Several (relatively simple) linux questions: 1. How can I set my computer to boot to the console, not X-windows? I'm using Debian and gnome is set as the default (what is the name of the file I change that in again?). 2. Linux is up to 2.6x now, right? It appears I installed version 2.4. Can I apt-get install my way up to the latest version? If so, what should I search for? "Linux 2.6" got me a ton of results. 3. Whenever I can't seem to save/modify anything outside of what's in my desktop folder from within gnome. The console is allowed to do it, but gnome isn't. I tried logging in as a super user from the gui console, but that didn't work. Whenever I try to modify anything I'm told I don't have permission. I'm using the account I set up linux with, which I thought had permissions close to that of root. Perhaps I'm wrong? Actually, even if I am, the stuff I'm trying to modify is in my (the user I'm presently logged in as) home/<user name> directory. I should definitely have permission to modify that... Thanks in advance!

Quote:

1. How can I set my computer to boot to the console, not X-windows? I'm using Debian and gnome is set as the default (what is the name of the file I change that in again?).

You have to change the runlevel in /etc/inittab. I believe you need to change it to 3 for console mode. It should be commented, but if you can't find it, the line should look like this:

id:*runlevel*:initdefault:

Quote:

2. Linux is up to 2.6x now, right? It appears I installed version 2.4. Can I apt-get install my way up to the latest version? If so, what should I search for? "Linux 2.6" got me a ton of results.

You can apt-get install the sources, but you'll have to build and configure it yourself. Unless there's some reason you need to upgrade, I suggest you stick with the default kernel.

Quote:

3. Whenever I can't seem to save/modify anything outside of what's in my desktop folder from within gnome. The console is allowed to do it, but gnome isn't. I tried logging in as a super user from the gui console, but that didn't work. Whenever I try to modify anything I'm told I don't have permission. I'm using the account I set up linux with, which I thought had permissions close to that of root. Perhaps I'm wrong? Actually, even if I am, the stuff I'm trying to modify is in my (the user I'm presently logged in as) home/<user name> directory. I should definitely have permission to modify that...

What exactly do you mean "from within gnome"? Have you tried writing a file in a gnome terminal?

Quote:

Original post by CyberSlag5k Several (relatively simple) linux questions: 1. How can I set my computer to boot to the console, not X-windows? I'm using Debian and gnome is set as the default (what is the name of the file I change that in again?).

I >believe< you have to remove the item in /etc/init.d (I think it's xstart or something like that... I'm not running X on my Debian server, so I can't remember off the top of my head - a quick google search should fix it)

Quote:

2. Linux is up to 2.6x now, right? It appears I installed version 2.4. Can I apt-get install my way up to the latest version? If so, what should I search for? "Linux 2.6" got me a ton of results.

If you're using Debian Woody, I believe only the 2.4 kernel is currently in the stable tree... I believe there is an unstable port of 2.6, but I can't remember any of the specifics...

Thanks for the responses guys :)

Quote:

What exactly do you mean "from within gnome"? Have you tried writing a file in a gnome terminal?

Either attempting to create a directory using some sort of application from within the GUI or using a terminal, I can only make changes within the Desktop directory. If I go out one level, permission denied. Even within another directory that is a child of my user directory.

Quote:

If you're using Debian Woody, I believe only the 2.4 kernel is currently in the stable tree... I believe there is an unstable port of 2.6, but I can't remember any of the specifics...

Sarge is what I installed. Is that an unstable version?



New round of questions:

1. It appears all of the commands entered in the terminal are stored. Is there a way to purge those?

2. I think I need to refine my apt-cache search techniques. I can't ever seem to find what I want. I'm looking to install the SDL and OpenGL libraries, but when I apt-cache search SDL/OpenGL (headers, .h, libraries, etc) I get a ton of results and really none of them look like what i need (except something called libsage, but that didn't work). Can someone suggest a better way to find stuff like that?

Thanks for all the help guys!

Quote:

Thanks for the responses guys :) Quote: What exactly do you mean "from within gnome"? Have you tried writing a file in a gnome terminal? Either attempting to create a directory using some sort of application from within the GUI or using a terminal, I can only make changes within the Desktop directory. If I go out one level, permission denied. Even within another directory that is a child of my user directory.

Interesting. What are the permissions for your home directory (ls -l /home)? It sounds like the write bit is off on your home directory and on in Desktop/, but it's hard to tell.

Quote:

1. It appears all of the commands entered in the terminal are stored. Is there a way to purge those?

~/.bash_history; you can just delete it if you want to get rid of everything.

