i dont have much of command line experience with linux.can i setup opensuse server in such a way that i do all my configurations in gui mode and then switch the server to no gui mode as to free up resources.
i and running kde desktop
Yeah,
I think you have to chose in the login screen (the drop down with the pen and paper) how you want to start your session.
Hi
A better way is to modify the /etc/inittab file to change the default
from runlevel 5 to runlevel 3, also if your not running the VT’s rem
out the ttys (I just run 1 and 2). Then the system will boot to a
console login, if you want a DE, then just login as your user and run
the command startx.
You might also want to look at remote admin, I use NX then start a
desktop session this way and the server just sits at runlevel 3.
If the motherboard has onboard vga using system RAM, then reduce this
to the minimum as well via the BIOS…
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.32.24-0.2-default
up 3 days 12:25, 2 users, load average: 6.04, 3.26, 1.33
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - Driver Version: 260.19.21
Cool, I have to rmember that. I will apply it to my server too. I didn’t set it for now.
Thanks malcolmlewis. 
And you realy dop not need a GUI to configure your system. It is in fact the other way around. There are GUI appllications that help you to configure, but they in fact do the same as you could do with the CLI.
And it is also not needed to abstain from YaST in the CLI. Call (as root)
yast
from the command line and you have the ncurses interface.
Come on DaaX! Now say something clever! 
- I mean … something wise.
LOL
Yup, if you have a serial port, get that working as your console
with minicom on the remote machine… (the inittab has some clues)
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.32.24-0.2-default
up 3 days 15:51, 2 users, load average: 0.28, 0.11, 0.06
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - Driver Version: 260.19.21
And I could help getting Grub to that console (when you are interested).
On 2010-12-09 20:36, hcvv wrote:
>
> malcolmlewis;2264020 Wrote:
>> LOL
>> Yup, if you have a serial port, get that working as your console
Or via telephone.
> And I could help getting Grub to that console (when you are
> interested).
I made the kernel dump its message via serial port, but not grub. I’ve used
it for debugging, which is a different thing.
It occurs to me that you can set up two computers with crossed serial
ports, so that the boot sequence of one is sent to the other via serial
port. This way you can do remote maintenance at that level, because grub
doesn’t do network.
What I don’t know is if you need two serial ports per computer of just one.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
What I don’t know is if you need two serial ports per computer of just one.
I would say two. When the system is up and running you it the console port acts as a normal terminal (as it was sa 30 years ago) and has some getty runing on it which changes to a login and then shell when used. The other side de must then offer the “user” side of the conversation, which looks bit difficult to me when it is also having a getty running.
To explain a bit further (I hope it is not to much off topic), the “TTY as console” solution I have running here is threefold:
- It must be possible to login and thus there is an entry like
S0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -h 9600 ttyS0 vt220
in /etc/inittab for the port ttyS0.
(BTW the system only runs up to runlevel three and GUI software was never installed).
- Tell the kernel to use this port as a console (rather then the virtual one on the screen) by adding a kernel parameter like
console=ttyS0,9600n8
to the appropriate kernel line(s) in /boot/grub/meu.list.
- Configure GRUB to use the port for it’s boot menu, first by introducing the terminal to GRUB:
serial --unit=0 --speed=9600 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
and then by telling GRUB to use it:
terminal --timeout=1 serial
Both lines go somewhere at the top of /boot/grub/menu.list before the menu entries.
All the details about the used parameters can of course be found in the respective man and info pages.
On 2010-12-10 12:36, hcvv wrote:
> All the details about the used parameters can of course be found in the
> respective -man- and -info- pages.
Nice summing up, thanks
When I was shopping for my new computer motherboard, I searched for one
with serial port. And I use it
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)