Mac OS X’s Console Mode
While not quite an alternative to using the Terminal, Mac OS X offers a console login mode that lets you boot into Darwin’s command-line interface instead of Aqua.
To enter console mode, you first need to configure Mac OS X’s login window so it only displays the name and passwords fields. To do this, launch System Preferences, and go to Accounts → Login Options. In the Login Options pane, turn off automatic login, and set the “Display login window as” option to “Name and password.” Next, at the login window, identify yourself as >console and click Log In (or press Return) without providing a password; the login window gets replaced by a standard Unix login prompt. Just type in your username and password as directed, and you’re in.
Once you log out (through the logout command or by exiting your shell program), the Mac OS X’s standard login window appears once more. You need to pull the >console trick again in order to reenter console mode; otherwise, subsequent logins will launch the Finder, as usual.
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