Startup in Command Line
 

At the moment, Linux is booting straight into the Gnome Desktop Manager, allowing me to select a Windows Manager (such as Gnome, KDE, etc).

I would prefer Linux to boot me to the command line, where I can type in startx or some such thing if I wish to load the x server. How do I accomplish this?

I have installed the Debian-Woody Linux distribution.
I have successfully compiled the 2.6.8.1 kernel.
My /etc/inittab file has the id line set to 'id:3...'

My reason for wanting to boot to the command line is that the installation program for my NVIDIA drivers requires x server to be closed. I cannot simply type Ctrl+Alt+F1 and use the command line from there. Specifically, I am trying to run the command 'sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6111-pkg1.run'.

Changing the /etc/inittab file to 'id:1...' will boot me to command line, which is nice, but then the installation program for the NVIDIA drivers still complains saying that I can't be in run mode 1.

Any help would be appreciated.

Okay, your setup probably doesn't have a console only run-level.

Pick either 2 or 3 to be the one you want as the console only run-level, I'll use 3 in this example.

go into /etc/rc3.d and delete the S99gdm and S99xdm files. also if its there S99kdm.

make sure the /etc/inittab file has id:3:initdefault: ( which you said it already has ) and reboot. When you want gdm back use id:2:initdefault:

You can also kill X from the console. pkill gdm, Also gdm probably has a console login option.

Thx, that worked.