In article <ApYSb.488$3f3.106395@stones.force9.net>,
Beardy <beardy@beardy.net> wrote:
>
>Darren Dunham wrote:
>> Rob Stampfli <restamp@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>From the dtlogin dtgreet screen, selecting "Options -> Command Line Login"
>>>will allow you to access and log into the console as a traditional terminal.
>>>My question is: Is there any way, perhaps a key or key sequence, to invoke
>>>the command line login mode without using the mouse? It would seem this
>>>would be desirable. For instance, the mouse could simply be broken.
>>>Another reason might be if one were trying to log into and cleanly shut
>>>down a system blind, during a power failure, where the machine is on an
>>>UPS but the monitor is not.
>>
>>
>> I don't have one near me, but I recall it being just like windows.
>>
>> tab to highlight the menu, cursor down to the selection, return to
>> select.
>>
>> I wouldn't want to do it blind.
>>
>
>Nice try, but zero bananas. Hitting the tab key just moves the cursor
>along one place (I assume, inserting ^I). Also the <ALT> key has no
>effect; simply printing the <ALT>-ed character in the login name.
>
>I have beaten my keyboard with alt, ctrl and shifted combinations, and
>come up with squat :-(
>
>Having a Logitech IR keyboard that delights in inserting character
>strings (often "\ncs" and lines and lines of pipe symbols) into typing
>when it feels like it (and often <DEL> to erase my emails :-( ), I have
>trouble doing some things "sighted" let alone "blind" :-(

A tip of the hat goes to Franco Barber, who came up with the following
sequence in private mail to me (ugly to try to remember, blind, but it
works):

<CR> SHIFT-TAB SHIFT-TAB SPACE DOWN-ARROW DOWN-ARROW DOWN-ARROW <CR>

And many thanks to everyone who posted their suggestions and what
they had learned from hacking at the dtgreet screen.

Rob