Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[Lisi Reisz]

On Monday 19 September 2016 21:23:05 Jude DaShiell wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Sep 2016, David Wright wrote:
> > Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 15:48:35
> > From: David Wright 
> > Reply-To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> > To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> > Subject: Re: How to arrange for booting to console
> > Resent-Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 19:48:54 + (UTC)
> > Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> >
> > On Sat 17 Sep 2016 at 02:34:11 (-0400), Jude DaShiell wrote:
> >> On Fri, 16 Sep 2016, David Wright wrote:
> >>> Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:38:31
> >>> From: David Wright 
> >>> Reply-To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> >>> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> >>> Subject: Re: How to arrange for booting to console
> >>> Resent-Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 13:43:51 + (UTC)
> >>> Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> >>>
> >>> I missed this reply until Lisi bumped the thread.
> >>> These are my opinions, based of the pathetically little I know.
> >>>
> >>> On Sun 11 Sep 2016 at 18:52:59 (-0400), Harry Putnam wrote:
>  The Wanderer  writes:
> > On 2016-09-11 at 17:04, Harry Putnam wrote:
> >> How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With the
> >> ability to startx when I feel like it.
> 
>  [...]
> 
> > The way I usually do it is to uninstall gdm, kdm, xdm, et cetera;
> > those are the packages which hook in to provide a graphical login
> > prompt. With none of them present, what you get is the traditional
> > text-mode login prompt, and your configured shell after login.
> 
>  [...]
> 
>  That sounds promissing.
> >>>
> >>> It ought to. It's the display managers that start X. If they're not
> >>> there, you've to start it yourself with startx.
> >>>
>  Used one of the methods below and quickly
>  realized I was expecting a nice big framebuffered text console with a
>  much higher resolution than the standard.
> >>>
> >>> But you got ... what?
> >>>
> >>> If you want to know whether you're looking at a nice big framebuffered
> >>> text console, install fbset and type
> >>> $ fbset
> >>> If you see something like:
> >>>
> >>> mode "1280x800"
> >>>   geometry 1280 800 1280 800 32
> >>>   timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
> >>>   accel true
> >>>   rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
> >>> endmode
> >>>
> >>> then you are.
> >>>
> >>> BTW What's the "standard" resolution of which you speak?
> >>>
>  (Previously my OS of choice
>  was gentoo), But of course all that has to be setup as I recall it
>  is done with a few extra bits on the kernel line grub.conf
> 
>  Using grub2 I'm thoroughly lost what or where one would edit to allow
> >
> >?
> >
>  a console frame buffer.
> >
> > [snipped my response which was not grub-related]
> >
> >> edit /etc/default/grub then run grub-mkconfig to apply your changes
> >> like this:
> >> grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
> >
> > That's the "where"; what's the "what" ?
> >
> > Cheers,
> > David.
>
> Almost forgot, after doing edit as root run update-grub as root and you
> should be good to go.

That still isn't the "what"!!!

Lisi

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[Jude DaShiell]

On Mon, 19 Sep 2016, David Wright wrote:


Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 15:48:35
From: David Wright 
Reply-To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: How to arrange for booting to console
Resent-Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 19:48:54 + (UTC)
Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org

On Sat 17 Sep 2016 at 02:34:11 (-0400), Jude DaShiell wrote:

On Fri, 16 Sep 2016, David Wright wrote:


Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:38:31
From: David Wright 
Reply-To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: How to arrange for booting to console
Resent-Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 13:43:51 + (UTC)
Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org

I missed this reply until Lisi bumped the thread.
These are my opinions, based of the pathetically little I know.

On Sun 11 Sep 2016 at 18:52:59 (-0400), Harry Putnam wrote:

The Wanderer  writes:


On 2016-09-11 at 17:04, Harry Putnam wrote:


How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With the
ability to startx when I feel like it.



[...]


The way I usually do it is to uninstall gdm, kdm, xdm, et cetera; those
are the packages which hook in to provide a graphical login prompt. With
none of them present, what you get is the traditional text-mode login
prompt, and your configured shell after login.



[...]

That sounds promissing.


It ought to. It's the display managers that start X. If they're not
there, you've to start it yourself with startx.


Used one of the methods below and quickly
realized I was expecting a nice big framebuffered text console with a
much higher resolution than the standard.


But you got ... what?

If you want to know whether you're looking at a nice big framebuffered
text console, install fbset and type
$ fbset
If you see something like:

mode "1280x800"
  geometry 1280 800 1280 800 32
  timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  accel true
  rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
endmode

then you are.

BTW What's the "standard" resolution of which you speak?


(Previously my OS of choice
was gentoo), But of course all that has to be setup as I recall it
is done with a few extra bits on the kernel line grub.conf

Using grub2 I'm thoroughly lost what or where one would edit to allow

   ?

a console frame buffer.



[snipped my response which was not grub-related]



edit /etc/default/grub then run grub-mkconfig to apply your changes
like this:
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg


That's the "where"; what's the "what" ?

Cheers,
David.

Almost forgot, after doing edit as root run update-grub as root and you 
should be good to go.






--

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[David Wright]

On Sat 17 Sep 2016 at 02:34:11 (-0400), Jude DaShiell wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Sep 2016, David Wright wrote:
> 
> >Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:38:31
> >From: David Wright 
> >Reply-To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> >To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> >Subject: Re: How to arrange for booting to console
> >Resent-Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 13:43:51 + (UTC)
> >Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> >
> >I missed this reply until Lisi bumped the thread.
> >These are my opinions, based of the pathetically little I know.
> >
> >On Sun 11 Sep 2016 at 18:52:59 (-0400), Harry Putnam wrote:
> >>The Wanderer  writes:
> >>
> >>>On 2016-09-11 at 17:04, Harry Putnam wrote:
> >>>
> How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With the
> ability to startx when I feel like it.
> 
> >>
> >>[...]
> >>
> >>>The way I usually do it is to uninstall gdm, kdm, xdm, et cetera; those
> >>>are the packages which hook in to provide a graphical login prompt. With
> >>>none of them present, what you get is the traditional text-mode login
> >>>prompt, and your configured shell after login.
> >>>
> >>
> >>[...]
> >>
> >>That sounds promissing.
> >
> >It ought to. It's the display managers that start X. If they're not
> >there, you've to start it yourself with startx.
> >
> >>Used one of the methods below and quickly
> >>realized I was expecting a nice big framebuffered text console with a
> >>much higher resolution than the standard.
> >
> >But you got ... what?
> >
> >If you want to know whether you're looking at a nice big framebuffered
> >text console, install fbset and type
> >$ fbset
> >If you see something like:
> >
> >mode "1280x800"
> >   geometry 1280 800 1280 800 32
> >   timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
> >   accel true
> >   rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
> >endmode
> >
> >then you are.
> >
> >BTW What's the "standard" resolution of which you speak?
> >
> >>(Previously my OS of choice
> >>was gentoo), But of course all that has to be setup as I recall it
> >>is done with a few extra bits on the kernel line grub.conf
> >>
> >>Using grub2 I'm thoroughly lost what or where one would edit to allow
↑
> >>a console frame buffer.
> >
[snipped my response which was not grub-related]
> >
> edit /etc/default/grub then run grub-mkconfig to apply your changes
> like this:
> grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

That's the "where"; what's the "what" ?

Cheers,
David.

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[Jude DaShiell]

On Fri, 16 Sep 2016, David Wright wrote:


Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:38:31
From: David Wright 
Reply-To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: How to arrange for booting to console
Resent-Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 13:43:51 + (UTC)
Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org

I missed this reply until Lisi bumped the thread.
These are my opinions, based of the pathetically little I know.

On Sun 11 Sep 2016 at 18:52:59 (-0400), Harry Putnam wrote:

The Wanderer  writes:


On 2016-09-11 at 17:04, Harry Putnam wrote:


How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With the
ability to startx when I feel like it.



[...]


The way I usually do it is to uninstall gdm, kdm, xdm, et cetera; those
are the packages which hook in to provide a graphical login prompt. With
none of them present, what you get is the traditional text-mode login
prompt, and your configured shell after login.



[...]

That sounds promissing.


It ought to. It's the display managers that start X. If they're not
there, you've to start it yourself with startx.


Used one of the methods below and quickly
realized I was expecting a nice big framebuffered text console with a
much higher resolution than the standard.


But you got ... what?

If you want to know whether you're looking at a nice big framebuffered
text console, install fbset and type
$ fbset
If you see something like:

mode "1280x800"
   geometry 1280 800 1280 800 32
   timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
   accel true
   rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
endmode

then you are.

BTW What's the "standard" resolution of which you speak?


(Previously my OS of choice
was gentoo), But of course all that has to be setup as I recall it
is done with a few extra bits on the kernel line grub.conf

Using grub2 I'm thoroughly lost what or where one would edit to allow
a console frame buffer.


I've yet to install a Debian system where the kernel didn't boot into
a console (VC1) running at anything other than the native/maximum
resolution. Now, maybe I'm lucky. Maybe I've had good fortune with
graphics devices, screens and everything else. But I would recommend
investigating exactly what you've got on booting up before you start
fiddling. Oh, and if you see your huge screen with a blurry 80x25
console on it, don't mistake font size for resolution.

Use   dpkg-reconfigure console-setup   to set utf-8, Latin1, the font
and its size. With a framebuffer you get more choice of size.
Note: don't ever run dpkg-reconfigure console-setup if X is running,
whether or not you're using it (eg by typing Ctl-Alt-Fn). It won't
have the desired effect and it might have you troubleshooting
problems of your own making.

As for systemctl set-default, no idea, never used it wittingly.
As for runlevels, well, as Lisi said, Debian doesn't use them in
the way some distributions do, which can cause confusion.
1 is single-user, 2 is normal. Apologies if that simplicity has been
abandoned in stretch since I last checked.

Cheers,
David.

edit /etc/default/grub then run grub-mkconfig to apply your changes like 
this:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

hth.




--

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[David Wright]

I missed this reply until Lisi bumped the thread.
These are my opinions, based of the pathetically little I know.

On Sun 11 Sep 2016 at 18:52:59 (-0400), Harry Putnam wrote:
> The Wanderer  writes:
> 
> > On 2016-09-11 at 17:04, Harry Putnam wrote:
> >
> >> How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With the
> >> ability to startx when I feel like it.
> >> 
> 
> [...]
> 
> > The way I usually do it is to uninstall gdm, kdm, xdm, et cetera; those
> > are the packages which hook in to provide a graphical login prompt. With
> > none of them present, what you get is the traditional text-mode login
> > prompt, and your configured shell after login.
> >
> 
> [...]
> 
> That sounds promissing.  

It ought to. It's the display managers that start X. If they're not
there, you've to start it yourself with startx.

> Used one of the methods below and quickly
> realized I was expecting a nice big framebuffered text console with a
> much higher resolution than the standard.

But you got ... what?

If you want to know whether you're looking at a nice big framebuffered
text console, install fbset and type
$ fbset
If you see something like:

mode "1280x800"
geometry 1280 800 1280 800 32
timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
accel true
rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,0/0
endmode

then you are.

BTW What's the "standard" resolution of which you speak?

> (Previously my OS of choice
> was gentoo), But of course all that has to be setup as I recall it
> is done with a few extra bits on the kernel line grub.conf
> 
> Using grub2 I'm thoroughly lost what or where one would edit to allow
> a console frame buffer.

I've yet to install a Debian system where the kernel didn't boot into
a console (VC1) running at anything other than the native/maximum
resolution. Now, maybe I'm lucky. Maybe I've had good fortune with
graphics devices, screens and everything else. But I would recommend
investigating exactly what you've got on booting up before you start
fiddling. Oh, and if you see your huge screen with a blurry 80x25
console on it, don't mistake font size for resolution.

Use   dpkg-reconfigure console-setup   to set utf-8, Latin1, the font
and its size. With a framebuffer you get more choice of size.
Note: don't ever run dpkg-reconfigure console-setup if X is running,
whether or not you're using it (eg by typing Ctl-Alt-Fn). It won't
have the desired effect and it might have you troubleshooting
problems of your own making.

As for systemctl set-default, no idea, never used it wittingly.
As for runlevels, well, as Lisi said, Debian doesn't use them in
the way some distributions do, which can cause confusion.
1 is single-user, 2 is normal. Apologies if that simplicity has been
abandoned in stretch since I last checked.

Cheers,
David.

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[Lisi Reisz]

On Sunday 11 September 2016 22:54:23 david...@freevolt.org wrote:
> If using systemd, these look relevant:
> > How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.
>
>  
> https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/TipsAndTricks/#changingth
>edefaultboottarget
>
>   # ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target
> /etc/systemd/system/default.target
>
> > With the ability to startx when I feel like it.
>
>  
> https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
>
>   # systemctl isolate graphical.target

Debian does not by default have an available multi-user CLI run level.

Lisi

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[Tixy]

On Sun, 2016-09-11 at 19:03 -0400, The Wanderer wrote:
> AFAIK, the GRUB2 menu is defined from /boot/grub/grub.cfg; the headers
> of that file say that it's generated from templates in /etc/grub.d/ and
> settings in /etc/default/grub.
> 
> Based on a quick look in those locations, you probably want to adjust
> one of the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX* settings in the latter file. I haven't
> done much tweaking in that area myself, however (I only migrated to
> GRUB2 within the last year, give or take), so I can't confirm that with
> any certainty.

That's how I tweak grub to change things like the boot timeout and
kernel commandline. I.e. edit etc/default/grub and as that file says
"run 'update-grub' afterwards".

-- 
Tixy

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[davidson]

On Sun, 11 Sep 2016, Harry Putnam wrote:


That sounds promissing.  Used one of the methods below and quickly
realized I was expecting a nice big framebuffered text console with a
much higher resolution than the standard. (Previously my OS of choice
was gentoo), But of course all that has to be setup as I recall it
is done with a few extra bits on the kernel line grub.conf

Using grub2 I'm thoroughly lost what or where one would edit to allow
a console frame buffer.


Maybe OP will find this thread helpful:

 "Debian Jessie : regular console instead of a hi-res one!"
 https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2016/09/msg00127.html

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[The Wanderer]

On 2016-09-11 at 18:52, Harry Putnam wrote:

> The Wanderer  writes:
> 
>> On 2016-09-11 at 17:04, Harry Putnam wrote:
>> 
>>> How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With
>>> the ability to startx when I feel like it.

>> The way I usually do it is to uninstall gdm, kdm, xdm, et cetera;
>> those are the packages which hook in to provide a graphical login
>> prompt. With none of them present, what you get is the traditional
>> text-mode login prompt, and your configured shell after login.
> 
> That sounds promissing.  Used one of the methods below and quickly
> realized I was expecting a nice big framebuffered text console with
> a much higher resolution than the standard. (Previously my OS of
> choice was gentoo), But of course all that has to be setup as I
> recall it is done with a few extra bits on the kernel line
> grub.conf
> 
> Using grub2 I'm thoroughly lost what or where one would edit to
> allow a console frame buffer.

AFAIK, the GRUB2 menu is defined from /boot/grub/grub.cfg; the headers
of that file say that it's generated from templates in /etc/grub.d/ and
settings in /etc/default/grub.

Based on a quick look in those locations, you probably want to adjust
one of the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX* settings in the latter file. I haven't
done much tweaking in that area myself, however (I only migrated to
GRUB2 within the last year, give or take), so I can't confirm that with
any certainty.

