Using a 32-bit Samsung Netbook. I have Kali on one partition and Ubuntu MATE on the other, with GRUB at boot to choose. Now, I find that Ubuntu is faster and easier than Kali, so I want to expand it to the entire drive and get rid of GRUB. Is there a script or tutorial to make this easier? thanks for any help.
I don’t think you want to get rid of grub. You need it to boot Ubuntu. What you need to do is change your grub configuration so it only boots Ubuntu (without stopping at the boot menu since it’s unneeded), and once you’ve tested that, only then delete the Kali partition (after making sure you have everything you need from /home).
(Someone else may be able to tell you the specifics of reconfiguring grub, or you can look it up on google, i disremember how that fugly grub configuration stuff works since i haven’t used it for years.)
[quote=“TimothyBuchanan, post:1, topic:13106”]Is there a script or tutorial to make this easier? thanks for any help.[/quote]Your BIOS/UEFI boots into GRUB, GRUB boots into Ubuntu. You need a bootloader such as GRUB. Even if you were to stick with just Ubuntu, you WILL have to have GRUB.
Mind you, GRUB itself does not take up all that much space. So, even if there were a way to exist without GRUB (which there isn’t), you wouldn’t stand to gain much. Now, on the other hand, removing Kali… sure, that’ll gain you something. As stated previously, make sure you grabbed all you can from your Kali installation (copying it to a USB stick or whatever) and then use something like gparted to resize partitions as desired.
Technically speaking you don’t absolutely have to use grub, but it’s the best i know of for multi-boot. For a single-boot system you could use extlinux or possibly some other. I personally like extlinux better than grub (lighter-weight, easier configuration), but it’s single-partition so i haven’t used it for years. I’d not even have mentioned the possibility of other boot-loaders, except to let you know there really are other options available. 
In any case, if you’re using Ubuntu, every time you get a kernel update it’s likely to update grub, something else to keep an eye on if you want your system to act stable.
thanks for the prompt reply. I will keep grub. I searched how to edit grub config and found a page on editing /etc/default/grub. I tried changing grub_default from 0 to 1, and also to saved, adding the line grub_saveddefault=true. I also tried grub_default=Ubuntu. Each time it restarts, Kali is at the top and will load by default. I notice that when I run update-grub after saving the default file, that it reports finding Kali on /sda1 but says nothing about Ubuntu on /sda6. What value could I try in the grub file to make it boot Ubuntu 16.04 LTS by default?
In fact you have 2 grub configurations (one inside each partition).
You can force to use the MATE config using the command:
sudo grub-install /dev/sda
after booting into MATE.
Sometimes you have to do this again if you boot KALI and grub is updated.
PS: you will probably see a different grub theme after changing the config
PS2: and also the default (top) option will change
thanks. I didn’t realize that no matter how I changed the Ubuntu grub, it would keep using the Kali grub until I forced it with this command. Thanks to all helpers; now to boot from the usb live and use gparted to resize the hard drive.
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