The Linux Command Shell For Beginners: What is The Shell?

"The Linux console is what you see when you do not run a graphical desktop. If you are already in a graphical environment you can see it by pressing CTRL+ALT+F2. (Don't do this just yet!) This takes you to a bare naked login prompt with no GUI. ALT+F1 through ALT+F6 are all consoles. To get back to your graphical desktop, press ALT+F7. (OK now you can try it.) Most Linux distributions have a "console login" option available in their graphical login managers. Unlike switching back and forth with CTRL+ALT+Fn/ALT+F7, X does not start at all when you use this. But you can start X yourself after logging in to the console with the startx command, so you don't need to log out or reboot."

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