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Further experimentation with magicpoint has revealed the following. For what 
I'm trying to do, higher resolutions are 
better. 800x600 was just blurring too much detail on the maps. 1024x768 
looked better, and 1152x864 better yet. So, 
using the old laptop I had intended for this is now out. I plan to rig up a 
sort of hi-tech podium that will have a 
built-in desktop PC and maybe even an LCD monitor. Which should be perfectly 
doable since I've got plenty of old 
machines and requisite woodworking skills (time for doing the work is what's 
in short supply at the moment). It seems 
that even older, low memory video cards can do the resolutions I need (have a 
1MB memory Tseng that seems to do 
1152x864x16 just fine). I do have more "high powered" cards (8MB video RAM), 
but Xvesa doesn't work with them at 
certain resolutions or sometimes even at all.

Anyway, a couple of further questions. It seems that BL's magicpoint may be 
an older version, or perhaps was compiled 
without certain options (for size considerations), correct? I've found things 
on the 'net indicating magicpoint 
handles png's, but it's not been able to deal with any of the png's I've 
tried with it. Also, some of my images are 
taller than they are wide, so it's undesireable to add text above them. But 
there's plenty of room at the side. Is 
there no way to make magicpoint do something like columns, such that a 
caption can appear side-by-side with an image? 
My searches so far seem to indicate this cannot be done. So, in order to get 
some sort of appearance like that, would 
I have to edit the image itself and add text at the side?

Finally, on video memory: how crucial will it be to magicpoint's speed to 
have more than 1MB of video memory? Can I 
expect a card with that amount to enable me to scroll quickly through my 
slides at 1152x864 resolution? Would more 
video memory help speed in that way, or is that more a function of CPU speed 
and/or system RAM?

Anyway, it's a neat little program that I plan to put to alot of use.

Thanks,
James