# Moving between VTerminals and X --> screen goes black



## wlohman (Nov 14, 2009)

Changing back and forth between X and the virtual terminals causes my screen to go black. Nothing I try gets the screen back. All that helps is a reboot.

It appears that when I'm very quick, I can change from any tty to tty8 ([cmd=][ctrl]+[alt]+[F9][/cmd]) when KDE3 is loading. But once KDE is loaded, my luck runs out.

KDE works perfectly, and I can change back to any of the virtual terminals ([cmd=][ctrl]+[alt]+[F1-8][/cmd]) just fine. But moving back to X causes my screen to go black. Not only that, but to add insult to injury the system emits a very loud *BEEP* making sure that I am fully annoyed.
I figured out how to stop the system from beeping. That was easy.


But how can I persuade my system to stop turning the screen off when I change back and forth between X and the virtual terminals?


I read the corresponding chapters in the handbook, like this and this here. I also looked through various man pages concerning tty's. But I saw no reference that this should be a problem or a post-install setting. I noticed the $DISPLAY variable was unset, but setting it to either [cmd=]localhost:0.0[/cmd] or just [cmd=]:0[/cmd] didn't make a difference. Situation is also the same for the users and root.

This leads me to believe it _/may/_ be a problem with my graphics card?? ("Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller") Rather than a setting I overlooked. I sure hope I'm wrong though.

This is the relevant part of my /etc/ttys, but as you can see it's still *ahum* factory default 

```
ttyv0   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         cons25  on  secure
# Virtual terminals
ttyv1   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         cons25  on  secure
ttyv2   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         cons25  on  secure
ttyv3   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         cons25  on  secure
ttyv4   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         cons25  on  secure
ttyv5   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         cons25  on  secure
ttyv6   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         cons25  on  secure
ttyv7   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         cons25  on  secure
ttyv8   "/usr/local/bin/xdm -nodaemon"  xterm   off secure
# Serial terminals
# The 'dialup' keyword identifies dialin lines to login, fingerd etc.
ttyd0   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   dialup  off secure
ttyd1   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   dialup  off secure
ttyd2   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   dialup  off secure
ttyd3   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   dialup  off secure
```


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## Beastie (Nov 14, 2009)

It does that with some video card (Xorg) drivers. On some machines it works, on others it doesn't.
But why do you need v/ttys in the middle of an X session? Can't terminal emulators do the job you need to do?


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## wlohman (Nov 14, 2009)

I suppose terminal emulators can do the same thing as VT's. But I'm used to (dis)organizing things I do in a certain way. VT's play their part in that.

Things that run textually I like to put in a VT. For example, I put my gateway (ssh login) always under tty2. And my development project(s) (term used loosely) are under tty4-6. It's not 'mission critical' but a habit that has developed and keeps me from confusing the hell out of myself. 

Heh, I already have nine desktops in KDE each doing different things. This way I get the most out of *nix configurability. I'm not OCD or anything, just chaoticus maximus so I need to impose _some_ structure on myself.

Anyone who has ever tried to organize 25~35 open applications/files/sessions/whatever will understand that at least some structure is called for. And thanks to *nix VT's and VD's, we have the tools for the job.

So yeah, if possible I would like my VT's back 



If it's not possible, it's no 'man overboard' type of situation. But if it's the choice between 3D playing games or having VT's, well then the games have to go. So if someone knows something that may help, I'm all ears


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