is there a way to choose just bash prompt from lilo menu?

breadbin · 08-29-2003, 03:21 PM

Hi, I was messing around with lilo.conf and I was wondering how the failsafe thing in lilo.conf works. (Mandrake 9.0) Can I specify in the lilo menu not to boot into X if I only need to get a bash prompt? Is this something to do with the init files? I had trouble with the init files in Mandrake before because they were all over the place with links and what not. I would like the normal X Graphical menu item and another one called text maybe i.e. like the failsafe thing.

DrOzz · 08-29-2003, 03:23 PM

edit the file:
/etc/inittab
and at the beginning of the file (a few lines down) you will change:
id:5:initdefault: (which boots X automatically)
to then read:
id:3:initdefault: (which boots directly to the CLI)

MasterC · 08-29-2003, 04:06 PM

Yeah, but he wants it from lilo so he can choose different ones from boot up...

I believe you might be able to achieve something like that with the append options. Try using the append options from FailSafe and see if that does the trick.

COol

contrasutra · 08-29-2003, 04:09 PM

If you want to do it as a one time thing, after typing your entry, put "init 3", like:

Linux init 3

edit: In LILO that is.

Odd_Bloke · 08-29-2003, 04:17 PM

Wow! Something I can contribute to! Here goes:
From my experience you don't even need the 'init'. Just:
Linux 3

But I may be mistaken. Whatever you do, do not end your labels in numbers. Things go horribly wrong (probably not with Red Hat 5, but I'm running 9

).

EDIT: Also, don't forget to hit Ctrl-X before hand if you are using the graphical interface (though I'm not sure it'll make much difference).

Dan

MasterC · 08-29-2003, 04:18 PM

How's about an append on that contra, you ever heard of such a thing?

append="init 3" for the text one,

append="init 5" for the gui?

Anyone?

Cool

mcd · 08-29-2003, 04:24 PM

i remember the thread Odd_Bloke, you kept trying to boot to runlevel 9

i guess it just goes to show you should always try and learn from your mistakes

contrasutra · 08-29-2003, 04:31 PM

wouldnt it be:

append=init=3

??

Not sure though. I didn't think LILO could have spaces.

Odd_Bloke · 08-29-2003, 04:32 PM

Well, none of y'all told me that. Good job I wasn't a total n00b.

Anyways, just tryed 'append'ing only '3' and it didn't like it. So I guess you need to 'append="init 3"' after all.

However, I'm still pretty sure you can just pass '3' at LILO itself (as opposed to through lilo.conf).

Dan

EDIT: Me is a pernickity grammerator.

MasterC · 08-29-2003, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by contrasutra
wouldnt it be:

append=init=3

??

Not sure though. I didn't think LILO could have spaces.

Lilo can have spaces if it's surrounded by quotes

Such is the case in many append lines, for multiple drives (scsi emu) and such.

Cool

contrasutra · 08-29-2003, 09:23 PM

Well, You cant have an entry title use spaces, I just ran into that problem.

MasterC · 08-29-2003, 09:27 PM

For that I personally use underscores, they are hardly noticable, or I simply combine words (usually that's what I do actually) like:
LinuxMandrake9
Slackware
WindozeXP

And so on...

Cool

Odd_Bloke · 08-29-2003, 10:05 PM

I have entry titles use spaces. I have:
Red Hat
Red Hat Shell
Linux Backup

And they all work dandy. Barring Red Hat Shell but that was just 'cause I screwed my lilo.conf up (see above), which is now fixed.

Dan

breadbin · 08-30-2003, 03:40 AM

Thanks for all of that, that is what I was hoping for because I want to choose either one at lilo. Where is a good place to find out about the append strings. I assume it depends on the kernel itself and thus on the distribution. I will look, I haven't tried append="init 3" but I will do it now. Cheers.

breadbin · 08-30-2003, 03:53 AM

It worked like a charm, there were a few other things on the append line so I deleted them, I don't know what they were for quiet, hdd and something else. It worked perfectly thanks again. what I did do for anybody else wndering was edit the append line and just have it looking like append="init 3". Then just run lilo. nice one