Can anyone explain the use of init3

[Paul Howarth]

Ingemar Nilsson wrote:
> "Chris Linton-Ford" <chris.lintonford at firebox.com> writes:
> 
>> When I try to drop from runlevel 5 to 3 in FC5 by doing a 'sudo init 3', the
>> X server quits but the init process gets stuck after the following:
>>
>> INIT: Switching to runlevel: 3
>> INIT: Sending all processes the TERM signal
>> Starting readahead_early: Starting background readahead:	[ OK ]
>> 	
>> [ OK ]
>> Starting irqbalance:							[ OK
>> ]
>>
>> Is there any way to drop to runlevel 3 without rebooting?
> 
> After running init 3, try changing your virtual terminal, using CTRL-ALT-X,
> where you substitute X with one of the F-keys in the F1-F6 range,
> e.g. CTRL-ALT-F1.

And try pressing return to get a login prompt too.

Paul.