Fedora – How to Switch to a Text Console

When trying to use similar window managers (xwem, ratpoison) for the first time, I first also tried to follow the setup instructions involving xmodmap to get a modifiier key for the window manager, but then I felt that using xmodmap in my system causes some mess, because in my system (an ALTLinux distro) attention has always been paid to multilingual keyboard configuration via XKB, rather than via xmodmap.

So, I found an XKB option to label the key I wanted as "Hyper", and then used the "Hyper" modifier in the configuration for xwem or ratpoison.

In my case, the option to setxkbmap is:

 -option altwin:hyper_win

and here is the comment I've saved on the occasion of adding it to my setup:

xemacs-xwem uses Hyper, so I found this predefined XKB map (in xkb/symbols/altwin), which uses the WIN keys.

Perhaps later I'll make up another XKB map for me, say, using the right Control as Hyper (that will force my hand to use the right Control--now my hand just ignores it).

I thought it's a more clean way to get myself a Hyper key through XKB rather than through xmodmap (as described in XWEM docs), because:

1. xmodmap configuration of modifier keys seems not to be nice w.r.t. the way it forces one to present one's intentions: one must say something about arbitrarily numbered modifier bits, but I don't want to think about these technical things: I need merely a "Hyper" modifier, not some obscure manipulations with the internals! In xmodmap, I'd need to give 2 or even 3 obscure statements to achieve the result, although logically this is a single wish and operation. (One xmodmap statement would not be enough, cf. XEmacs' warnings (FIXME: insert!) if you map Control_R to a modN; there are some technical constraints.)

2. one is told stories that XKB and xmodmap don't play well together, so that not all X programs will work nicely and coherently if you mix them (I must give a link here, FIXME).

Here is the relevant definition from /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/altwin, if someone is interested:

partial modifier_keys 
xkb_symbols "hyper_win" {
    key <LWIN> {    [   Hyper_L         ]   };
    key <RWIN> {    [   Hyper_R         ]   };
    modifier_map Mod4   { Hyper_L, Hyper_R };
};

Usually the X server runs on the first tty that was available when it started. (Under Linux, the X server does not run on the same console where you ran startx.) Many distributions set up 6 text mode consoles, so the first X server ends up on tty7 (Ctrl+Alt+F7). If there's a second X server, it ends up on tty8 (Ctrl+Alt+F7), etc. You can also use Alt+SysRq to return to the previous console (this only works from a text mode console, not from X).

In principle, you should be able to run as many X servers as you have memory for. (Well, that and I think by default the maximum number of virtual consoles is 63.) However, video drivers sometimes have bugs. They're rather complex beasts, and it doesn't help that the hardware manufacturers rarely give out detailed enough specs to driver writers. Depending on your exact video card model and driver version, there may be bugs. Running multiple X servers at the same time is likely to have undergone little testing, and may well have been considered an unnecessary burden.

There's rarely any point in running multiple X servers on the same machine as the same user. (The main exception that comes to mind is if you're testing something.) If you want to switch between independent sets of windows on the same console in the same desktop environment, you can use virtual desktops, known variously as workspaces, desks, tags, etc. Most window manager and desktop environments support multiple virtual desktops. There's no standard interface: each has its own key and mouse bindings to switch between desktops, and its own graphical artifacts. However there's a common kind of visual widget: look for a small panel that represents a rectangular grid showing miniatures of your windows.