2.6.0-test6 ruby success with matrox G550, and some questions

[Helge H. <hel...@ai...>]

Yesterday I got two xservers running with 2.6.0-test6-ruby
Both screens are connected to the matrox G550.
The one running on the main console uses the normal
accelerated X server, and a keyboard connected to the mouse port.
The X config for this display isn't modified, it is
the single-user setup I always had.

The other screen uses the unaccelerated framebuffer driver
on /dev/fb/1, and a keyboard connected to the normal keyboard
connector.  Both mice are serial.

Framebuffer X was easy to set up.  The first attempt was right,
except it didn't work until I got the matroxset program
that must be used to decide which framebuffer is displayed
to which connector.  (The default is to see the first
framebuffer on both!)  I haven't made startup scripts
yet, so I start the second Xserver from an xterm.

I did nothing special with the sound setup.  Both
screens are positioned between a shared pair of
speakers.  The alsa drivers for my trident 4D NX supports
several simultaneous users and does its own mixing.

The long term plan is to use two accelerated X servers.
Ideally by getting acceleration on both heads - but that
seems very unlikely.  The second best solution seems
to be a pci graphichs card.  I am waiting, hoping to find
some pci card that supports DRI in such a way that
I can use DRI on both screens simultaneously.

The questions:
2.6.0-test6-ruby seems to hate framebuffer console, hanging the
machine before the first boot printk if I enable it.
Is framebuffer console possible somehow?
I currently need framebuffer in order to run X.  And a
console is nice to have in case I get X trouble.
I currently only have screen garbage until X starts.
Having some framebuffer consoles on the other screen
would be nice too.  fbcon also has the advantage
that it can be set up with the same video timing as X,
allowing console switching without waiting for the
screen to sync to another frequency.  

I use the kernel parameter "dumbcon=1" to tell ruby that I have an extra
console.  Is this documented anywhere?

Helge Hafting