*NEW INFO!* [02/14/97]

With the 970203 update, console xterms can now work!

You do have to do one thing:

At the beginning of your startx file, add the following line:

exec > /dev/console 2>&1

That's it!  xterm -C's should now work properly!  Thanks to the people
on the mailing lists who showed me this!

Now, if you haven't installed the update yet, there is still a
workaround as follows:

* pre-970203 update: *

Okay.  Thanks to everyone who's helped me on this.
I've FINALLY gotten my console xterm to work!
I used the tail -f method and it works.

I'm using X11R6.3 and the fvwm2 that comes with it.
Here are my modifications to the .xinitrc file:

NOTE: AfterStep users can skip to the bottom...

(I'll use >>>>> and <<<<< to denote code blocks)
add:

>>>>>
conmsgs=$HOME/.conmsglog
if [ -f $conmsgs ]; then
    rm -f $conmsgs
fi
touch $conmsgs
<<<<<

at the beginning of the file someplace. You can call .conmsglog anything
you want.  It does't matter. This code segment wipes out the existing
one and creates a new one.
Then add:

>>>>>
xterm -C -g 50x6+0+0 -fn 6x12 -sb -sl 100 -title "console" -j -rw
  -e tail -f $conmsgs &
<<<<<

or, if you're using rxvt (like I am):

>>>>>
rxvt -C -geometry 50x6+0+0 -font 6x12 -sl 100 -T "console" -n "console"
  -e tail -f $conmsgs &
<<<<<

You can change the parameters to anything you want.  The "-C" does
nothing, really.
The only important thing is the  "-e tail -f $conmsgs &" at the end.
The will run tail in the console window, and the -f tells tail to
forever loop and display new lines.
Delete the existing "xterm -C" line that comes later.
Just to make sure everything works, I have a line here:

>>>>>
echo Welcome to X11R6.3 w/ FVWM2! >> $conmsgs
<<<<<

This should appear in your console window if all goes well.

For any programs you run in your .xinitrc file that sends any messages
to standard out or standard error, append output to $conmsgs.
For example, I run xsnow on startup:

>>>>>
xsnow >> $conmsgs 2>&1 &
<<<<<

The >> is to append and not erase the file.. important or tail -f won't
function properly.  2>&1 is to make standard error get redirected as
well as output.

Then..
finally..

>>>>>
fvwm2 >> $conmsgs 2>&1
<<<<<

This will cause programs that run from fvwm's menus and such to redirect
output and errors to conmsgs, which the console window will pick up.
When fvwm2 quits, my .xinitrc ends.

I personally prefer putting screenrestore in my startx file.
At the end of my startx file, I screenrestore, clear the screen and then
cat my .conmsglog file.

Hope this helps!

-ToastyKen
Kenneth Lu, kenlu@mit.edu, 1/20/97, Last modified 2/14/97

For AfterStep...
My .xinitrc file that I use with AS looks like:
     # AfterStep v1.0 Default xinitrc
     export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
     exec afterstep >& ~/.afterstep.out
Note I've directed AfterStep's output to a file called ".afterstep.out"
Then I added to my .steprc file a line like this:
     Exec "I" exec xterm -geometry 90x5+510+4 -T errors -e tail -f ~/.afterstep.out &
to give me a pseudo console window.  Simpler than fvwm2, no?
Marc Matteo, mmatteo@sacbee.com