[SDL] some questions

[Meetul Kinarivala]

How do I detect if the user's computer supports SDL_HWSURFACE ?

How do I load a BMP into a hardware surface ? SDL_LoadBMP returns a pointer
to an SDL_Surface that is by default a SDL_SWSURFACE, right ? Do I need to
convert it manually ? How ?

I've never used an alpha channel before..Can someone please give/point me to
a pseudo-code that will show me how to blit a 32 bit alpha containing
surface with alpha blending ? while converting a 32 bit surface to 8 bit
indexed, alpha is ignored, right ?

Does SDL Image library support 32 bit PNG (tho it does support 24 bit PNG) ?

Thank you for your kind help.
Meetul