run levels

[shuiend]

i am using red hat 8 and am wondering how do i go about changing run levels in it. I would like to be able to go from run level 5 down to 3 and back.
Also if i am at run level 3 and i startsomething that i want to leave running is it possible to change to a diffrent command ine kinda like you change desktops?

[flap]

to change run level:
init <run level number>

To switch between virtual consoles hold down alt and press F1 for the first, F2 for the second etc. Although you can multi-task perfectly well with only one console. To run a task in the background, just type
<command name> &
The ampersand causes the command to run in the background. Type "jobs" to get a list of tasks running in the background. You can then type
fg <job number>
to bring a task to the foreground.

[beltorak0]

if you start something in the foreground and then decide to run it in the background, press Ctl+Z to pause it, then type "bg".

And if all you want is the straight console, you don't have to change runlevels.  X-Windows leaves one console open if you use the GUI runlevel (5 in most distros, i believe) on console 4 (press Alt+F4).  Press Alt-F7 to get back to the GUI.  I prefer to boot up to 6 consoles and run X manually so I always have at least three consoles available for root (multiple mc's that behave intelligebly for example).  Just don't set the default runlevel to 0 or 6; that would suck most humourously.

-t.

[voidmain]

As a side note, when in X you must also add the CTRL key to get to a virtual console. e.g. CTRL+ALT+F1 would take you to the first virtual console. Now that you are at a virtual console you do not need to use the CTRL key. ALT+F2 will take you to virtual console #2, ALT+F7 will take you back to X just as you left it (most distros I have used are set up like this or very similar).