Quote:

2. I think I need to refine my apt-cache search techniques. I can't ever seem to find what I want. I'm looking to install the SDL and OpenGL libraries, but when I apt-cache search SDL/OpenGL (headers, .h, libraries, etc) I get a ton of results and really none of them look like what i need (except something called libsage, but that didn't work). Can someone suggest a better way to find stuff like that?

I think package names are case sensitive, so most of the time they'll be in all lowercase. I got plenty of relevant results with apt-cache search sdl. Most of the time library headers have a -dev extension and usually start with lib. If none of the things that I listed above worked, you could try using aptitude if you want; it's an ncurses-based apt frontend.

Permissions are:
drwxr-xr-x

Also, I changed the default id to 3 but it still boots to gnome. I tried another suggestion from a google find of removing (or rather renaming as I did so I could easily restore it) S99gdm from /etc/rc5.d. That didn't work either.

Could these two problems be rooted in the fact that I installed linux as a single user system (which I'm pretty sure I did)? I also noticed I couldn't switch to another console using CTRL|ALT|SHIFT and a function key. Do I either have the command wrong or is it again the single user thing? Is there an easy way to switch myself over to a multi-user system?

EDIT:
Also I tried installing libsdl1.2-dev but that still didn't work (maybe I need to reboot?). I don't really see anything else that follows the lib/dev convention you mentioned that looks like the SDL header. :(

Quote:

Original post by CyberSlag5k EDIT: Also I tried installing libsdl1.2-dev but that still didn't work (maybe I need to reboot?).

Well rebooting isn't going to change anything, unlike with windows, it's not something you "just do" when something stops working.

Quote:

Permissions are: drwxr-xr-x

I guess that rules out my theory.

Quote:

Also, I changed the default id to 3 but it still boots to gnome. I tried another suggestion from a google find of removing (or rather renaming as I did so I could easily restore it) S99gdm from /etc/rc5.d. That didn't work either.

I don't suggest playing around with the init scripts like that, because 1) you might disable something important or 2) it's harder to restore when you need to enable it again. After looking at my /etc/rc.d's, I just realised that gdm is ran for every runlevel except for single-user mode--2. When you rename /etc/rc5.d/S99gdm, make sure you remove the 'S' suffix, which is what /etc/init.d/rc looks for when it runs scripts in the rc directories.

Debian has a utility for managing startup scripts: update-rc.d.

Some examples:

update-rc.d gdm remove # removes gdm from all runlevels
update-rc.d gdm defaults 99 # adds gdm start to 2-5, and gdm stop to 0,1,6


Edit: Also, what problem do you run into when you try to install libsdl?
And Sarge is the testing branch, which is usually more up to date than the stable branch but is still quite well tested. There is also an unstable branch which I believe is where the development happens.

[Edited by - Aly on March 5, 2005 11:42:23 PM]

Quote:

Original post by bytecoder Quote: 1. How can I set my computer to boot to the console, not X-windows? I'm using Debian and gnome is set as the default (what is the name of the file I change that in again?). You have to change the runlevel in /etc/inittab. I believe you need to change it to 3 for console mode. It should be commented, but if you can't find it, the line should look like this: id:*runlevel*:initdefault:

No. For the love of lemon-cake, no. Debian doesn't do that run-level silliness like the others. There are no special non-GUI/GUI runlevels in Debian. I think what Aly suggested is the correct solution.

Quote:

Quote: 2. Linux is up to 2.6x now, right? It appears I installed version 2.4. Can I apt-get install my way up to the latest version? If so, what should I search for? "Linux 2.6" got me a ton of results. You can apt-get install the sources, but you'll have to build and configure it yourself. Unless there's some reason you need to upgrade, I suggest you stick with the default kernel.

You can apt-get install the binaries, too. I think you're best bet is to 'agpt-get install kernel-image-2.8-X', where X is '686' for Pentium Pro series/Intel types, or 'k7' for Athlons. There are other Xs if your CPU is more uncommon.

Quote:

3. Whenever I can't seem to save/modify anything outside of what's in my desktop folder from within gnome. The console is allowed to do it, but gnome isn't. I tried logging in as a super user from the gui console, but that didn't work. Whenever I try to modify anything I'm told I don't have permission. I'm using the account I set up linux with, which I thought had permissions close to that of root. Perhaps I'm wrong? Actually, even if I am, the stuff I'm trying to modify is in my (the user I'm presently logged in as) home/<user name> directory. I should definitely have permission to modify that...

That's a *weird* problem. I might suggest contacting the Debian user mailing list about that one.