1. The "VO: Comment: Requires ROOT privileges" is apparently for information only,

I don't even get that line. I just get "killed" I use gentoo, frequently updated

2. I gave fbdev a try, but without success.

Svgalib works with mplayer as long as you use svgalib 1.9.x (at least on my nvidia) Also, i just tried directfb. Works great!

[?25lvo_vesa: Found VESA VBE BIOS Version 2.0 Revision: 100

Again, i just get "killed". You are so much closer than i am

(II) R128(0): VESA BIOS detected

I tried to load that module, and i get bunch of unresolved xf86 symbols...