If X Window System is not used what takes it's place?

theKbStockpiler · 03-22-2011, 12:28 PM

If Linux is not in GUI mode, what application handles input and output?

Thanks in advance!

corp769 · 03-22-2011, 12:32 PM

The kernel always handles input and output. Can you explain more what you mean?

As far as what I THINK you are asking, if you try running a GUI program in init 3, you will get an error for no display being found due to not being in init 5.

pljvaldez · 03-22-2011, 12:33 PM

The console.

szboardstretcher · 03-22-2011, 12:38 PM

/sbin/mingetty

theKbStockpiler · 03-22-2011, 01:00 PM

Quote:

(Quoting myself)The X windows system is a large application that I can't get the details from other than to Reverse Engineer or to analyze from system calls. Trying to figure it out from etymology is extremely indirect from the commands that control it. So i'm looking for how the data flows from the keyboard to the terminal in a application sense. What code controls the transfer of data.

I believe that the keyboard for example has a way to store keystrokes. I assume it has it's own micro processor on the mboard to do this. I'm not interested that much in the hardware. But somehow this data is transferred to the display. So if the huge X Windows System is not installed ,what chunk of code (applications) daemons maybe transfers the data to the display.

Maybe it is just drivers? X is just described in abstractions of code commands and not really what happens at a data level.

I counld not find much on getty before but I will use the received info to try again.

Thanks for the Replies!

lumak · 03-22-2011, 06:46 PM

kernel drivers handle all the input/output functionality. The X server just reinterprets those inputs to use it how it sees fit.

There are various programs to see the output of the keyboard and mouse on the console but those programs are just showing you what the kernel is interpreting.

What is your question?

Do you want a detailed explanation of what the kernel is doing? read a book on the linux kernel, that's a complicated question.

Do you want a detailed explanation of what the xserver is doing with the kernel information or why X needs its own drivers ontop of the linux kernel? read a book on x server architecture, that is an equally complicated question.

Do you simply want to see a dump of key codes or the ouput of the keyboard on the console? Well that answer is a lot simpler. Check out the man pages for dumpkeys, loadkeys, and keymaps.

theKbStockpiler · 03-22-2011, 11:07 PM

Thanks for the great replies. If the kernel takes care of everything if X is not installed I will inform myself more in that area. Thanks to everyone for sharing there expertise.

Also I found a decent Redhat doc (that I hope is not copywriten) that has a decent dialog on terminals Types and such which it seems would be beneficial to be knowledgeable of. It's good reading even if you are not currently in need of it. http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/HO...l-HOWTO-7.html I would like to bring to mind a few text editors that I've been playing with that are simple and functional , Tea(gtk) and Geany. I would also like to mention qps as the best Linux Process monitor available as well as Konsole as a better featured choice over Gnome Terminal.