gene, it depends on what distro that you are running for the different init levels.
0 - shutdown/shutoff, i believe this is the same across the board 1 - single user mode, usually root, also rescue mode, no networking. for debian, this is what you will boot into when your system doesn't boot all the way up and it asks you to enter the root passwd or type ctrl-D. some other distro are 2 or 3 2, 3, 4 - these are different depending what distro again. i believe that debian networking starts up on 3 5 - is usually the standard run level for all distro's. multi-user, networking, GUI... 6 - reboot look at telinit(8) and it will tell you. em
