Get into Text Mode in Linux

[SteelCityFan]

I tried to get my GeForce2Go to work. I tried a standard GeForce2, and it did not work. No, when I boot up, it foes into XWindows, but the creen is all distorted. During bootup, how do I get it to the text login so I can edit the XConfig file?

Thanks.

 

[N11]

Boot off of your Red Hat Disc1 cd and type 'linux rescue' at the prompt. This will boot you into rescue mode, chroot as it requests you to.

This will give you a prompt where you can edit your config files. If you want to make the permanent change and just reboot back to do your editing, just edit /etc/inittab when in rescue mode and change the id:5:initdefault: to id:3:initdefault:

Edit: this information assumes you are running red hat, you didn't list which distro.

 

[manly]

If the OS installed okay, you don't need the rescue disk.

Assuming you have LILO, you just append the runlevel to the Linux boot profile. So at the LILO prompt, type <space> 3 <enter>:

linux 3

I'm sure Red Hat's GRUB (default boot loader these days) has similar functionality. Check out the web site for complete Red Hat Linux documentation, including coverage of GRUB.

FYI:
Runlevel 3 is console w/ network.
Runlevel 1 is single-user mode console.
Runlevel 5 is graphical: xdm/kdm/gdm.

 

[N11]

Rescue mode is a simple procedure which is the best non boot loader specific way to accomplish the tasks, grub, lilo, or 3rd party boot loader independent. I recommend rescue mode because it will give you some experience on dealing with issues like this when you cannot rely or depend on a boot loader -- this happens frequently with system or boot related problems that cannot be addressed off of a normal boot.

FYI:
Runlevels are how you choose to define them, these are system defaults.

 

[manly]

FYI:
Runlevels are how you choose to define them, these are system defaults.

I could be wrong, but I disagree here. Yes, runlevels are arbitrary numbers, but they are de facto and now LSB standards.

Furthermore, the OS defines the runlevels unless you really muck with the system and hack the init scripts. So for all intents and purposes, they are not user customizable.

What is fully customizable are which services you choose to run in any given runlevel.

 

[N11]

Originally posted by: manly

FYI:
Runlevels are how you choose to define them, these are system defaults.

I could be wrong, but I disagree here. Yes, runlevels are arbitrary numbers, but they are de facto and now LSB standards.

Furthermore, the OS defines the runlevels unless you really muck with the system and hack the init scripts. So for all intents and purposes, they are not user customizable.

What is fully customizable are which services you choose to run in any given runlevel.

I think you may have missed the point -- runlevels are defined by which services are started or not started when initialized -- One can very easily maintain a runlevel 3 with no network services.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: N11

Originally posted by: manly

FYI:
Runlevels are how you choose to define them, these are system defaults.

I could be wrong, but I disagree here. Yes, runlevels are arbitrary numbers, but they are de facto and now LSB standards.

Furthermore, the OS defines the runlevels unless you really muck with the system and hack the init scripts. So for all intents and purposes, they are not user customizable.

What is fully customizable are which services you choose to run in any given runlevel.

I think you may have missed the point -- runlevels are defined by which services are started or not started when initialized -- One can very easily maintain a runlevel 3 with no network services.

True. Debian seems to be a little bad in this regard. When I net-installed 3.0 with XFree86, it decided that every runlevel except 1 (single user) was going to start XDM. Not good. Once I figured out that they don't start XDM from /etc/inittab (unlike Redhat, iirc), I was able to go into the appropriate /etc/rcX.d/ folder and delete symlinks as necessary. Then, after installing KDE, I had to create symlinks to KDM manually. Maybe I'm just too used to Redhat's simpler installation proceedures, but screwing with symlinks in /etc/rcX.d/ is not my idea of fun.

 

[SteelCityFan]

Originally posted by: N11
Boot off of your Red Hat Disc1 cd and type 'linux rescue' at the prompt. This will boot you into rescue mode, chroot as it requests you to.

This will give you a prompt where you can edit your config files. If you want to make the permanent change and just reboot back to do your editing, just edit /etc/inittab when in rescue mode and change the id:5:initdefault: to id:3:initdefault:

Edit: this information assumes you are running red hat, you didn't list which distro.

Does it give me a normal Linux prompt at this point where I can run VI? I am pretty new to Linux. I know how to use it from my days in College (Unix) and a little this past year, but I am unfamiliar with configuration issues like this. When I installed Redhat 7.3 on this laptop, I had big problems getting the 1600x1200 screen to work, but there was enough documentation on it so I finally got it. I ended up having to contact someone by email who responded to a post of mine I believe. He sent me his XConfig file after installing the NVidia drivers. BTW, will the XConfig file I used for RH7.3 work for RH8?

Can you go into a little more detail for the above instructions?


Thanks

 

[SteelCityFan]

I found out what I needed from another forum...

