how to switch between consoles(in textmode)?

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: how to switch between consoles(in textmode)?
started by: MadCyborg

Posted by MadCyborg on Mar. 24 2006,16:25

can anyone tell me how to switch between different consoles in textmode?
when x is startet it's no problem to switch between the desktops via [alt]+[Fn]...so my keyboard is ok.

Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 24 2006,16:49

In a default DSL setup, there is only one virtual console. You can get 4 by booting into runlevel 2, 3, or 4 (boot option "dsl 2" for runlevel 2...they will all be logged in as root). As far as I know, those 3 runlevels are essentially identical.

You can also edit /etc/inittab to add more respawn commands to runlevel 5.
I wrote a how-to for multiple virtual terminals + login prompt here:
< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....;t=7936 >

Posted by MadCyborg on Mar. 24 2006,17:02

thanks,
just before i read your answer i tried to boot do runlevel 2 and it worked.

Posted by pr0f3550r on Mar. 25 2006,12:56

You can also stop X (CTRL-ALT-backspace) and restartx in background (startx &). That will give you one console (C+A+F1).

Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 25 2006,15:11

I never thought about that one...pretty neat.
But where does X's stdout/stderr print if you background it? In the middle of whatever you do on the console? That seems like it would be kinda messy.

Posted by pr0f3550r on Mar. 25 2006,15:44

Quote (mikshaw @ Mar. 25 2006,10:11)

That seems like it would be kinda messy.

Actually it is, that should be matter for another thread I'm writing. This is a cheap hack and works for me, but only in qemu+ dsl.iso, not in standard embedded.
My .bash_profile

Code Sample

dsl@box:~$ cat .bash_profile
#!/bin/bash
export IRCNICK=DSL

#added for my own use
export http_proxy=http://proxy1.XXXXXX.com:80

SSH=`env | grep SSH_CONNECTION`
RUNLEVEL=`runlevel|cut -f2 -d' '`
if [ -z "$SSH" ]; then
if [ $RUNLEVEL -eq 5 ]; then
(startx & 2>/dev/null )
fi
fi