tlug: A couple more xdm tips

[Dennis McMurchy <denismcm@example.com>]

  Hi,

  For those of you who, like me, are new to xdm, here are a couple more
useful tips:

  1. If you hit Ctrl-Return instead of Return after entering your 
password in the login box, xdm will enter 'failsafe' mode.  What it
does is defined in  /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession ( or whatever file
DisplayManager*session: points to in /var/X11R6/lib/xdm/xdm-config). 

  The default behaviour is to run a single xterm without reading the
user's  ~/.xsession, which could be very useful if a grunged ~/.xsession
was keeping you from logging in.  This behaviour can easily be redefined,
too.

  Actually, there's a lot in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession that's
worth reading through.  The 'proper' way to solve the environment problem
that I mentioned in my last message becomes apparent, for example.

  2. I missed being able to jump out of X by using the Ctrl+Alt+Fx
combination to access a character terminal.  A little experimenting
reveals that, while the X display controlled by 'xdm' is on Ctrl+Alt+F2
(versus ..F7 for a startx-initiated one), there is a single character
terminal available at Ctrl+Alt+F6.  Is it because of all those years
using CP/M that I find this so enormously reassuring?

  Cheers,  Dennis
P.S. That's a (single)(character terminal), NOT a (single character)
(terminal), by the way.  My primitivism is not that thorough-going.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Next Saturday Meeting: 14 February 1998 12:30 Tokyo Station
Yaesu Chuo ticket gate.
---------------------------------------------------------------
a word from the sponsor:
TWICS - Japan's First Public-Access Internet System
www.twics.com  info@example.com  Tel:03-3351-5977  Fax:03-3353-6096