Console TDM - ArchWiki

# Console TDM

Related articles

- Display manager
- CDM

Console TDM is an extension for xorg-xinit written in pure bash. It is inspired by CDM, which aimed to be a replacement of display managers such as GDM.

## Installation

Install the console-tdm package which is available in AUR.

Now ensure no other display managers get started by disabling their systemd services with `systemctl disable`.

For example, if you were using the Gnome Display Manager, you would stop it from starting at boot by running

    # systemctl disable gdm.service

or

    # systemctl disable graphical.target
    # systemctl enable multi-user.target

After installing Console TDM, you should modify your ~/.bash_profile, and add a line

    source /usr/bin/tdm

and edit your ~/.xinitrc, replace your exec lines with

    exec tdm --xstart

## Configuration

You should copy the links to your WM/DE starter to ~/.tdm/sessions, and links to non-X programs to ~/.tdm/extra. For convenience, you can just run `tdmctl init`.

The use of the program `tdmctl` is much like systemctl, and it's a powerful tool to configure Console TDM.

You can customize Console TDM by editing `~/.tdm/tdminit`.

Category:

- Display managers