Experimenting with run level 3

[Member blur13]

Hi!

Edited the boot menu and loaded run level 3, which is entirely terminal based. I use mainly terminal apps so thought I’d try it out and see how far I’d get. I can play music using cmus. I can browse, with graphics, using Links2. I can view local images using Links2. I can play music and browse at the same time using tmux. I can check my mail using alpine. I can use pretty much any app that runs in a terminal. The result? I’m down to using 48 MiB of memory. Run level 5 uses 197 MiB (though I could probably trim that down to 160 MiB).

So thats all good. Now for my question. Which terminal am I using when booting into run level 3? How do I increase the font size? Is that even possible? Tried some of the usual shortcuts for increase/decreasing the font but that didnt work. Can I change the color scheme? Or is this all X stuff?

Is there a way to launch an individual instance of X display server and run e.g. firefox in it and then kill it when exiting?

[Member sybok]

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Hi, you are really a curious person, aren’t you?

Q1) Which terminal am I using when booting into run level 3?
Q2+3) How do I increase the font size? Is that even possible? Tried some of the usual shortcuts for increase/decreasing the font but that didnt work.
Q4) Can I change the color scheme?
Q5) Or is this all X stuff?
Q6) Is there a way to launch an individual instance of X display server and run e.g. firefox in it and then kill it when exiting?

Run-level 3 = non-graphical mode => that seems to indicate answer to some of the questions.

Q1) Running
echo $TERM
Prints ‘xterm’ in ROXTerm in X.

Q2+3) I believe that one could change the resolution to achieve that.
There is an utility ‘setfont’ which (not run as root) seems to require a font-file.

Q4) One could edit the appropriate file, ‘~/.bashrc’, ‘~/.bash_profile’, ‘~/.profile’ or other(s) or use some commands, see e.g. this link.
Check the color range supported prior to attempting such changes.

E.g. my ‘~/.bashrc’ contains custom PS1 and I have modified color-scheme in a *buntu installation once by creating a dedicated file in my home.
Unfortunately, the system is gone as are the details of me doing so.

Also, I have found ‘tput’ utility might come handy in ‘xterm’.

Q6) Not quite sure about this extra/temporary X-stuff.

A) You could boot “as normal”, switch to a virtual terminal ‘Ctrl+Alt+Fn’, do your CLI magic.
When GUI needed, switch to the X-windows (usually Ctrl+Alt+F7), log-in, perform the task, log-out (terminating the session may save resources) and switch back to your (already logged-in) virtual terminal.
Not quite sure if this approach will keep the amount of reduced memory as the pure run-level 3.
B) I know that I have sometimes re-started X-manager from the virtual terminal avoiding the need for reboot to do that.
Not sure whether this is applicable in run-level 3.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by sybok. Reason: minor edits, Q6) split in A+B

[Member oops]

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Hello,
For the font size, it is probably here (into the console) :

“to see
cat /etc/default/console-setup

#example here:
#…
#CHARMAP=”UTF-8″
#CODESET=”guess”
#FONTFACE=”Terminus”
#FONTSIZE=”8×14″

# to show:
showconsolefont

“to reconfigure
sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup

[Moderator christophe]

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Is there a way to launch an individual instance of X display server and run e.g. firefox in it and then kill it when exiting?

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=107319

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-run-x-applications-without-a-desktop-or-a-wm/

https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/run-gui-applications-in-x-without-window-manager-or-de-804021/

These look promising. If you get it to work as you expect, do a tips & tricks writeup on it. 🙂

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by christophe. Reason: added 3rd link

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member blur13]

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I tried the tips in the above links and the first link was helpful, the second one bogus. You need

sudo apt-get install xorg

then to start ie firefox you do

xinit /usr/bin/firefox-esr $* — :0 vt$XDG_VTNR

One thing to note is that it doesnt start the application in fullscreen. Firefox, for example, left a bit of space at the bottom. Simple term opens up in a window about the fourth of the size of the screen. There is a “geometry” parameter described in the man xinit but didnt get that to work, altough I didnt put that much effort into it. Getting firefox to work was my main concern. Another annoying thing is that you cant copy paste between the virtual ttys. So having firefox in tty0 and an editor in tty1, you cant copy text from one to the other.

Another thing to note is that the antiX-cli-cc contains some really useful functions, like editing the text size of the console, the background, colors, screen brightness and selecting sound card.

I checked the memory footprint of running a firefox session in the console (run level 3) and it used 480 MiB. Running firefox in run level 5 used 529 Mib. So in my opinion if you’re gonna use graphical display programs you’re better off just booting into run level 5. But if you’re just gonna do terminal work and some plain text web browsing then run level 3 with its sub 50 MiB footprint is a viable alternative. You could revive some really old hardware with that setup.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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blur13 wrote:

I checked the memory footprint of running a firefox session in the console (run level 3) and it used 480 MiB. Running firefox in run level 5 used 529 Mib. So in my opinion if you’re gonna use graphical display programs you’re better off just booting into run level 5. But if you’re just gonna do terminal work and some plain text web browsing then run level 3 with its sub 50 MiB footprint is a viable alternative. You could revive some really old hardware with that setup.

Completely agree with this conclusion.
There was a great thread on our old forums about running antiX ‘Xless’ (which led some people to think that the name antiX meant anti Xorg or X environment).
You can watch videos without X via mpv.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

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