As VNC relies on a running X display you wont be able to do this under runlevel 3 on SuSE - only runlevel 5. See the comments at the top of /etc/inittab.
Damian
But if what you don't want is the graphical interface running on the console you can turn that off.
I remember of hand the SuSE 8.2 variable but search yast config parameter for something like "Starts the graphical interface"... when set off init 5 just starts kdm. (then you need to type startx to get a graphical interface on the console)...
The local admin is switching to init 3 since he wants to conserve memory. by setting Yast2-.>System->Sysconfig Editor DISPLAYMANAGER_STARTS_XSERVER to no will it result in conserving memory or will it require same amount of memory without having GUI at Console. Otherwise I can telnet or ssh Linux box run VNC whenever required to remote control it and when finished stop VNC and end telenet or ssh session. Can u suggest which one is better in point of view of conserving memory resource. Best Regards R. S. Patil