Get back the ctrl-alt-backspace behavior in Ubuntu
In the most recent release of Ubuntu (9.04) the developers decided (after a very lengthy discussion) that the old tried-and-true Ctrl-Al-Backspace key combination would no longer kill the X server. Their justification for this (in a nutshell) was that this combination could be accidentally hit causing the user to lose data. This was not something they wanted on their hands. To me this is a feature that I would miss. There have been instances where a poorly written application decided it needed to take up all of my memory thereby making the desktop unusable. Of course you could always go to a virtual terminal (as shown in my article “How a virtual console can keep you from losing work“) but for new users this is more of a hassle than just being able to hit Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.
Now the problem with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is that you can, in fact, lose data. But as a last resort, having this behavior back can really be helpful. And fortunately, it is possible to get the old standby behavior back. This tutorial will show you how.
In the most recent release of Ubuntu (9.04) the developers decided (after a very lengthy discussion) that the old tried-and-true Ctrl-Al-Backspace key combination would no longer kill the X server. Their justification for this (in a nutshell) was that this combination could be accidentally hit causing the user to lose data. This was not something they wanted on their hands. To me this is a feature that I would miss. There have been instances where a poorly written application decided it needed to take up all of my memory thereby making the desktop unusable. Of course you could always go to a virtual terminal (as shown in my article “How a virtual console can keep you from losing work“) but for new users this is more of a hassle than just being able to hit Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.
Now the problem with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is that you can, in fact, lose data. But as a last resort, having this behavior back can really be helpful. And fortunately, it is possible to get the old standby behavior back. This tutorial will show you how.
