the same and use the same names for the same partitions. The other possibility is to always order partitions on the menu in order of drive/partition.