Thread: What is the alternative for Ctrl+Alt+Delete in Linux Ubuntu ?

  1. #1
    Super unModrator
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    321

    What is the alternative for Ctrl+Alt+Delete in Linux Ubuntu ?

    Well, you don't have to end tasks that often in Linux, but I had to once. I tried Ctrl+Alt+Delete but it didn't work. Is there a different shortcut key combination for that ?

  2. #2
    Banned
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    678
    Code:
    # do this
    $ top
    # read the process id of the process to kill
    $ kill -KILL id
    
    # do man kill
    # i don't remember the kill command properly :D

  3. #3
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    8,895
    kill <pid>

    or if that doesn't help

    kill -KILL <pid>
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  4. #4
    Super unModrator
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    321
    what ? kill what ?

  5. #5
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    Right, us "ps" or "top" to find the process ID (pid) of the task you want to end, then use "kill 1234", where "1234" is the pid of the task you want to end.

    If that doesn't work [because the task is "stubborn"] you can try "kill -KILL 1234" (or the shorter form that does exactly the same thing "kill -9 1234").

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  6. #6
    Super unModrator
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    321
    Quote Originally Posted by matsp View Post
    Right, us "ps" or "top" to find the process ID (pid) of the task you want to end, then use "kill 1234", where "1234" is the pid of the task you want to end.

    If that doesn't work [because the task is "stubborn"] you can try "kill -KILL 1234" (or the shorter form that does exactly the same thing "kill -9 1234").

    --
    Mats
    Great! Now how do I get the pid ? and where to write the "kill pid" thing ? The command prompt won't open. The system was not responding at all!

  7. #7
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    You get the pid from "ps" or "top", but it sounds like you have a bigger problem than that. If the system isn't responding, try "ctrl-alt-1" and see if you get a login prompt in text mode. If that doesn't work, then "big red switch" (power off) is the only answer, and you may have to hold the power-button in for a few seconds to make a forced power-down, if the OS is really dead.

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  8. #8
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    8,895
    Suppose Firefox doesn't react. I do
    ps -A
    and get
    Code:
    ...
     5821 ?        00:00:00 ruby
     6600 ?        00:00:00 gconfd-2
     6610 ?        00:00:00 mozilla-launche
     6619 ?        00:02:51 firefox-bin
     7330 ?        00:00:39 java
     7368 ?        00:00:01 konsole
    ...
    This tells me that firefox-bin, the actual Firefox executable, has PID 6619. I can now send it a SIGTERM, asking it politely to quit right now, kthxbai.
    kill 6619

    If Firefox doesn't react because, for example, it hangs in deadlock and even signal handlers don't get through, I can send a SIGKILL, telling the OS to just kill the stupid thing.
    kill -KILL 6619
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  9. #9
    Banned
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    678
    Quote Originally Posted by matsp View Post
    . . . then "big red switch" (power off) is the only answer, and you may have to hold the power-button in for a few seconds to make a forced power-down, if the OS is really dead.
    And people say that Microsoft makes bad Windows

  10. #10
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    8,895
    *shrug*
    It's only bad device drivers that can lock up the computer so completely. And that goes for Windows, too.

    Coincidently, the only driver I've had lock up the computer was the closed-source ATI driver.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  11. #11
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    I have been using both Linux and Windows for several years. Despite what anyone says, there isn't any huge difference in stability - Windows XP and 2K, I've had uptimes of 150+ days [and the cause of reboot is usually either a software update or some kind of power failure or such]. Linux I've had more problems with hardware failure than with the OS crashing - it's really stable as long as you avoid experimental drivers [of which I've worked on several - and the uptime then is usually measured in single digit hours or even minutes].

    I was at Windows Driver Developers Conference a few years ago. Microsoft has a pretty large database of all the faults reported against it's products [you know the box that says "Something failed, do you want to report this to Microsoft?"]. When the data has been classified, the biggest group of "faults" is in drivers, not surprisingly - there are many, many more lines of driver code than there are any other form of kernel code, bot in Linux and Windows.

    Further, unsurprisingly, the biggest of that group, by a good margin, was graphics drivers.

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  12. #12
    Banned
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    678
    yeah, i also feel that hardware vendors need to be more standardized, more disciplined and need to appoint better driver writer OR better yet just make their hardware open source.

  13. #13
    Super unModrator
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    321
    Quote Originally Posted by CornedBee View Post
    *shrug*
    It's only bad device drivers that can lock up the computer so completely. And that goes for Windows, too.

    Coincidently, the only driver I've had lock up the computer was the closed-source ATI driver.
    Bingo! I have ATI radeon graphics card. And that driver had already messed up the GUI of my Kubuntu partition.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. blocking ctrl + alt + delete
    By Bug in forum Windows Programming
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 06-30-2003, 04:42 AM
  2. why is this prog crashing on delete?
    By Waldo2k2 in forum Windows Programming
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 12-04-2002, 11:17 PM
  3. Ctrl + Alt +Delete
    By golfinguy4 in forum Windows Programming
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 10-27-2002, 07:46 PM
  4. Problem need help
    By Srpurdy in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 07-24-2002, 12:45 PM
  5. memory management...
    By master5001 in forum Game Programming
    Replies: 24
    Last Post: 01-07-2002, 05:50 PM