On 28-Jul-99 russ proudman wrote:
> I've got KDE set to automatically start whenever I boot up Linux-Mandrake.
> But I want to exit KDE (not just a shell within KDE) and can't get there.
>
> What's the trick to go back to good ol' Linux without auto KDE?
>
> Thx.
>
I am assuming you mean you have X automatically loading when you boot, so that
you boot to the graphical login screen where you have a choice of several
different window managers (including KDE), and you want to be completely out of
X?
One thing you can do is change to a different virtual console. You switch
between virtual consoles by pressing alt-f1 through alt-f6; press ctrl along
with alt to switch from X, and also the console with X is always alt-f7.
So for example, you're in X, and want to switch to the second console, you can
press ctrl-alt-f2. That gives you a textual login, as if you were completely
out of X. Then you can switch back to X by typing alt-f7.
Now, if you really want to shut X down, go to the second virtual console with
alt-f2, log in as root, and type 'init 3'. This will switch you to runlevel 3,
which is the runlevel for full multi-user, multi-tasking Linux. (Note: this
will show a couple processes shutting down, and you may have to press
enter for it to give you the next command prompt.) If you want to switch back
to runlevel 5, which is the runlevel in which X is automatically run and you're
given the graphical login, type 'init 5'.
If you want to change the default runlevel, open the /etc/inittab file in a
text editor, and look for this line near the top:
id:5:initdefault:
The 5 in that line is what makes the system run in runlevel 5 and start up X
when you boot; change the 5 to a 3 to start with the text-based login prompt.
-Tom
