Mandrake-Linux 8.1 will not shutdown X

[lars at larsshack.org (Lars Kellogg-Stedman)]

On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Michael . wrote:

> I used Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to shutdown X but it just turns it off and
> starts it automatically.I need to be able to use linux in console mode
> instead of always using X.

Typing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace doesn't so much "shutdown X" as it causes the X
server to exit.  To XDM (or its Gnome or KDE equivalent), this is
indistinguishable from you logging out, so the proper response is to return
to the X login screen.

If you generally use X but sometimes need console mode, you can usually
switch to a text console by typing <ctrl>+<alt>+F1..Fn.  For example,
<ctrl>+<alt>+F1 gets you virtual console 1, <ctrl>+<alt>+F2 gets you
virtual console 2, etc.

If you *always* want to use console mode, then you need to disable XDM.
The easiest way to accomplish this is (usually) to boot into runlevel 3
instead of runlevel 5.  To change your systems default runlevel, edit the
file /etc/inittab.  Look for a line like this:

  id:5:initdefault:

And change it to this:

  id:3:initdefault:

You can either reboot the system or just type (as root) 'init 3' to enter
runlevel 3.

-- Lars

-- 
Lars Kellogg-Stedman <lars at larsshack.org>