Newbie Grub2 tweaking tool/instructions?

[Richard Owlett]

I'm new to Linux though have been end-user since CPM-80 days 
[took a much too long detour thru Windows].

I've dedicated one machine to experimenting with multiple 
versions (mostly Debian related) installed from that 
distro's LiveCD.

The combination of the installer and grub2 gives two 
annoying results:
  1. The latest install goes to the top of the Grub 
displayed list of choices
     of which OS to load.
  2. The content of menu entries is not human friendly - it 
gives distro and kernel
     version, but not desktop and my keyword for what 
options I took while installing.

What I need:
  1. newest install to be on bottom of the list
  2. to be able to create menu entries meaningful to myself
  3. the menu entries keep my custom entries across 
multiple additional installs

What I'd also like is to not have excess menu entries:
  1. each install provides a normal and "rescue" entry 
point. For the purpose of
     _my experiments_, the "rescue" entry is just a line 
cluttering up the menu.
  2. the Debian install also provide 486 and 686 versions. 
Only the 486 version
     will eventually be relevant on some eventual target 
machines so I'll only want
     to experiment with that version.

I take it as a given I'm going to have to dedicate a small 
partition or a USB stick for grub's exclusive use.

Are my desires doable? reasonable?

TIA