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[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

SVGAlib is used to provide graphics for links2 (graphical mode wihtout X), 
zgv, seejpeg, bmv (a ghostcript viewer) and is a lot easier than setting 
up X and also smaller and faster than even Xvesa.

But it does not always give very high resolution and color depth.  I 
recall at least one other user writing in about poor resolution.

On my S3 Vision 964, which goes to 1600 res in DOS and X (s3 server and
probably Xvesa but I can't test on my 1280 monitor), I was unable to do
more than 640x480x256 colors in links2 or seejpeg or zgv.

You can see what modes are supported by links2 if you type
links2 -g -mode 1 and it tells you 1 is not a valid mode and lists the 
ones that are.  
FOr the S3 it listed only modes up to 256 colro and 640 resolution.

A newer SiS chip worked only at 640x480x16 max in links2, and did not do 
seejpeg or zgv at all.  I think they require 256 colors.

A Trident, a Tseng, and an ATI would not work with seejpeg, and only the 
Tseng worked with zgv.  A Cirrus showed blue instead of multicolor with 
seejpeg.  Two other Cirruses worked fine with seejpeg.

I eventually found a doc file for svgalib that said to put the line
chipset VESA in libvga.config, which is a file created when you installed 
svgalib.tgz.   Links2 will run without it, but also without a mouse.
You can make your own file (mouse PS2 might be enough).  

JP's version of links 2.1.9 was statically compiled and worked (mouseless)
without sgvalib (or the jpeg png and tiff files from elflibs).  I got one
from Delilinx links2.1.14 which seems to include ssl as well as javascript
but is not static.  I installed svgalib, was able to get the mouse working
by choosing the correct lines in there, and today added chipset VESA.

The Trident, which did 1600 in DOS and claimed to do 1600 with SVGAlib 
(run vgatest from the package) would only test out at 640 16 colors.
The interlaced modes all gave a black screen and Ctrl-C exited it.
With chipset VESA it now displays 1024 resolution at 64K colors, same as 
Xvesa (which might also do 1280 or 1600, I did not check).

The SiS  - vgatest said it only did up to 640x480x16, which was correct.  
With the VESA driver it goes to 1280 at 64K.  It is a new chip with 8M RAM 
and probably does 1600 or more in DOS or with Xvesa.

So these cards are now usable with LInks2.

I then checked out the S3 Vision 964 which did 256 colors in SVGAlib in 
native mode (so worked with seejpeg and zgv, in 256 colors) and vgatest
now indicated that it would do 36 modes including 1024 16M (which is not 
possible with a 2M card).  I tried that and it went black and I had to 
reboot.  I tried 1024-64K and it looked good until I tried to exit and I 
got a pattern of green steps and had to reboot.  I tried 640x480 (I forget 
the color depth - 256?) and it went black and I tried to exit and a faint 
white moving pattern appeared and I had to reboot.

To summarize - if links2 graphical is not giving you more than 640 
resolution, try adding chipset VESA to libvga.config, then run vgatest and 
actually test out all the modes as they might not really work.
And S3 or Trident or Cirrus or Alliance cards can different among 
themselves.  Not all cards support all VESA modes, and those that do 1600 
in DOS may do only 1024 in SVGAlib VESA.

I will be trying out the Tseng and ATI next, both of which worked at 800 
but not higher resolution with SVGAlib.

A second Trident (without VESA mode) looked like the first, mostly, same 
date (1994) but would do 256 colors in 1024 resolution and might do better 
in VESA mode.

These all have VESA 1.2 and 2M RAM.  Except for the Tseng they all work 
well with Xvesa.  The Tseng does okay at 800.