How do I get X configured and get rid of vga16fb console mode?

[FBacon197@aol.com]

A few days ago, I made my leap into Linux world by installing
Debian 2.2r0 onto my 400 MHz AMD K6-2 system.  Things have gone
fairly well, but there were a couple of things that got fouled
up that I can't seem to fix:

[1] The X Window system didn't get configured properly.  The
    xviddetect utility failed to recognize my video card (it
    has a Trident 3DImage975/9750 chipset).

    The xviddetect video.ids database actually contains the
    card, but with a slightly different label: "3DImage" vs.
    the "3DIm`age" reported by the PCI query.

    I got xvidetect to finally report the appropriate svga
    server by editing the video.ids file.  What do I do now
    to get X configured?

[2] When I boot up (using the compact kernel), the system
    (kernel?) changes the console into vga16fb frame buffer
    mode, blowing away the text mode that I selected using a
    vga=1 or vga=9 bootprompt argument.  I *hate* this frame-
    buffer mode.  80x30 characters is a major underutilization
    of my 17-inch monitor.

    How can I get the consoles back into true text mode?  If
    that's not possible (or merely too painful), can I change
    into a higher resolution graphics mode?  I tried messing
    with the fbset utility, but I got "unknown video mode" or
    "ioctl FBIOPUT_VSCREENINFO: invalid argument" for my
    efforts.

Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Felix (FBacon197@aol.com)