Re: radeon questions

 >Maybe try building it into your kernel? I suspect that might make the
problem more obvious.

The first attempt failed to build.  So, I changed a few other things 
from built-in to modules.  The second one built successfully.
Indeed, X started and the window manager looked OK.  I started xterm and 
dragged it around.  Just after the kernel, I had emerged mesa-progs. 
So, I tried glxgears and CRASH.  Blank screen.  No response.  So, I 
logged in on a serial connection and tried my best to shut down 
gracefully.  I tried X a few more times and tried other programs, but 
the results have been the same or worse.
I am encouraged that X might work.  There are still problems.  I'll keep 
trying.