found this and got it working
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-f ... er_options
basically disable nouveau and install correct proprietary ones
works great now

When I follow this wiki and try startx I get failure because 3 modules do not exist
nouveau
nv
fbdex
maybe not in my kernel version 2.6.32.14-127.fc12.i686 ?
I have an Nvidia card in this old box

Thanks for looking into this!