> > If they just slow things down, the biggest problem is that they overwrite my
> > X screen, and mess things up. I cannot get xconsole to receive messages, but
> > that is no doubt because I don't know how, not because something is broken.
> 
> An easiest workaround is to run xconsole as root.  If you don't like
> that, you can edit /etc/ttys and log in on /dev/console instead of
> /dev/ttye0 so that /dev/console's owner will be changed to yours when
> you log in, making it possible for xconsole to open the device.  The
> latter method has not-so-obvious drawbacks, I heard.  So beware.
> (snip)
> ken
> 

  On a simular note, I was seeing this same problem until I started running
xdm.  Once running xdm the problem went away.  I just start an "xterm -C"
and it intercepts all the console messages.

  Why does this work, you may ask.  Well my xdm configuration changes
ownership of /dev/console.  Does this cause the same drawbacks you ask.
I don't know.  The only funny thing I've seen is if you su to root and halt
the system, the ownership of /dev/console is left pointing to the login uid.
All you need do though is login and xdm will fix this problem.
(The config scripts for xdm are run as root and do the chown both on
login and logout.  Or on second thought this could be taken care of in /etc/rc
right before starting xdm.)

  If anyone wants it I can tar up an example /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm dir.

Kevin
kevin@spef.syr.ge.com