Questions about OpenGL (after RTFM)

Hi all,
after having read "Beginning OpenGL Game Programming" by
Dave Astle and Kevin Hawkins, and "The Official Guide to
Learning OpenGL" I still have doubts about some subjects
I'm gonna list, hoping some nice soul here illuminates me.

Vertex Transformations:
How do I disable all Vertex Transformations? I want to
use my own geometry engine (which is already written and
which has some features I really like), and thus I would
like to avoid OpenGL making multiplications all around
with the identity matrix, which would slow down things
(wether computed by the CPU or by the GPU) to perform
nothing useful anyway.
Basically I *only* need to draw texture mapped triangles
in 3 dimensions. I don't mind using "w" instead of "z",
if that is more natural, given the low-level I aim to.

Lighting:
How does OpenGL implement, in the "back end", lighting?
After having done all its calculations, does it simply set
a R,G,B,(A?) value for each vertex (i.e. Gouraud Shading)
for both the primary and secondary colors, or is it more
than that? Does it use some hidden feature?

Secondary Colors:
Although the capability is listed (GL_EXT_secondary_color)
when I check the supported extensions via glGetString(),
I can't find glSecondaryColor3f (nor the other functions
which begin with glSecondaryColor*) exported neither in
the OpenGL32.DLL nor in the glu32.DLL. Where are them?

Max Texture Size:
I know that it has to be queried, and that the maximum
guaranteed is only 64x64. However, does anybody know if
there's a "de-facto" guaranteed minimum in Win32 OGLs?
And, if not, the best approach would be to load several
64x64 textures (with borders?) and tesselate everything?
Ain't that annoying? I would much prefer if OpenGL did
it (or I would rather get all the fun and program the
hardware directly). Actually, the only significative
usefulness I see for something that forces itself
between you and the silicon is easing tasks like that.

Last but not least:
Has anybody written a database listing all the common
PC video cards' supported features / which extensions
are standard, etc..? If so, can you point me to an URL
please?
Also, can you point me to the best utility to report
all the capabilities of the installed driver?

Greets & many Thanks,
Mike