Boot Debian Linux in Console/Text/Terminal at Start-up

Boot Debian Linux in Console/Text/Terminal at Start-up:


You can boot your debian machine to Console/Text/Terminal mode do so by disabling your login manager such as KDM, GDM or XDM from running at boot time.


To disable the login manager from automatically running at boot up, run the following command as root

# update-rc.d -f kdm remove

Replace kdm with gdm or xdm if they are what you use.

To start X manually, you would then have to login at the command prompt and enter the command:

$ startx

To reset your login manager so that it runs at boot up, do:

# update-rc.d -f kdm defaults



*NOTES:

- The $ sign at the start of the command is to signify the terminal's prompt, no need to type this in
- The # sign at the start of the command is to signify the root user's terminal prompt, no need to type this in

Animated wallpaper on Linux Desktop with XWINWRAP

Animated Wallpaper on Linux Desktop with XWINWRAP:


Download and Install xwinwrap to have animated wallpaper from shantz-xwinwrap @ http://tech.shantanugoel.com/projects/linux/shantz-xwinwrap

Alot of people seem to be having problems with this app with icons, well for me I don't use icons anyways,
and even in this article I assume if you do try it, that you don't use icons, for me its just more clean anyways.

You can actually use a media player like mplayer to play a video as the background if you like with xwinwrap app, however for this example I keep it simple by using the matrix screen saver found in most linux distros, especially debian and debian based ones.


At the website it instructs to using:

- To run glmatrix in fullscreen wallpaper mode

$ ./xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID


- To run glmatrix in a small window wallpaper mode

$ ./xwinwrap -ov -g 400x400+400+200 -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID


- To run glmatrix in small circle wallpaper mode

$ ./xwinwrap -ov -g 400x400+400+200 -sh circle -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID


- To run glmatrix in small triangular wallpaper mode

$ ./xwinwrap -ov -g 400x400+400+200 -sh triangle -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID


However, I ran into some problems and I tried several combinations of the options, I would get the whole screen with the animation eating up all my windows/apps/panels even, I found a solution that works, but as I said earlier, I do not use nor have tested it with icons, try the following command if it works out for you:

To run:

$ xwinwrap -ni -o 1 -fs -s -st -sp -b -nf -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID

To stop use pkill as below:

$ pkill xwinwrap


(Tested working in LMDE LinuxMint XFCE 4.8, Debian Sid (Unstable) KDE 4.8)


*NOTES:
- I suggest using ALT+F2 and inputting the command/s there, instead of on console prompt, however if you do use a console append an "&" w/o the quotes a the end with a space separating it from the rest, this will indicate to run it on the background so that you wont kill the program by terminating console when you do.
ex:
$ xwinwrap -ni -o 1 -fs -s -st -sp -b -nf -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID
to
$ xwinwrap -ni -o 1 -fs -s -st -sp -b -nf -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID &
- The $ sign at the start of the command is to signify the terminal's prompt, no need to type this in.



Boot LinuxMint Debian (LMDE) in Console/Text/Terminal at Start-Up



Boot LinuxMint Debian (LMDE) in Console/Text/Terminal at start up:


Edit /etc/default/grub to boot LinuxMint Debian into console mode, You shouldn't just sudo nano /boot/grub/grub.cfg and put "text" there, there's a big warning against it at the top of the file.

The right way is to:
$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub


And add "text" to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT.
So if it looked like:

    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"

...you have to change it to:

    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet text"

update grub

$ sudo update-grub

And reboot.

This method is preferred over disabling a service, since it's what it should be: editing one line in a configuration file. The same process can be repeated, and, if you want, startx will bring you to the user graphical interface while in text mode.

To return to normal, of course, just edit the file again and update-grub.

*NOTES:


- The $ sign at the start of the command is to signify the terminal's prompt, no need to type this in
- Doesn't seem to work in Vanilla Debian Sid (Unstable) do not use this unless you want to never boot in X/GUI, if you ever did do this, you can fix it by changing the grub defaults in CLI, then update-grub and restart.