I am hoping to get standard alphanumeric vga setup into the linuxbios code base, as part of the stpc initialization, in the very near future. Linux assumes the vga registers are already initialized in vgacon.c (in drivers/video), and changes only a few register settings. But (hopefully) for alpha mode (not graphics!), the register settings are standard for most vga cards and the init can be done in linuxbios without a vga bios. If it turns out that this not true for most modern VGA cards (I am not sure right now), and there are extended register settings for alpha mode, then it will likely be too difficult to setup alpha mode from linux bios. Extended registers are poorly documented and can be a mess.
Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA register set on most modern VGA cards.
-Steve