>> Here I use separate echo (area) and minibuffer windows.  If you want
 >> to play around with a patch please tell me.
 >>
 >> martin
 >
 > Yes please - prefeably in a new bug report for the enhancement patch,
 > so it can be tracked separately from this bug.

It's not yet ready for broader discussion.  I attach it here so you
can just test whether making the echo interference go away during
the minibuffer dialog.

To put it into use run emacs with

(setq default-frame-alist '((minibuffer . loose) (echo-area . t)))

Looks better with window dividers enabled.

Eventually I'll make a remote branch.  But this may take its time.

martin