...

ctrl-alt-shft-f2 to get out of X

alt-f7 to get back to your X session

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: N11

Originally posted by: manly

FYI:
Runlevels are how you choose to define them, these are system defaults.

I could be wrong, but I disagree here. Yes, runlevels are arbitrary numbers, but they are de facto and now LSB standards.

Furthermore, the OS defines the runlevels unless you really muck with the system and hack the init scripts. So for all intents and purposes, they are not user customizable.

What is fully customizable are which services you choose to run in any given runlevel.

I think you may have missed the point -- runlevels are defined by which services are started or not started when initialized -- One can very easily maintain a runlevel 3 with no network services.

I still don't agree with you here, specifically the bolded emphasis I added.

There are generally accepted defaults on what basic operating system functionality is activated in each runlevel (listed in /etc/inittab).

The sysadmin controls which additional scripts (e.g. services) they'd like to execute in each runlevel.

For 99% of the users out there, the (de facto and now LSB) standard defaults for each runlevel apply.

Take runlevel 3 for example, that's most commonly multiuser with networking activated. Whether or not you actually run any networking services on your own box doesn't change the standard runlevel defaults unless you purposely decide to alter the system in that way.

If I tell another Linux user to start up in runlevel 3, they know what I mean. They don't ask me if Apache, et al should or shouldn't be started. The way I would have stated it is "scripts and symlinks beneath /etc/rc.d/ define which services (and admittedly also some operating system features) are started in the standard runlevels".

My point is actually confirmed by your original advice to edit the default runlevel from 5 to 3 in /etc/inittab. You could have instead advised to remove the symlinks starting kdm/gdm in /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/ but that would not be the standard solution.

I can see how/why the point is debatable, but obviously we have a difference of opinion. 😉

 

[N11]

Originally posted by: manly

Originally posted by: N11

Originally posted by: manly

FYI:
Runlevels are how you choose to define them, these are system defaults.

I could be wrong, but I disagree here. Yes, runlevels are arbitrary numbers, but they are de facto and now LSB standards.

Furthermore, the OS defines the runlevels unless you really muck with the system and hack the init scripts. So for all intents and purposes, they are not user customizable.

What is fully customizable are which services you choose to run in any given runlevel.

I think you may have missed the point -- runlevels are defined by which services are started or not started when initialized -- One can very easily maintain a runlevel 3 with no network services.

I still don't agree with you here, specifically the bolded emphasis I added.

There are generally accepted defaults on what basic operating system functionality is activated in each runlevel (listed in /etc/inittab).

The sysadmin controls which additional scripts (e.g. services) they'd like to execute in each runlevel.

For 99% of the users out there, the (de facto and now LSB) standard defaults for each runlevel apply.

Take runlevel 3 for example, that's most commonly multiuser with networking activated. Whether or not you actually run any networking services on your own box doesn't change the standard runlevel defaults unless you purposely decide to alter the system in that way.

If I tell another Linux user to start up in runlevel 3, they know what I mean. They don't ask me if Apache, et al should or shouldn't be started. The way I would have stated it is "scripts and symlinks beneath /etc/rc.d/ define which services (and admittedly also some operating system features) are started in the standard runlevels".

My point is actually confirmed by your original advice to edit the default runlevel from 5 to 3 in /etc/inittab. You could have instead advised to remove the symlinks starting kdm/gdm in /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/ but that would not be the standard solution.

I can see how/why the point is debatable, but obviously we have a difference of opinion. 😉

You've more or less agreed with me, going back to the beginning runlevels in red hat have standard defaults provided to the user. Modifying runlevels does not require going anywhere near /etc/rc.d/rcx.d -- the command chkconfig will allow you to modify your runlevels as you see fit (this is something I do the minute an installation is finished.)

In this situation I just thought it might be useful that the user know that there is plenty more below the surface to what was being said -- learning how the system works and how to fix it rather than just what the necessary information is to run it. In this example changing his runlevel was the best method but this doesn't negate from the other points on runlevels and how they are defined. That's part of the reason we get a runlevel 4.

 

[manly]

And I still disagree on semantics.

chkconfig is a simple tool that modifies the symlinks for you, nothing more. Both mechanisms are functionally equivalent although chkconfig is slightly more convenient.

You say chkconfig is for modifying runlevels. I say there are well-established conventions on what the runlevels establish as a baseline; chkconfig is used to choose the services you require in each runlevel. But that doesn't change the runlevel anymore than I alter the Windows OS kernel when I hack the registry.

But anyway, enough beating of a dead horse. I'll settle for a technical draw.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this (didn't read the whole thread) but the geforce2go won't work with the XFree86 drivers (atleast not outside 800x600@ 16 colors or something ugly like that). You need to install the nvidia's linux drivers from their site and edit your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. Assuming you're going install the drivers from source, you need to have the kernel-source installed on your system which may or may not have been default on RH8 (they weren't on RH7.3).