So you're new to Linux and wondering how this virtual terminal stuff works. Well you can work in six different terminals at a time. To move around from one to another:

To change to Terminal 1 - Alt + F1 
To change to Terminal 2 - Alt + F2
...
To change to Terminal 6 - Alt + F6

That's cool. But I just did locate on something and a lot of stuff scrolled up. How do I scroll up to see what flew by?

Shift +  PgUp - Scroll Up
Shift +  PgDn - Scroll Down

Note: If you switch away from a console and switch back to it, 
you will lose what has already scrolled by.

If you had X running and wanted to change from X to text based and vice versa

To change to text based from X - Ctrl + Alt + F(n) where n = 1..6

To change to X from text based - Alt + F7

Something unexpected happened and I want to shut down my X server.
Just press:

Ctrl + Alt + Backspace

• Adding the hostname to the XTERM titlebar - dead simple!
• Build RPMs as a User
• Netstat - What is it good for ?
• Moving Around the Console.
• RPM - Installing, Querying, Deleting your packages.
• More ways to add shortcuts to your desktop.
• Creating shortcuts under GNOME.
• How to trace what a program is doing.