to answer my own question, gamemode ( http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/GLUT/2.1.1.2/doc/html/Graphics-UI-GLUT-GameMode.html ) seems to do the trick
>  enterGameMode 
>  g <- getStdGen
>  gamestate <- newIORef (initialState g)
>  windowSize $= Size 800 500
>  keyboardMouseCallback $= Just (keyboardMouse gamestate)
>  addTimerCallback msInterval (tick gamestate)
>  displayCallback $= (display gamestate)
>  return()
which is good :)
I don't know if I'm missing out on something, but the 'fullscreen' function doesn't seem to work when i try to use it; I just get a "Not in scope: `fullscreen'
" error. Am I missing out on something? It's a function that features in several tutorials...it's mentioned in the old documentation, but I seem not to be able to find anything about it in the new one :/