Sometimes I would like to boot my laptop running Debian with GNOME 3 normally, however sometimes I would like to boot into text mode without having to manually stop the gdm3 service. Currently, I have to either manually stop gdm3 when the computer is booted or I have to boot into text mode and manually start the service.
How can I add an option (perhaps in the GRUB menu?) that will allow me to boot into a different mode if I choose?
Create an extra menuentry in /boot/grub/grub.cfg that copies your existing menuentry for Debian (the non-recovery one)
Change the line the begin with linux (e.g. linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic root=/dev/sda1 ) and add a space and then the runlevel to the end.
The above line changed to boot runlevel 3 would be:
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic root=/dev/sda1 3
You can also change the runlevel during bootup by hitting e at the grub screen to enter edit mode.
Once in edit mode, go to the end of the linux line, add a space and your runlevel then hit F10 or Control+x to boot.
