I usually look in devices.txt in the kernel Docs for these numbers. I have this, althought the fb0 one is the only one I've actually seen in use.
Code:
crw-rw-rw- 1 root tty 29, 0 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb0
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 1 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb1
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 2 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb2
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 3 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb3
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 4 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb4
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 5 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb5
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 6 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb6
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 7 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb7
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 8 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb8
crw-rw---- 1 root tty 29, 9 2002-04-16 00:49 /dev/fb9
And you're right, it does need to be added in-kernel, and for your specific video card as well.
CONFIG_FB=y
CONFIG_FB_CFB_FILLRECT=y
CONFIG_FB_CFB_COPYAREA=y
CONFIG_FB_CFB_IMAGEBLIT=y
CONFIG_FB_MODE_HELPERS=y
CONFIG_FB_VESA=y
CONFIG_FB_INTEL=y
The framebuffer is nice when you don't want to fire up X11 for every little thing. I've had Xine, Links, w3m, and a little viewer called 'fbv' all running on it.