Make emacs run in console mode (-nw) by default

This answer suggests the method I found works best for me (was having problems with aliases). Essentially, create an executable script

#!/bin/sh
emacs -nw "$@"

and point $EDITOR to it in your shell rc file.

In case you decide to use emacs in terminal mode always, install emacs-nox (emacs with no X support).

After installationis still ran by $ emacs so you no need to create aliases again!:)

Its there in repos of Debian Squeeze so must be in Ubuntu also.

On my Debian testing, alias emacs='emacs -nw' followed by emacs opens Emacs in the terminal. And, in the same session, emacs23-x opens Emacs with the GUI.