Okay, under X11 I can use `ctrl-alt-Fn` key combo to jump to another virtual terminal, and then use `alt-Fn` to jump from one virtual terminal to another. X11 is running on one of these, so it's trivial to get back to X.

Under #wayland, this work to get from wayland to another virtual terminal, but I have yet to successfully get *back* to wayland. Does this actually work?

#wayland_vs_x11

@Unlikelylass On the latest MNT Reform system image with Gnome, using ctrl+alt+f2 or alt+f2 from a virtual terminal got me back to gnome.

@Unlikelylass The alt-Fn key combo is implemented by the kernel and should work independently of whether you're using Wayland or X, so I think the key challenge is figuring out which virtual terminal Wayland is running on. I generally just keep trying different ones until I find the one I'm looking for 😅

@jamey I have tried that, with no effect, other than that alt-f1 and alt-f2 seem to do nothing. I wonder if I need a keyboard firmware update or similar?

@Unlikelylass It's been a number of years since I dealt with the VT APIs, but now that I think about it, I vaguely remember that the process using the VT has to accept the kernel's notification that you asked to switch back to it. So I guess it's possible that your Wayland compositor has a bug on VT switch… Which compositor are you using?

@jamey stock gnome from debian unstable.

@Unlikelylass it's hard for me to imagine this sort of bug surviving long between all the people who use gnome and all the people who use Debian, but stranger things have certainly happened. I probably don't have any more insight to offer, but I wish you luck!

@josch I'll give it a shot! This hasn't been the case for my installed OS, but I've been having enough weird corner cases I'm seriously considering reinstalling.

@josch Just checked on my MNT Reform using debian unstable, `apt update` shows no outstanding upgades:

I can ctrl-alt-Fn away from my wayland session, and I can hear sound output from it, but I cannot `alt-Fn` to either virtual terminal 1 or 2. 3+ are running login daemons, but hitting either alt-f1 or alt-f2 does not move me from my current virtual terminal. :/

This is on kernel:

6.17.11-1+reform20251126T085426Z

@Unlikelylass Maybe this is just a configuration issue. Since it works here, here is a gzipped tarball of my /etc from a fresh vanilla system image with all packages upgraded to their latest versions:

https://mister-muffin.de/p/e0Gl.gz

Maybe when you diff this against your /etc you find something interesting?