Unable to obtain 16-bit colors in console

Hi all

I have just installed Tao Linux - thanks so much to those involved in
making this valuable resource available (I am afraid that logic went out
the window here for me - as a former student of Chinese language and
civilisation how could I choose any other RHEL clone?).  Everything went
fine apart from the fact that many favourite packages are missing (mc,
lynx, pine, mailman, iptraf, tripwire).  However as that is a decision by
Red Hat I can't blame Tao!  I am installing those from Red Hat 9 binaries,
and they seem to work fine.  (Should I be rebuilding the rpms from source
first??)

One annoying problem that I can't solve so far: I am using console mode
only as the machine is to be used as a server, and so far I cannot get it
to work in 16-bit color mode - only 8-bit is available, which makes
programs such as Midnight Commander difficult to view.  The motherboard
has an onboard S3 ProSavage KM133 video adapter which has been correctly
detected.

I have tested the screen mode by sending it a series of ANSI escape 
sequences and can confirm that only the standard "dull" colors: red, 
green, yellow, blue, magenta and cyan are available.  No bright colors can 
be obtained.  Does anyone have any fixes?  Any help would be most 
appreciated.

Regards

Jim Holland
System Administrator
MANGO - Zimbabwe's non-profit e-mail service