exit X

icecubeflower · 07-11-2009, 05:50 AM

I've only used Slackware. I just started to try Debian.

To start X I used to type "xinit"

and then I would type "startkde"

to get into KDE.

Now with Debian it automatically starts gdm and I have to hit ctrl-alt-F1 to exit X and get to the command prompt.

Is there any way to make it so the computer boots up to just the command prompt? And then I want to take gdm out of the picture. I just want to do "xinit" and then "startgnome" or something. I don't like how gdm or kdm or stuff like that take over the system.

vharishankar · 07-11-2009, 06:11 AM

Just remove gdm

From a root terminal

Code:

#apt-get remove gdm

If you'd installed from the netinstall ISO, you could have avoided installing any DE or WM.

And of course, you can always log in as user and use startx if you like.

Quote:

Now with Debian it automatically starts gdm and I have to hit ctrl-alt-F1 to exit X and get to the command prompt.

Just a minor point. Switching to a virtual terminal will not 'stop' X server. It is still running on virtual terminal 7. (Ctrl+Alt+F7)

To stop gdm from running as root you can use

Code:

#/etc/init.d/gdm stop

and your gdm session will be killed.

repo · 07-11-2009, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Just remove gdm

#apt-get remove gdm
will also remove gnome and gnome-desktop environment

vharishankar · 07-11-2009, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by repo

#apt-get remove gdm
will also remove gnome and gnome-desktop environment

They are meta-packages. Removing them won't harm the system.

I normally don't mess with meta-packages myself. I always use the actual packages.

icecubeflower · 07-11-2009, 01:16 PM

Hey thanks, that worked great. I was having KDE withdrawls so I put KDE on. I mostly can't tell the difference between this and my slackware box anymore. Except that apt-get package handler thing I admit is pretty damn cool. Debian seems to have packages for everything.

vharishankar · 07-11-2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icecubeflower

Hey thanks, that worked great. I was having KDE withdrawls so I put KDE on. I mostly can't tell the difference between this and my slackware box anymore. Except that apt-get package handler thing I admit is pretty damn cool. Debian seems to have packages for everything.

The repositories are huge. Chances are, if there is any application you need to find, it's there in Debian.

You can also compile from source if you install the necessary -dev packages.