Member Avatar for Marks256

I installed OpenSUSE 10.2 on an old sysem. Just for kicks and giggles, i decided to install with the "minimum graphics system". I like it to a poing, except for the fact that I CAN'T TERMINATE IT! I don't know how! I want to close the session so i can be back at the text based command line interface.

I googled my problem, and all the sites i have seen say to go to the menu: FVWM > Exit

I don't have that menu, i have a menue called Fvwm2. So, when i click on it, there is an "exit" button, but when i click on it, it just logs me out!

I am not very linux savvy, but i am trying to learn, so what is going on?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jbennet

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ran into expected behavior: Fvwm2’s "Exit" ends the X session (logging the user out) and hands control back to whatever display manager is running, so it won't necessarily leave the machine at a plain text login. Several replies are on the right track — pointed out virtual terminals for a quick shell, and / correctly steered toward runlevels or stopping the display manager for a persistent non‑graphical environment.

Quick, safe tactics (no distro reinstall required):

  • Switch to a text virtual console and authenticate as root to get a shell without touching configs. From there a temporary, session‑lasting switch to a non‑graphical runlevel can be done with:
    telinit 3
# later, to return to graphics
telinit 5
  • To stop X immediately on many systems the X server kill shortcut can work, though it may be disabled. Alternatively stop the display manager from the root shell:
    /etc/init.d/xdm stop   # or /etc/init.d/kdm stop or /etc/init.d/gdm stop, depending on which is installed

If the goal is to change what the FVWM menu does rather than boot behavior, edit the FVWM menu/rc file (typically ~/.fvwm2rc or ~/.fvwm/config) and modify the Exit/Menu action so it restarts the window manager or runs a custom script instead of performing a full logout. Back up any system files before editing.

Finally, for the hardware angle mentioned by : an old GeForce4 MX can struggle with KDE’s acceleration. If keeping a GUI, try a lighter window manager (Fluxbox/Openbox/IceWM) or use the fallback VESA/NV driver and check /var/log/Xorg.0.log for driver errors. ’s suggestion to try a lighter distro/profile also remains a practical option for very old machines.

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Member Avatar for Member #46692

Is it ctrl+alt+F2

And then ctrl+alt+F7 to get back to the gooey.

Member Avatar for John A

Using Ctrl-Alt-Fx to use various virtual terminals is a temporary solution, if you don't ever want the GUI to come up again, you'll have to change your default runlevel and/or remove xdm from your default runlevel. I don't know how to do this in SuSE however; it would be nice if someone who knew the commands for this could help out.

Member Avatar for jbennet

in grub i think you can specify the runlevel as a boot option (3 = command line usually)

this varies between distros

Member Avatar for John A

Ah. After a bit of researching, it appears that SuSE uses the /etc/inittab file as well for setting the default runlevel. In that case, it should be as simple as changing the line id:5:initdefault: to id:3:initdefault:

Member Avatar for Marks256

Thanks.

I actually resintalled with KDE, but i can't get that to work (my video card is crap...)

I am giving up on this machine (it is really out-of-date). I will get another machine built up, and if i have the same problem, i wll post again. ;)

Member Avatar for jbennet

suse on old systems = slow

try debian

i got debian running happy on old p3s 600mhz - 1ghz with 128 or 256 (better) RAM

Member Avatar for Marks256

It is a 1GHz PIII. The only thing bad about it is the crappy video card. :( (Old nVidia GeForce4 MX 4000 PCI)

Member Avatar for jbennet

Ive got a geforce 2 mx and i can get the spinning cube and wobbly windows on linux (XGL/Compiz) under debian you need much less for linux than you do for vista aero

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