OK...I had forgotten about the autobuild directory. I tried the new kernel with the older installkits, so I'm assuming that's why things like sound and backlight are not impacted by Opie or GPE.
Aside from that, things look REALLY good! Response is very snappy, boot time is short, suspend works (though needs "Menu | Suspend" to go into suspend, button brings out of suspend). Today I'll try the autobuild rootfs's to see what the difference is.
Excellent work Dmitri!!