Newbie Q: ASCII graphics in Python

[Frank T. Sronce]

Well, I've done enough small Python programs that I wanted to try coding
some simple ascii-based games in Python to see if the basic ideas are
worth expanding upon.  Since the 'basic' Python doesn't appear to
support any serious screen manipulation, I was wondering what sort of
add-on package I should look at- there certainly seem to be a bunch of
'em!

Anyway, my priorities are: ascii graphics with color support, easy
learning curve, and code I can run on both a Linux and win95/DOS
machine.  

Any suggestions as to which package to look at first?

Kiz

-I did look briefly at the expanded cursesmodule.c available on the net,
but I haven't been able to make it work on the stupid win95 machine. 
:-(