I've built a bootable SD from the official Debian release.
Is there an easy way to get GDM to auto-start when the machine boots (like a typical Linux desktop)?
For bonus points, is there a way to get it to auto-login?
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Yes indeed.
Starting GDM At Boot
You need to edit /etc/inittab so that init knows that it should boot directly into runlevel 5 (default for X11) when it starts.
Beginners note: Lines that begin with a
#represent comments. They will be ignored completely when the file is used.
This section controls the default runlevel:
## Only one of the following two lines can be uncommented!
# Boot to console
# id:3:initdefault: # this line should be commented
# Boot to X11
id:5:initdefault: # this line should be uncommented
You then need to tell it what command to run when it starts runlevel 5. This section controls that:
# Example lines for starting a login manager
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon
x:5:respawn:/usr/sbin/gdm -nodaemon # this line should be uncommented
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/slim >/dev/null 2>&1
Now when you reboot you should boot directly into GDM.
Auto Login
After logging in run the command:
sudo gdmsetup
Select the Security Tab, click the Enable Automatic Login, select your username from the menu and close.
After the next reboot you should be automatically logged in.
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I'm now using he Wheezy Debian build for Rpi - is there a specific package which contains gdmsetup. – Salim Fadhley Jun 24 '12 at 14:37
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I thought it was part of the gdm package. You should be able to edit the confit file manually instead though. – Jivings Jun 24 '12 at 16:24