As I learned on the ACPI mailing list, vbetool indeed cannot operate on an x86_64 kernel, because that one does not provide vm86.
If anybody is interested, here is the thread: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=8933707&forum_id=6102 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]