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# XDM

XDM lets you login from X, avoiding the normal text-based login prompt. To see if it works, type - you must be root to do that - `telinit 5`. this command set the runlevel to 5, starting the XDM login procedure. If something goes wrong, you'll go back to the traditional login by rebooting. If it works, you can set 5 as default runlevel editing the `/etc/inittab` file. Edit the line

    	id:3:initdefault:

in order to have

    	id:5:initdefault:

It's a good idea to make a backup of this file before modifying it.

You'll soon notice that the traditional login appears shortly before initiating the XDM login procedure. This is avoided editing the same file `/etc/inittab`: the line

    	1:12345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1

creates a traditional login (mingetty) in the console where the XDM login will be, if you remove the 5, when runlevel 5 is active, no traditional login will be started on that console. You can also remove the other 5s, but I strongly suggest to keep at least one, in case the window manager crashes. In such a case, you can switch to the login prompt pressing , where n is the console on which you left the mingetty active. If your `inittab` looks like this, n will be equal to 2:

    	# Run gettys in standard runlevels
    	1:1234:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
    	2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
    	3:234:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
    	4:234:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
    	5:234:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
    	6:234:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

KDE has a valid alternative to XDM, you can enable it (read in any case the KDE documentation first), editing once again `inittab`, whose last lines should finally look like this:

    	# Run xdm in runlevel 5
    	#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/X11/xdm -nodaemon
    	x:5:respawn:/opt/kde/bin/kdm -nodaemon

If you are disturbed by the console spoiling the nice background during the XDM login, comment the line starting with `/usr...` of the file `/etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0`,

    	#!/bin/sh
    	# $XConsortium: Xsetup_0,v 1.3 93/09/28 14:30:31 gildea Exp $
    	#/usr/X11R6/bin/xconsole -geometry 480x130-0-0 -daemon -notify -verbose
    	#-fn fixed -exitOnFail
    	/usr/X11R6/bin/xbanner