OpenSUSE Install :: Any Substancial Difference Between Gnome Terminal Or Hitting 'c' To Bring Up Command Line

so the safest way to go about this is to assume I know nothing. I mean, I have a rough Idea of what a kernel is, no idea what a shell is, etc. I do consider myself computer savvy, but know NOTHING about linux and thats why I'm Diving in, hopefully not too much, this is just to give you an idea of what we're working with here.

After several install attempts I kept getting a blank screen. Whether it be black,white, or the default gnome desktop (without any icons, and simple things like ctrl+alt+backspace just doesn't work, or anything else for that matter) I was ending up with a blank screen. Driver for moniter....maybe....but I did succesfully install it once, and it worked like a charm...shutdown properly, and the next day after work...Boom, same thing after startup.today I started from scratch and re-installed....samething, until I hit the power button, went from the dvd(iso) and did a fail safe, now my resolution is much better than it was the first time..Actual questions.....what did I do to fix it when failsafe never worked before?

Is there a way to save these settings, so I don't run into the problem again, because I don't even want to turn of my computer at this point?If i'm trying to dive in and learn the command line actions, is there any substancial difference between gnome terminal or hitting "c" to bring up the command line?