So, I had about 4 hours of downtime... well not really downtime, but no X.

Therefore I had no ability to run multiple xterms.

Cool.

Well, it came down to Firmware not being in the 2.6.32 kernel for the Intel 965 display chipset.

So... I ran the Dell Mini9 Hackintosh for a few hours, until I found a few bits and pieces of info about the serious changes in the 2.6.32 kernel as compared to the 2.6.31 kernel. And that Intel didn't/hadn't kept up with the changes being submitted to make it into the 2.6.32...

Oh well. Nothing like regression!