booting to console (no X)

"Is there somebody in the Trisquel organization who thinks a computer not running X11 is an abomination?
"

if you run the netinstall cd you can chose to boot to a cli interface

also when you start trisquel with gnome3 if you hold ctrl and then f2 you go into a cli interface

follow this:

-Stopping lightdm
on tty (Ctrl+Alt+F1...)
sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm stop (or other DE). Use -f if this not work

-Edit /etc/default/grub
sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Modify "quiet splash" in "text" for boot from console
Edit this line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
in this:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"

-If you don't want grub timeout
edit this line:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
in this:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=0

Then Update Grub
update-grub

Remove lightdm during boot
update-rc.d -f lightdm remove (-f for forcing)

Then reboot:
sudo reboot

For start lightdm from console
sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm start

I use this method on my computers (remember that admin rights are required)

I hope I have helped you

Thanks for the suggestions, cantor
here's my results:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
to this:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"
and do 'sudo update-grub' and reboot:
NO effect. it still starts lightdm when I boot.

In /etc/init.d/lightdm, change Default-Start from '2 3 4 5' to '3 4 5'
No effect.

sudo update-rc.d -f lightdm remove
and re-boot.
No effect. It starts lightdm.

Log in on F1 and do
sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm stop
That works, clearing the F7 screen and removing the lightdm processes.
I suppose I'll have to live with this although it's a nuisance. Starting lightdm is also a nuisance: in a text terminal, do
sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm start &
It starts lightdm and that presents the login screen. When I log in it flips back to the text terminal and I have to do F7 to get back to the GUI.

strange... do you have done all of this only on TTY? (I ask you for be sure)
when you log into GUI, choose "session quit" and try again on tty, then reboot (I have 3 computers and works)
Do you tried with sudo poweroff instead of reboot?
Maybe the problem is not this, (I'm not expert).
Do you have other de? Maybe lightdm is not setted as default desktop manager

[I'm NOT sure of this, I NOT recommend you] If all of this not work, you can try to edit .bashrc and add the commands that remove or stop lightdm on boot (I solved the blanking screen with this method), or trying in /etc/issue, but I think there are solutions more elegant than these eheh

Thank you for informing me Lembas ;)

cantor, you ask
do you have done all of this only on TTY?
If you mean, did I perform the attempts that I listed by issuing the commands in a text terminal, I think the answer is yes. I used F1, logged in and did the things with sudo.
I have tried one more thing:
sudo mv /etc/init.d/lightdm /etc/lightdm
and re-boot.
No difference. So during boot it seems to be finding out how to start lightdm from some other source.

Thanks for the hint, Magic Banana! In /etc/init/lightdm.conf I changed "and runlevel [!06]" to "and runlevel [!026]". (and I have the changes listed earlier in this thread still in place) Now it boots directly to the TTY 1 login prompt and about 2 dozen processes that used to start up are not there, including Xorg and lightdm and a bunch of gnome things. I use 'sudo telinit 3' to start the X session and lightdm and all that other stuff.

On an unrelated note:

"Is there somebody in the Trisquel organization who thinks a computer not running X11 is an abomination?"

Well, should someone at Ubuntu do so, Trisquel might have to go along with him/her.