Hello, it's my first time to use debian / linux. How do you I boot without X. Thanks

I would know how to go from X to just the shell. You would use the following commands in a shell:

[blah@localhost blah] $ su
*enter password*
[root@localhost blah] # init 3

That command would take you down to level 3 boot. To get back into X you'd do the following:

[root@localhost blah] # su blah
*enter password*
[blah@localhost blah] $ startx

I'm rather a n00b myself, but i know enuff. I've never had the need to boot in just the shell rather than loading X so thats my way of getting to the shell after I boot X.

In order to launch linux in console mode, you have to disable the Display Manager (XDM, GDM or KDM). To disable it, you have to know which one of these three is launched at startup. After that , just type "update-rc.d name remove" using the root account and replacing name by xdm, gdm or kdm.

Be aware that this command will erase the symlinks for all runlevels... So, after that, you won't be able to boot directly into X, in any runlevel...

As root edit /etc/inittab.

Somewhere in the top there is a line like:

id:5:initdefault: (in debian it's a little longer, mine is for mandrake)

Change it too id:3.

aliensub> The default runlevel for debian is 2 ... and they are different for each distributions ...

I have used Debian for over a year so i do now a little about it

When you boot right into X it's set too default too runlevel 5, in debian runlevel 2 & 3 are no different, personally i use runlevel 3 (don't ask my why...)

Some peoble have had problem's with xdm, try too remove it from your rc.x directory

Thanks Guys, now I need to configure my video to start X (KDM), but now I'm having problems with my video hardware, my notebook is a SAGER NP2260 with SIS630 chips, and it seems that SIS630 is not supported by Debian, what driver in the DEBIAN database can I use that is compatible with SIS630? THanks

It's not Debian specific. The documentation on http://www.xfree86.org/4.1.0/Status30.html#30 tells:

30. Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS)

3.3.6:

Support (accelerated) for the SiS 86C201, 86C202, 86C205, 86C215, 86C225, 5597, 5598, 6326, 530, 620, 300, 630 and 540 is provided by the XF86_SVGA server with the sis driver.
4.2.1:

Support (accelerated) for the SiS 530, 620, 6326 is provided by the "sis" driver. The 630, 300, and 540 are also supported, but this code is new and there are some problems with it in this version.
Summary:

Support for the 86C201, 86C202, 86C205, 86C215, 86C225, 5597 and 5598 is currently only available in 3.3.6.

So, It should be supported but you could have problems with your graphic card. Try the "sis" driver. If you have problems, try to use a generic driver (like "vesa" or "vga")

apt-get remove xdm, from the text console!

If you try too remove xdm, you will get a question if you want too remove x-server etc. You have too force the remove of xdm.

Just so you know...

If you dare, you can upgrade too sid (unstable), it uses Xfree 4.2.1 (i also think sarge (testing) uses it, but not really sure.)

Personally I have used Sid for 6 months without a single problem (based on a woody install and then upgraded too sid)...

Hmmm let me explain :

You don't have to remove xdm from you system : simply tell the init script not to launch it just by doing this:

update-rc.d xdm remove

It will delete all entries in the rc?.d directories (an entry in these directories is imply a symbolic link). So, after that, xdm won't launch, never...

You don't have to upgrade to unstable too because the text i've pasted is the same as the Xfree86 4.1.0 one ...

The simplest way to stop X from startin on boot is to (logged in as root) go into the /etc/rc2.d directory and edit the S99xdm, S99kdm, and S99gdm files to be named _S99xdm, _S99Kdm, and _S99gdm respectively. The code to do this at a shell prompt is as follows: mv /etc/rc2.d/S99xdm /etc/rc2.d/_S99xdm
In the event that this does not work, simply do this to the same files in the rc3.d, rc4.d and rc5.d directories. To change it back in a particular runlevel simply delete the _