Ok, I rebooted and dug around a bit.
When I boot up, when gdm starts I go to vt1 and see it initially starts on tty7: $ ps auxww | grep [/]usr/bin/X root 1329 0.4 0.4 135052 17908 tty7 Ss+ 11:19 0:00 /usr/bin/X :0 -nr -verbose -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-hUHdva/database -nolisten tcp vt7 $ sudo lsof -p 1329 | grep tty Xorg 1329 root 6u CHR 4,7 0t0 4611 /dev/tty7
If I go to vt7, I see the gdm prompt. When I try to login with gdm, gdm restarts on tty8: $ ps auxww | grep [/]usr/bin/X root 3759 4.9 0.8 153928 33828 tty8 Ss+ 11:22 0:16 /usr/bin/X :0 -br -verbose -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-eigZMv/database -nolisten tcp $ sudo lsof -p 3759 | grep tty Xorg 3759 root 7r CHR 4,8 0t0 4612 /dev/tty8
If I now go to vt7, I see boot messages like: * Starting Commun Unix Printing System: cupsd [OK]
But after all the boot messages, the last thing I see is (leading space intended): * Checking battery state... ^]88888888888888;◆◆◆◆◆^]8888;◆◆◆◆◆^\◆
Ok, I rebooted and dug around a bit.
When I boot up, when gdm starts I go to vt1 and see it initially starts on tty7: gdm/auth- for-gdm- hUHdva/ database -nolisten tcp vt7
$ ps auxww | grep [/]usr/bin/X
root 1329 0.4 0.4 135052 17908 tty7 Ss+ 11:19 0:00 /usr/bin/X :0 -nr -verbose -auth /var/run/
$ sudo lsof -p 1329 | grep tty
Xorg 1329 root 6u CHR 4,7 0t0 4611 /dev/tty7
If I go to vt7, I see the gdm prompt. When I try to login with gdm, gdm restarts on tty8: gdm/auth- for-gdm- eigZMv/ database -nolisten tcp
$ ps auxww | grep [/]usr/bin/X
root 3759 4.9 0.8 153928 33828 tty8 Ss+ 11:22 0:16 /usr/bin/X :0 -br -verbose -auth /var/run/
$ sudo lsof -p 3759 | grep tty
Xorg 3759 root 7r CHR 4,8 0t0 4612 /dev/tty8
If I now go to vt7, I see boot messages like:
* Starting Commun Unix Printing System: cupsd [OK]
But after all the boot messages, the last thing I see is (leading space intended): 8;◆◆◆◆◆ ^]8888; ◆◆◆◆◆^\ ◆
* Checking battery state...
^]8888888888888