Unfortunately - neither the fbdev code nor the X startup activates the card.
The X startup failed with an "unable to map the card" once and now repeatedly fails with:
I don't know which ATI Rage card you have exactly, but there is a patch for the RageXL (tested on a MIPS board) on ftp.linux-mips.org:/pub/linux/mips/people/ppopov/2.4/aty_nobiosinit.patch.
The problem is that at kernel version 2.4.24 or .25, don't remember which one, the aty code was restructured and the patch does not apply anymore.
Pete
