Tried Tiny Core again and it worked. I must have done something out of order along the way while fussing with it and gotten the sequence messed up.
From fresh install: (either Core Plus or Tiny Core)
-Install Xorg-7.7 and xf86-video-intel
reboot and no change
- edit onboot.lst to remove Xvesa.tcz from line 1 and replace with X-org-7.7.tcz and xf86-video-intel.tcz
just Xorg-7.7.tcz by itself is what gave the black screen, and some other combo gave 640x480.
So now working properly at 1680x1050, shows in the log, and I assume at least 24bit color, I don't see that in the log, and proper brightness.
OK, got the basics, now I can start playing with Tiny Core.