[arch-general] X server gets shifted to Ctrl+Alt+F8

[Ray Kohler]

On Sat, Apr 24, 2010 at 2:27 PM, Karol Babioch <karol at babioch.de> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm not quite sure how to call this issue, maybe that's the reason, why
> I couldn't find anything on google nor in the bugtracker :(.
>
> I'm using the X server with GDM (Gnome), which is attached to Ctrl+Alt
> +F7 (btw: How do you call this?) during startup. Pretty normal. But as
> soon as I restart the X server (using Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, but it doesn't
> matter) the X server gets attached to the next free "combo", which is
> quite obviously Ctrl+Alt+F8, whereas Ctrl+Alt+F7 shows just a blinking
> cursor.
>
> Interestingly this just happens once, so restarting the X server doesn't
> change anything, it stays attached to Ctrl+Alt+F8.
>
> I guess this could be known by some of you, I've experienced this on
> different machines already, but due to the fact that I don't know how to
> call this issue, I couldn't find any work-around.
>
> So, first of all I would like to know, whether you can reproduce this?
>
> Secondly I would like to know where the consoles are set up, so I can
> set up a seventh console, so the X server will get started on Ctrl+Alt
> +F8 in the first place. This has a different reason. My F8 key has a LCD
> printed on it (as it is also a function key to switch the output between
> the LCD and an attached monitor), so this would be a cool thing ;). But
> I don't know whether this would fix my main issue, or if the X server
> would then be shifted to Ctrl+Alt+F9.

These screens are called "VTs" or sometimes "TTYs". If you want an
extra console, see /etc/inittab and look for the lines which start
/sbin/agetty. If you just want to make GDM always start on the same
one, that should be possible by writing on one of GDM's config files.
I don't use GDM myself, but if you can find the file that controls how
GDM starts X, you can add vt08 on the end of the X server command
line, and it will know to start on tty8 (Ctrl+Alt+F8).