candidate 2.6.10-rc3 sparc32 updates

Thus far my own testing and bugfixing is not doing so well. I've dropped all of my own work in favor of pushing what others feel are critical issues in the hopes that it was some of my own work that broke things, which it appears is not the case, but it's best to ignore this.

If I could get some testing feedback on the following 3 conservatively chosen patches from among those sent to me while I work to do broader testing of them on more system types, I'd be much obliged. You may also want to speak up now if there are more patches you want in 2.6.10.

-- wli