Gnome

Gnome is a graphical user interface for Linux. It comes as stock in some Linux distributions, Ubuntu for instance.

Installation

Gnome can be easily installed with aptitude.

 aptitude install gnome

Changing to CLI on the fly

Gnome -> CLI

Press ‘Ctrl + Alt + F1′ (F2 -- F6)

CLI -> Gnome

Press ‘Alt + F7′

Prefer CLI on computer boot

This command tells Linux to boot into CLI by default. After installing Gnome Linux boots right into Gnome by default.

 update-rc.d -f gdm remove

You can start Gnome manually:

 startx

Revert back to normal (Boot into Gnome by default):

 update-rc.d -f gdm defaults

Sources

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-switch-to-console-mode-from-gui-mode-in-gnome.html