Recently someone asked me a question – “How do I shutdown the X server, so that I have a command line prompt on the console?”
Well answer is very simple use script located at /etc/init.d/ directory. If you are using KDE desktop type the command (make sure you save all the work as following command does not ask confirmation):
sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop
Within few seconds you should be dropped to a command line prompt on the console. To start GUI type command:
sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start
If you are using GNOME:
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
Again to start GNOME desktop:
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start
Another way – You can change the current runlevel
From a command line, you can use the init command to go immediately into runlevel 1, which is also known as single user text mode. Open terminal and type the following command:
sudo init 1
Again get back to GUI with init 2 command:
sudo init 2
When you type init 1 command your session will then begin to shut down and bring you into single user text mode. When you type init 2 command your session will then begin to shut down and bring you into GUI mode :)
Pretty easy ahh?
So what are GDM and KDM?
- GDM (the GNOME Display Manager) provides an alternate display manager for the X Window System.
- KDM (the KDE Display Manger) provides an alternate display manager for the X Window System.
- In short, both of them are a graphical login interface for computers using Linux or Unix-like operating systems.