Qingy

Qingy (Qingy Is Not GettY) is a replacement for getty. Written in C, it uses DirectFB to provide a GUI without the overhead of the X Windows System. It allows the user to log in and start the session of choice (text console, GNOME, KDE, wmaker, etc.).

Keypair
qingy requires keypairs to run. To generate keys:

inittab
After successful installation edit the file and replace following section:

with following entries:

Configuration file
This is default qingy's configuration as shipped with Gentoo:

Display managers
Remove xdm from the default startup level, otherwise it will fight with qingy for screen control at system boot. This sometimes results in nasty results.

Starting qingy
Now either reboot the system or use following commands:

After successful authentication qingy will list contents of directory: Welcome, $USER, please select a session... (a) dwm (b) fvwm (c) Your .xsession (d) Text: Console Your choice (just press ENTER for 'Text: Console'):

Different Xsessions can be started in each tty, which works fine. Use the ++ through key combinations to switch between different X sessions.

Troubleshooting
If qingy hangs making it impossible to login press ++ to get the agetty spawned terminal and login from there.

External resources

 * http://qingy.sourceforge.net/faq.php#Gentoo%20specific
 * http://qingy.sourceforge.net/manual.php