>>>>> "cf" == Chris Fuller <cfuller@linuxmail.org> writes:

    cf> I have a mobilepro 880.

    cf> can't switch out of X (yes, I'm using wscons)

I think this is true of any wscons port with software character
generation?

    cf> The USB port is not supported,

Maybe you just need to rebuild the kernel?  It used to work on my
MobilePro 800, though I never used it for long stretches so I can't
promise it's stable, but I never had any verifiable problems with it.

#
# MC-R700 and Mobile Pro 800
#
options	VRC4172PCI_MCR700_SUPPORT
vrc4172pci0 at vr4102ip? addr 0x0aff0cf8 size 0x8 platform NEC_MCR_700
vrc4172pci0 at vr4102ip? addr 0x0aff0cf8 size 0x8 platform NEC_MCR_700A
pci* at vrc4172pci?
hpcioman9 at vrgiu? platform NEC_MCR_700
hpcioman9 at vrgiu? platform NEC_MCR_700A
hpcin*	at hpcioman9 evtype PCIINTR id PCIINTR_00_00_01 port 13 level 0 connect 1

# and then,
ohci* at pci? dev ? function ?

# and so on.
usb* at ...

    cf> the Xhpc Xserver doesn't support serial mice

Have you looked at moused?  I've never used it myself, but it seems to
do what you want.