Re: init 3 does nothing

[Peter Hugosson-Miller <pehu@im.se>]

Dave Sherohman wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 29, 2000 at 04:27:20PM +0200, Peter Hugosson-Miller wrote:
> > Your 2nd suggestion worked OK, but I wonder if it wouldn't be 
> > possible to define a new (unused) runlevel that doesn't start X 
> > (say 7) and then 'init 7' whenever I feel like shutting down X? 
> > Does this sound possible, and if so, how do I find out how to do 
> > it?
>
> No need to define a new runlevel, just use update-rc.d.  Debian sets 
> up runlevels 2-5 as identical to each other with the expectation that 
> users who want to use them for process/daemon control will customize 
> the runlevels to their personal taste. (Note:  Those Red Hat guys 
> probably told you that the default runlevel is 5, but Debian's
> default is 2.)

In case anyone is interested, I've found the answer (or at least _an_
answer). As always, RTFM comes up with the goods. At xdm's graphical
login prompt, press <Ctrl> R, and you'll drop down into the console
login prompt. That's it! No new runlevels, no processes to kill. I 
found the following in /etc/X11/xdm/Xresources:

! /etc/X11/xdm/Xresources
!
! X resources used by xdm sessions
xlogin*login.translations: #override\
        Ctrl<Key>R: abort-display()\n\
        <Key>Delete: delete-character()\n\
        <Key>F1: set-session-argument(failsafe) finish-field()\n\
        .
        .
        .

<interesting="newbies only">
Since then, I'm now running potato, and have installed helix-Gnome, 
(now _there's_ a nice install for you!) so the graphical login looks
a bit different (and much prettier than xdm). I feel certain that I
will find a similar function to the <Ctrl> R, once I figure out which
file corresponds to the old /etc/X11/xdm/Xresources file. 

If I've understood it properly, Gnome doesn't use xdm at all, but has 
its own system called gdm, which the helix-Gnome installer sets up 
completely. It even found and configured the Sawfish window manager
that I had previously installed but failed to get running. If this
sounds interesting to any other newbies, just do the following:

$su
Password:
lynx -source http://go-gnome.com/ | sh 

When it's done you need to reboot (or at least I had to), then your
new Gnome desktop is up and running. Nothing to edit, just "Have fun".
Wish the debian install was this easy...
</interesting>
--
Best regards,

Peter Hugosson-Miller
"Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur."