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Booting without graphical login


Guest SDMF
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I would like to ditch my GDM and boot without a graphical login. This would require me to start X manually. Does anyone either know of a good walkthrough online for doing this, or would they mind showing me how to do so?

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startx /usr/bin/startkde

startx /usr/bin/startgnome (I think)

startx /usr/bin/fluxbox

 

you can even do this

startx /usr/local/games/ut/ut

or

startx /usr/local/games/ut2003/ut2003

:-)

 

reboot = shutdown -r now

halt = shutdown -h now

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Oh, so I would just be logged into a bash shell? Is there a way to run startx automatically on login, or is that a bad idea? I'm thinking it would be a bad idea, since then you would not get back to the prompt to type halt.

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startx /usr/bin/startkde

startx /usr/bin/startgnome (I think)

startx /usr/bin/fluxbox

 

you can even do this

startx /usr/local/games/ut/ut

or

startx /usr/local/games/ut2003/ut2003

:-)

 

reboot = shutdown -r now

halt = shutdown -h now

 

So startx, when run with an argument, will run X just for the length of that program? .xinitrc runs when you run startx, right?

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i wasn't aware that you could do it paul's way. i've been doing it like this:

startx KDE

startx Fluxbox

but the argument i pass to startx is case sensitive and must match the spelling of the files in /etc/X11/wmsession.d (minus the two leading digits). also, the wm specified in ~/.xinitrc overrides the argument passed to startx so only do it one way or the other.

and you could have in your .bashrc, startx but then what the point?

wouldn't that mean that startx would get called everytime you started an xterm? i think that startx should get called from .bash_profile

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well, I'm just running startx and starting the window manager from .xinitrc. It seems to be working just fine. If I want to change the window manager before I go in I just vi the .xinitrc file and make the necessary change.

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Since I started doing this, I have noticed that certain apps, like gaim and gedit, which I believe both rely somehow on Gnome font settings, now have larger-sized fonts. This wasn't a problem when I was using GDM, but since GDM is a Gnome program, I have a hunch that this has something to do with the font settings not being the same as before. Is there a way for me to change these font sizes?

 

Edit: I was able to make them look slightly better by importing some M$ TT fonts, and changing the order in which the font server looks for fonts. I'm content now with the way they are, but if anyone knows how to change them, I'd like to know, just for the heck of it.

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Since I extensively play(ed) around with my XF86Config-4 file, I start X this way (as normal user on the bash console, not in any graphical environment):

X -xf86config XF86Config-4.test1 :1 &



(switch back with ctrl-alt-F[1-6])



export DISPLAY=:1



twm &

Instead of twm you can put icewm etc.

 

Note that the file XF86Config-4.test1 must be in /etc/X11/ (where the standard XF config is).

 

I do this even when I have a graphical environment running, it helps me to test for other resolutions and refreshrates. (I tried a lot to get the signal to my projector right) (which ended up being a problem due to the hardware configuration in the software/firmware,..... ah well)

 

I know some people who use this to have their wife use the computer on one X session, and have their stuff open on a second one, completely different... Nice if you have cable and use p2p programs, or are downloading some .iso's and your girlfriend wants to do some email stuff... no logging on or of, just start her session, switch between them with ctrl-alt-f7 and ctrl-alt-f8 (you can have up to 6 graphical sessions plus I don't know how many graphical vnc sessions)....

BTW this is one of the things that that other OS cannot do, and it can be very handy, so now you have some more 'ammunition' in an OS discussion.

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