startup in a terminal

chrisbhall · 10-06-2004, 08:16 PM

I am trying to install updated drivers for my video card on my Fedora Core 2 system. It says I cannot be in a GUI such as Gnome, which is how my computer starts by default. I cannot seem to find how to start it in a terminal only. Can someone provide me with some insight on this?

Awatto · 10-06-2004, 08:34 PM

Take a look at your /etc/inittab with a text editor.

Somewhere in it you should find the boot options for your distro such as:

Code:

# These are the default runlevels in Slackware:
#   0 = halt
#   1 = single user mode
#   2 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
#   3 = multiuser mode (default Slackware runlevel)
#   4 = X11 with KDM/GDM/XDM (session managers)
#   5 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
#   6 = reboot

Set your "default runlevel" to multiuser mode. (3 in this case.)

Next time you reboot you should be in console. Switch it back when you're ready for X again.

2damncommon · 10-06-2004, 08:39 PM

I often do not worry about how a distro starts when I need to "not be in X-windows" for something.
I just use CTRL-ALT-Fx (x=2-6?), when the GUI login shows up to go to a text login. Do whatever I need to do, and reboot.

The command "init 3" (I think) would be correct to drop to console from GUI in Fedora.

Editing "/etc/inittab" for the default runlevel is also an option.

Awatto · 10-06-2004, 08:47 PM

Oh right, sorry, I'm assuming you don't want X even loaded in the background
Ctrl+Alt+F2-6, right

If indeed you don't want X loaded at all, then go with the 'init 3' option. (some systems require /sbin/init 3, what's up witht hat anyway?)

2damncommon · 10-06-2004, 09:38 PM

Quote:

(some systems require /sbin/init 3, what's up witht hat anyway?)

I don't think I have run across that, but if you are using one distro and think you can tell what must be done in another you often need to think again.
My Debian Woody installs boot to GUI in run level 3 by default.
Administration tools are not the same across distributions and utilities may not be compiled with the same options.

chrisbhall · 10-07-2004, 08:40 AM

I tried the first suggestion made by Awatto there, setting the defaultlevel to 3 in the /etc/inittab file. worked like a charm. I'm still getting used to all this stuff and did have a bit of trouble changing it back. I had used gedit to change it while in gnome. after the reboot, i installed the drivers, and opened inittab back up in vi. Took me a bit of time to figure out how to delete/append/save. I feel like such an id10t playing with Linux, but, after reading through some manuals I printed I got it done. Anyways, thanks for your help guys.

Awatto · 10-07-2004, 03:20 PM

Hehehe, took me a while to figure all that my first time too, I ran into the same problems... We've all done it before

Sorry I didn't think about that and mention that sort of thing :-\

You could've done "startx" and booted into X and used your GUI editor you know