🚀 go-pugleaf

I would like to use an IBM PC with Super VGA to display images from our
solar observatory.  I would like to make use of the 640x400, 256 color
mode, but I will take whatever I can get if it is quick.  The system
is a 386 with a TVGA board, and it does support the above mode.  I am very
ignorant of IBM PCs, but I have the following thoughts about what I
want to do:

1) I would like to use an existing program, hopefully available for
ftp, to display the images.

2) I see a number of GIF compatible display programs available, so GIF
sounds like a logical choice.

3) Since the images I want to display are not already in GIF format, I 
would have to convert them, preferably on our VAX, then download them to 
the PC. I can easily do that, if I know the specs of the GIF format, which I 
do not. 

4) I could convert the images to some other format, if there is a better
one, for which there is a freely-distributable viewer.

5) I would consider a commercial program for display if there is a real
advantage over the available freely-distributable ones.

Therefore, my specific questions: Is GIF a suitable format to tackle
for this purpose, or is there another that is better?  Where can I
get a document that describes the GIF (or other) format so that I can
do the file conversion?  What is the best GIF viewer program (or other)
that I should use to do the displaying of the image?  

Please e-mail me if you have suggestions, and especially if you have
documention (or can point me to a good book) that describes the GIF
format.

Dale Gary
dg@sundog.caltech.edu