Anyone kno the command? I've tryed logging in as root and going back into startingx, but it wont let me. Any way to change the level to 3 from the command line before you start X? (I think its 3, to the graphical startup, thats what I want). Thanks

Ive seen posts saying "Edit the etc/inttab file" or something like that, but how do I go about editing it from the command line before starting X?

On most distros, the graphical run level is 5. Run level 3 is the one you are starting out with.

Changing the line which looks like this:
id:3:initdefault:
to this
id:5:initdefault:

will change the default run level to level 5 (graphic). This assumes that one of the login managers like kdm or gdm or xdm are installed. If you installed a distro, they should be installed and setup. If you installed your own linux yourself (Linux From Scratch) then you would have more work to do.

You can use vim or emacs to edit the file, however whatever you use, you need to su to root to be able to save it.

If all you want to do is start the gui (kde or gnome or other), you can enter startx. To enter another run level, as root enter: init <runlevel>. This will start the services that need starting. The startx command will do the same thing.

if you are not comfortable with VIm or emacs, I might suggest pico or the editor in mc.

Login as root.
pico /etc/inittab

or

mc

navigate to the file, choose edit (F4)

Both work from the command line and are fairly easy to figure out.


HTH