Ubuntu Linux: Switching between X Window Graphical Interface and Text-based Interface at Boot Time

I was using Red Hat Linux a lot back in the year 2000 and remember that if I want to switch the user interface at boot time from a GUI mode to a text mode I would edit the file /etc/inittab and change the default run-level from 5 down to 3, as documented here. I want to do the same thing in Ubuntu Linux 5.1 but it doesn't work. Spending some time googling, here is how to do it in Ubuntu:

In terminal, logged in as root:

To switch from GUI interface to text-based interface:

update-rc.d -f gdm remove

To switch back from text-based interface to GUI interface:

update-rc.d -f gdm defaults

Reference: Arstechnica.com Forum


Keywords: ubuntu-linux, configuration