--- kbd-1.12/src/setfont.c.orig	2005-03-03 19:17:42.000000000 +0000
+++ kbd-1.12/src/setfont.c	2005-03-04 15:19:13.000000000 +0000
@@ -189,6 +189,20 @@
 
 	fd = getfd(console);
 
+ 	int kd_mode = -1;
+	if (!ioctl(fd, KDGETMODE, &kd_mode) && (kd_mode == KD_GRAPHICS))
+	  {
+	    /* 
+	     * PIO_FONT will fail on a console which is in foreground and in KD_GRAPHICS mode.
+	     * 2005-03-03, jw@suse.de.
+	     */
+	    if (verbose) 
+	      printf("setfont: graphics console %s skipped\n", console?console:"");
+	    close(fd);
+	    return 0;
+	  }
+	
+
 	if (!ifilct && !mfil && !ufil &&
 	    !Ofil && !ofil && !omfil && !oufil && !restore)
 	  /* reset to some default */
--- kbd-1.12/src/kdfontop.c.orig	2005-03-03 19:14:27.000000000 +0000
+++ kbd-1.12/src/kdfontop.c	2005-03-03 19:42:28.000000000 +0000
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>		/* free() */
+#include <unistd.h>		/* usleep() */
 #include <sys/ioctl.h>
 #include <linux/kd.h>
 #include "kdfontop.h"
@@ -275,7 +276,19 @@
 
 	/* Third attempt: PIO_FONT */
 	/* This will load precisely 256 chars, independent of count */
-	i = ioctl(fd, PIO_FONT, buf);
+ 	int loop = 0;
+
+	/* we allow ourselves to hang here for ca 5 seconds, xdm may be playing tricks on us. */
+	while ((loop++ < 20) && (i = ioctl(fd, PIO_FONT, buf)))
+          {
+	    if (loop <= 1) 
+	      fprintf(stderr, "putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...\n");
+	    else
+	      fprintf(stderr, ".");
+	    usleep(250000);
+	  }
+	fprintf(stderr, "\n");
+
 	if (i) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "%s: putfont: %d,%dx%d:  failed: %d\n", progname, count, width, height, i);
 		perror("putfont: PIO_FONT");