openSUSE:Old Style Linux

Do you know things that used to be very simple and that have now become hard or well-hidden? This page intends to collect solutions on how to get those back.

Real Text Console

Problem

While todays Linux distributions still allow to press Ctrl-Alt-F1 to get to tty1, by default it is a framebuffer console that is usually very slow to update, so if you happen to do a command that produces a lot of output, you need to press Ctrl-C and wait a while.

Solution

Easiest way to get a proper text console is to use yast2 bootloader go to Kernel Parameters set Vga mode to Text Mode and uncheck Use graphical console and add nomodeset to boot params

additionally, remove the splash-screen code with

rpm -e `rpm -qa|grep plymouth`
mkinitrd

Alternate solution: Use F2, F3, F4, F5 and/or F6 instead of F1. No configuration changes are necessary, so this works fixing most of your friends' PCs too.

Not automount USB-sticks

Problem

I often dont want the OS to automatically mount all partitions on a USB-disk that I just plugged in. For USB-Sticks I usually want to overwrite them with dd with the latest openSUSE iso image and having rw-mounted partitions open could corrupt the data I write.

Solution

systemctl --now disable udisks2.service

Use ALSA instead of Pulseaudio

Problem

Some audio things just do not work well with pulseaudio - like concurrent playback or recording for a longer duration.

Solution

zypper rm -u alsa-plugins-pulse alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit pulseaudio

or go into yast2 sound => Other => PulseAudio Configuration and uncheck the box.

Either way needs a reboot to fully become active.