[plug] yet another newbie question

[Jim Householder]

> 
> Log out of KDE and Alt-Ctrl-F1 to get to a 'text terminal'.  Do what
> needs to be done then Alt-F7 to get back to the graphical login screen. 
> When you log in, a fresh instance of the x server is started.
> 
> HTH,
> Tim Bowden
> 

When installing my nvidia driver I have found that it requires *no* gui 
running.  Your boot manager (lilo or grub probably) normally gives you 
the option of a single user, expert mode, or similar.  These will leave 
you in a single-user shell logged in as root.

I prefer starting kde from a shell (using startx for lack of anything 
better) rather than logging straight into the gui.  I like the 
flexibility.  To do that, you need to edit /etc/inttab and change
   id:5:initdefault:      to       id:3:initdefault:
unless you are using debian (or a derivative) in which case this won't 
work because run levels 2 - 5 are all treated the same.  (one of the 
reasons I stopped using debian...).

HTH
Jim