From owner-freebsd-questions Wed Dec 18 23:53:55 1996 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id XAA06735 for questions-outgoing; Wed, 18 Dec 1996 23:53:55 -0800 (PST) Received: from gatekeeper.barcode.co.il (gatekeeper.barcode.co.il [192.116.93.17]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP id XAA06726 for ; Wed, 18 Dec 1996 23:53:47 -0800 (PST) Received: (from smap@localhost) by gatekeeper.barcode.co.il (8.7.5/8.6.12) id JAA01839; Thu, 19 Dec 1996 09:54:04 +0200 (IST) X-Authentication-Warning: gatekeeper.barcode.co.il: smap set sender to using -f Received: from localhost.barcode.co.il(127.0.0.1) by gatekeeper.barcode.co.il via smap (V1.3) id sma001837; Thu Dec 19 09:53:48 1996 Message-ID: <32B8F422.107@barcode.co.il> Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 09:52:02 +0200 From: Nadav Eiron X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (X11; I; SunOS 5.5 sun4m) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Christopher J. Booth" CC: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Stuck in xdm-Land References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Christopher J. Booth wrote: > > Okay, this is an odd one, but, I don't know what to do. > > I decided to try to get X started up, so I followed (I think I followed) > the directions on p. 99 of _The Complete FreeBSD_ to start xdm. > > I opened up /etc/ttys with vi and keyed in > > ttyv4 "/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm on secure > > at the end of the file. > > Then I did > > kill -1 1 > > Yup, most gratifying, xdm started. An uninteresting-looking window manager. > I would rather play with fvwm, I think. > > But now I can't get rid of it. The xdm login comes up at boot, and it won't > let me log in as root. I hadn't set up my alter-ego users as permitted to > run as su. Control-alt-delete just causes xdm to restart, and I can't > interrupt. Likewise control-c. And it is living on alt-F1 through alt-F2. > As the man in the Fiat yelled to the man in the sports car racing down the > highway, "How do I get this thing our of second gear?" > > _____________________________________________________________________ > Christopher J. Booth This speech of yours hath moved me, > cbooth@mordor.com And shall perchance do good: but speak you on; > You look as you had something more to say. > --Edmund, _King Lear_ A couple of things: 1. To get back to a different virtual console after starting Xwindows you need to use ctrl+alt+F1/F2/F3. This should get you to the familiar login prompt (don't be too hasty with that, if you hit that while xdm is still starting up it sometimes locks your keyboard). 2. It's kind of a flame maker, but running xdm through /etc/ttys kinda makes xdm immortal, because init will restart it whenever it is killed. If you want to be able to kill xdm (and the X server for that mater, as xdm will restart X if it gets killed) you should start xdm from rc.local. For details, look at the FAQ: http://www.freebsd.org/FAQ/FAQ88.html#88 This way, you can simply kill -9 xdm's pid and be done with it if it really gets up on your nerves. Nadav