I'm trying to write directly to the framebuffer, actually I'm trying to draw on screen without using X, and I managed to have access to it, but only as root. (using this example)
I'm not too sure how I could do such a thing without being root, as I'm not quite an expert in linux user things. I've seen it the fbi source that they use chmod at some point, but I'm not sure why, and I can't use it to make anything work.
On a side note, writing to the framebuffer seems to be the only way not to use X that I've found, I'd be open to other suggestions if you they would be simpler.