-- 
   The Wanderer

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw



signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[Harry Putnam]

The Wanderer  writes:

> On 2016-09-11 at 17:04, Harry Putnam wrote:
>
>> How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With the
>> ability to startx when I feel like it.
>> 

[...]

> The way I usually do it is to uninstall gdm, kdm, xdm, et cetera; those
> are the packages which hook in to provide a graphical login prompt. With
> none of them present, what you get is the traditional text-mode login
> prompt, and your configured shell after login.
>

[...]

That sounds promissing.  Used one of the methods below and quickly
realized I was expecting a nice big framebuffered text console with a
much higher resolution than the standard. (Previously my OS of choice
was gentoo), But of course all that has to be setup as I recall it
is done with a few extra bits on the kernel line grub.conf

Using grub2 I'm thoroughly lost what or where one would edit to allow
a console frame buffer.

Michael Biebl  wrote:

> Assuming you use jessie (and systemd),
>
> systemctl set-default multi-user.target
>
> should do the trick. You can get the current default with
>
> systemctl get-default
>
> It's typically graphical.target.

Thanks, I actually used  your suggestion of
   systemctl set-default multi-user.target

Worked just as suggested.  I have the job running that was running out
of memory.. so I'll see if leaving X out of things is enough to allow
it to complete.  See above for some sniveling about the default
console.

david...@freevolt.org writes:

> If using systemd, these look relevant:
>
>> How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.
>
>  
> https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/TipsAndTricks/#changingthedefaultboottarget
>
>  # ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target 
> /etc/systemd/system/default.target
>
>> With the ability to startx when I feel like it.
>
>  https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
>
>  # systemctl isolate graphical.target

Thanks, your suggestion is a little more complete version of Davidson
above again thanks.

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[davidson]

If using systemd, these look relevant:


How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.


 
https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/TipsAndTricks/#changingthedefaultboottarget

 # ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target 
/etc/systemd/system/default.target


With the ability to startx when I feel like it.


 https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/FrequentlyAskedQuestions

 # systemctl isolate graphical.target

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[Michael Biebl]

Am 11.09.2016 um 23:04 schrieb Harry Putnam:
> How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With the
> ability to startx when I feel like it.
> 
> I'm not familiar with grub2 and the debian vm I'm using on a solaris
> host appears to be using grub2.
> 
> Can anyone stear me to the files I'd need to edit?
> 

Assuming you use jessie (and systemd),

systemctl set-default multi-user.target

should do the trick. You can get the current default with

systemctl get-default

It's typically graphical.target.


-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?



signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature

Re: How to arrange for booting to console

[The Wanderer]

On 2016-09-11 at 17:04, Harry Putnam wrote:

> How can I arrange to boot to console mode rather than X.   With the
> ability to startx when I feel like it.
> 
> I'm not familiar with grub2 and the debian vm I'm using on a solaris
> host appears to be using grub2.
> 
> Can anyone stear me to the files I'd need to edit?

Unless you actually want to be able to get to the graphical login
prompt, I don't believe you need to mess with GRUB, the bootloader, or
the initrd at all.

The way I usually do it is to uninstall gdm, kdm, xdm, et cetera; those
are the packages which hook in to provide a graphical login prompt. With
none of them present, what you get is the traditional text-mode login
prompt, and your configured shell after login.

From there, assuming other permissions are configured correctly (which I
seem to recall may take some tweaking, under the systemd paradigm),
'startx' should work normally. It may or may not pick up your desired
window manager; I believe the Debian Way to specify that is to select
one as the preferred alternative for the 'x-window-manager' link group.

If you do want to keep one or more of those packages present, or if you
want to do this more explicitly / manually, you'll probably need to look
at those packages and figure out what it is they do to hook themselves
in as the login prompt. I haven't investigated exactly what they change
in order to do that, so I can't directly help you there.

-- 
   The Wanderer

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw



signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature