Kubuntu 18.04 LTS named Ubuntu in GRUB and tlp-stat

Question

In GRUB Kubuntu 18.04 LTS is named just "Ubuntu".

Here's part of tlp-stat output (Kubuntu 18.04 LTS is named here "Ubuntu 18.04 LTS"):

+++ System Info
System         = LENOVO ThinkPad X200s 7470BB1
BIOS           = 6DET60WW (3.10 )
Release        = Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Kernel         = 4.15.0-20-generic #21-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 24 06:16:15 UTC 2018 x86_64
/proc/cmdline  = BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-20-generic root=UUID=22ed8f7d-5226-4f0a-a497-2889c2b9e647 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=1
Init system    = systemd v237
Boot mode      = BIOS (CSM, Legacy)

I'm dualbooting Kubuntu 18.04 LTS with Windows 10. I was dualbooting Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with Windows 10 before. I replaced Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with Kubuntu 18.04 LTS by formatting Ubuntu's partitions (swap, / and /home) and installing Kubuntu on them.

Did I mess something up? Should names "Ubuntu" instead of "Kubuntu" bother me? My biggest concern is TLP not recognising Kubuntu properly and consequently not handling battery life as well as before.

Grub: https://askubuntu.com/questions/759600/how-to-safely-change-os-name-in-grub-boot-menu — user26687, May 21 '18 at 07:32
Thanks, I've just installed Xubuntu on VirtualBox inside Kubuntu and indeed it's also being recognised as Ubuntu. — Mikub, May 21 '18 at 08:19
@DKBose: Can you convert your comment into an answer please? — David Foerster, May 21 '18 at 08:25
@DKBose: OP asks whether the current behaviour is normal, not how to change it, and your answer addresses the former just fine. — David Foerster, May 21 '18 at 08:31
TLP itself doesn't care for the Ubuntu flavor or which distribution it runs on. tlp-stat displays the release string for support purposes only. — linrunner, May 22 '18 at 04:54

DK Bose · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-21T10:30:39.213

I have Ubuntu 16.04, Kubuntu 16.04, Kubuntu 18.04, and Lubuntu 18.04 all on my machine. GRUB shows them all as Ubuntu. I know which is which by the sdx information (where x is a number) because I kept track of what was being installed and where.

From /boot/grub/grub.cfg:

menuentry 'Ubuntu'
submenu 'Advanced options for Ubuntu'
menuentry 'Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS (16.04) (on /dev/sda3)'
submenu 'Advanced options for Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS (16.04) (on /dev/sda3)'
menuentry 'Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS (16.04) (on /dev/sda5)'
submenu 'Advanced options for Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS (16.04) (on /dev/sda5)'

sudo fdisk -l also doesn't reveal the flavor:

$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 1ACBE91E-130E-446E-9740-008010615D1D

Device          Start        End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1        2048    1026047   1024000   500M EFI System
/dev/sda2     1026048    7317503   6291456     3G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda3     7317504  380581887 373264384   178G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4  1937289216 1953523711  16234496   7.8G Linux swap
/dev/sda5   994983936 1613765185 618781250 295.1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda6   380581888  994981887 614400000   293G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda7  1613766656 1937289215 323522560 154.3G Linux filesystem

Partition table entries are not in disk order.

And neither is sudo parted -l helpful:

$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name                  Flags
 1      1049kB  525MB   524MB   fat32           EFI system partition  boot, esp
 2      525MB   3747MB  3221MB  fat32           Basic data partition  msftdata
 3      3747MB  195GB   191GB   ext4
 6      195GB   509GB   315GB   ext4
 5      509GB   826GB   317GB   ext4
 7      826GB   992GB   166GB   ext4
 4      992GB   1000GB  8312MB  linux-swap(v1)

But /var/log/installer/media-info should reveal the flavor you've currently booted into:

Kubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)

I doubt that entries in GRUB affect the performance of TLP.

Joepie Es · Answer 2 · 2021-09-26T16:10:07.210

In the folder /etc/grub.d you will find shell scripts (e.g. 10_linux_proxy). You can edit the line (in my case)

 *-'Ubuntu'~9e99b3b537302f48097ea0580e3d9a37~*

to

 *-'Ubuntu'~9e99b3b537302f48097ea0580e3d9a37~ as 'Kubuntu'*

and/or

 *+'Geavanceerde opties voor Ubuntu'/'Ubuntu, met Linux 5.11.0-36-generic'~f04a0bedc69c913ed3d1d21721fd3fcb~ as 'Kubuntu 5.11.0-36'*

You have to do this as Root. Be careful and backup before editing. Also make a backup of the grub.cfg file (/boot/grub) first. When you're done run sudo update-grub in the terminal. This will generate a new grub.cfg in which you can see the changes you made.

You can also use the program grub-customizer for a more graphical experience. Double click on an entry and rename it. Safe your changes when you are done. Make backups first. I recommend you make 1 change first, save it, reboot and see if your Kubuntu now is Kubuntu or something else. If you named it Kubuntu and it is Lubuntu just change the name and save it.

grub.cfg and 10_linux_proxy

I would not use Grub-Customizer. But for renaming it cannot do much harm. — HomerSimpson, Mar 08 '22 at 21:17

Kubuntu 18.04 LTS named Ubuntu in GRUB and tlp-stat

2 Answers2