Graphical Startup

diamon · 05-06-2002, 01:31 PM

I just installed mandrake8.2 and stupidly agreed to have Linux boot into a graphical screen. I don't like this and I can't seem to change it to a text login.

Sorry if this is really basic stuff.

TIA

trickykid · 05-06-2002, 01:41 PM

yeah this is asked all the time here and a search would have found many ways to fix..

but, you need to edit your /etc/inittab file and change your runlevel to 3 instead of 5.

diamon · 05-06-2002, 02:05 PM

Big thanks. That sorted that.

Yeah, I should have done a search, but i guess i'm just lazy, huh?

pilotgi · 05-06-2002, 02:08 PM

I've seen this topic in here lots of times, too. When I go to /etc/inittab in the file manager, I can't edit anything, even in superuser mode.

What's the secret?

trickykid · 05-06-2002, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pilotgi
I've seen this topic in here lots of times, too. When I go to /etc/inittab in the file manager, I can't edit anything, even in superuser mode.

What's the secret?

what do you mean in the file manager.. ?? have you tried using vi to edit it ?? and if so, does that work if you try it ?

hanzerik · 05-06-2002, 02:26 PM

Quote:

I've seen this topic in here lots of times, too. When I go to /etc/inittab in the file manager, I can't edit anything, even in superuser mode.

You may need to change permissions on it so you can write to it. Do a ls -al /etc/inittab and see what the permissions are on it. If they are set to read only then even root cant write to it untill they are changed to allow write.

pilotgi · 05-06-2002, 02:52 PM

If you're problem is sorted out, can you share with me how you edited it?

trickykid · 05-06-2002, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pilotgi
If you're problem is sorted out, can you share with me how you edited it?

did what we suggest won't work for you pilotgi ?

try this at a terminal or command prompt as root:

vi /etc/inittab

scroll down to the initdefault line that looks like this:

id:5:initdefault:

Place the block cursor over the 5 and press the X key on the keyboard. That will delete the 5. Now press the I key and then press 3. This will insert the 3 where the 5 was at.

Now hit the ESC key and then type :wq! and that should save the file. Now reboot and it should start you in Multiuser runlevel 3 instead of GUI runlevel 5.

pilotgi · 05-06-2002, 03:23 PM

Thanks a lot. Specific step by step instructions are the only thing that works for this n00b. Have you seen my thread about setting up my dsl connection?