DirectFB (Direct Frame Buffer) is a

software library In computer science, a library is a collection of non-volatile resources used by computer programs, often for software development. These may include configuration data, documentation, help data, message templates, pre-written code and subr ...

with a small

memory footprint Memory footprint refers to the amount of main memory that a program uses or references while running. The word footprint generally refers to the extent of physical dimensions that an object occupies, giving a sense of its size. In computing, the ...

that provides graphics acceleration,

input device In computing, an input device is a piece of equipment used to provide data and control signals to an information processing system, such as a computer or information appliance. Examples of input devices include keyboards, mouse, scanners, cameras ...

handling and

abstraction layer In computing, an abstraction layer or abstraction level is a way of hiding the working details of a subsystem. Examples of software models that use layers of abstraction include the OSI model for network protocols, OpenGL, and other graphics librar ...

, and integrated

windowing system In computing, a windowing system (or window system) is software that manages separately different parts of display screens. It is a type of graphical user interface (GUI) which implements the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer) paradigm fo ...

with support for translucent windows and multiple display layers on top of the

Linux framebuffer The Linux framebuffer (fbdev) is a linux subsystem used to show graphics on a computer monitor, typically on the system console. It was designed as a hardware-independent API to give user space software access to the framebuffer (the part of a ...

without requiring any

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learni ...

modifications. DirectFB is

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

subject to the terms of the

GNU Lesser General Public License The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their ow ...

(LGPL). The library allows developers an alternative to a full

X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...

(X11) server used in Unix-like

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

s. DirectFB allows applications to talk directly to video hardware through a direct

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

, speeding up and simplifying graphic operations. It is often used by

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

and

embedded system An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' ...

s developers to circumvent the overhead of a full

server implementation. In 2006, a version of DirectFB was included in the software stack for the CE Linux Forum's Audio/Video Graphics Specification V2. DirectFB can host XDirectFB, a rootless X server implementation that uses DirectFB windows for X11 top-level windows. XDirectFB is an interface that mimics the X11 interface through the DirectFB API to simplify running applications written for X11 on DirectFB. DirectFBGL is an

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardwa ...

extension for DirectFB/XDirectFB that uses

Direct Rendering Infrastructure The Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI) is the framework comprising the modern Linux graphics stack which allows unprivileged user-space programs to issue commands to graphics hardware without conflicting with other programs. The main use ...

(DRI) in the

Mesa 3D Mesa, also called Mesa3D and The Mesa 3D Graphics Library, is an open source implementation of OpenGL, Vulkan, and other graphics API specifications. Mesa translates these specifications to vendor-specific graphics hardware drivers. Its most i ...

library to support OpenGL hardware acceleration. Among the products that use DirectFB are

LinuxTV The LinuxTV project is an informal group of volunteers who develop software regarding digital television for the Linux kernel-based operating systems. The community develops and maintains the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) driver subsystem which i ...

Ben Nanonote The Ben NanoNote (officially the 本 NanoNote)Melanson, Donald"Qi Hardware's tiny, hackable Ben NanoNote now shipping" ''Engadget'', 15 March 2010 (accessed 1 November 2012) is a pocket computer using the Linux-based OpenWrt operating system. An ...

, the unreleased Palm Foleo mobile companion, the

webOS webOS, also known as LG webOS and previously known as Open webOS, HP webOS and Palm webOS, is a Linux kernel-based multitasking operating system for smart devices such as smart TVs that has also been used as a mobile operating system. Initially ...

operating system, Panasonic Viera Connect TVs and the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

TVs based on jointSPACE.jointSPACE web site
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References

External links

DirectFB explained in detail on Embedded Linux Wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Directfb Free computer libraries Graphics libraries Linux APIs

See also

References

External links