Hi all,

Could someone be so kind as to take me through stopping the GUI from loading at start-up? Surely this MUST be simple but I cannot seem to get it done!!

I would prefer a moron proof method (like dpkg-reconfigure) as opposed to manually editing a file. I do not seem to have much luck at that yet.

TIA,

Jimi_l

OR...

How about somthing else like a command to stop all the server/processes involved? If I exit out of KDE and then try to restart it or somthing else(mozilla-ProfileWizard for example)I get an error that the server is already running.

Just a thought,

Jimi_l

If you want Linux to boot in console mode (non-GUI) at startup.
You need to edit the /etc/inittab

On the line
id:5:initdefault:

change the 5 to a 3
id:3:initdefault:

Since I am not familiar with Debian, I have no knowledge of available tools.

Stopping KDE (or any other) from starting at boot.
It is the "X Display Manager", whih is doing that, so remove the "X Display Manager" by: apt-get remove xdm.
Then when ever you want the KDE (or any other to start at Boot-time again you just: apt-get install xdm.
When you have removed your "X Display Manager", you have to start it manualy by: startx , at prompt (console)

I did it after getting 2.4.21 and until it had the right graphics-driver for my card (Gforce4 TI 4200).

What I suggest you do is rename (instead of deleting) the script that starts up XDM with the computer boots. Go to /etc/rc2.d and mv S99XDM to s99XDM. If you later decide you want the GUI startup back rename the file again.

btw, an easy and effective way to begin locking down a machine security-wise is to install nmap and portscan it, then rename the startup script for each daemon you find running. For example:

nmap -sTU 127.0.0.1

if it shows port 22 open, find S??sshd (where ?? is some number) and rename it to s??sshd. I recommend you repeat this process until you don't have any open ports, then go back and activate whatever servers you really need.