Hi everyone,
I have a laptop with integrated video card intel 855; Slackware 9.1, 2.4.22 original distribution kernel.
Since from time to time I want to use it in console mode, I've enabled VGA console in the kernel. The relevant section from /usr/src/linux/.config:
CONFIG_FB_VESA=y
# CONFIG_FB_VGA16 is not set
# CONFIG_FB_HGA is not set
CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y
# CONFIG_FB_MATROX is not set
# CONFIG_FB_ATY is not set
# CONFIG_FB_RADEON is not set
# CONFIG_FB_ATY128 is not set
CONFIG_FB_INTEL=y
# CONFIG_FB_SIS is not set
# CONFIG_FB_NEOMAGIC is not set
# CONFIG_FB_3DFX is not set
# CONFIG_FB_VOODOO1 is not set
# CONFIG_FB_TRIDENT is not set
# CONFIG_FB_VIRTUAL is not set
# CONFIG_FBCON_ADVANCED is not set
CONFIG_FBCON_CFB8=y
CONFIG_FBCON_CFB16=y
CONFIG_FBCON_CFB24=y
CONFIG_FBCON_CFB32=y
# CONFIG_FBCON_FONTWIDTH8_ONLY is not set
# CONFIG_FBCON_FONTS is not set
CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x16=y

I-ve enabled vga=792 (1024x768x32K) in lilo.conf.
It works!
dmesg displays:
intelfb: Framebuffer driver for Intel(R) 830M/845G/852GM/855GM/865G chipsets
intelfb: Version 0.7.7, written by David Dawes <dawes@tungstengraphics.com>
intelfb: 00:02.0: Intel(R) 852GME, aperture size 128MB, stolen memory 16252kB
intelfb: Acceleration is not supported for the Intel(R) 852GME chipset.
intelfb: HW cursor is not supported for mobile platforms.
intelfb: Non-CRT device is enabled (LVDS port). Disabling mode switching.
intelfb: Initial video mode is 1024x768-16@60.
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48
vesafb: abort, cannot reserve video memory at 0xe8000000
vesafb: framebuffer at 0xe8000000, mapped to 0xe086e000, size 3072k
vesafb: mode is 1024x768x16, linelength=2048, pages=9
vesafb: protected mode interface info at a5f3:1f5f
vesafb: scrolling: redraw
vesafb: directcolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0
fb1: VESA VGA frame buffer device

Now the problem: I can't scroll back! When i do SHIFT-PGUP it makes a sort of refresh of existing text but shows no other older line. This worked ok previously in normal text mode.
From dmesg messages, I believe that both drivers - intelfb and vesafb - are loading and vesafb "wins". How can I see which one is in fact used? Can I choose?

Thank you for your advice,

Did you ever get an anwer to your question?

I am faced with the same problem.... If I have both vesa and intelfb in my kernel it seems that vesa wins, even though I have "video=intelfb" in my grub config.

However, when I remove the VESA fb driver from the kernel I can't seem to start any fb mode...

Did you ever resolve this?

Richie