On Mon, 2003-03-10 at 18:07, Orlando Andico wrote: > On Mon, 10 Mar 2003, Holden Hao wrote: > .. > > What is a frame buffer device? > > it's a virtualization of your video card. > your video card appears to be an area of memory. > > so by writing to that memory (e.g. you can define a pointer to point to > the address, so simply by using indirection) you can draw graphics in a > sort-of system-independent way, without using X. > > if you remember the old CGA graphics card, di ba 0xb800:0000 yung address > nun? and if you write data into that area, it will show up on-screen? > > that's how the frame-buffer works. of course the address is DYNAMIC -- it > is determined by the Linux kernel (there is a function call which will > return the frame-buffer address). > > > > What is its use? > > for really lightweight, platform-independent graphics. the disadvantages > are.. > > 1) no (or little..) hardware 2D acceleration > 2) no 3D hardware acceleration > > or.. a quick answer.. it lets you have a neat graphical Tux in the > upper-left corner of the screen when your kernel is booting :) >
Thanks, Orly. Your explanation was a great help. I vaguely remember in my readings that mplayer can run using the linux frame buffer. Is this true? Has anyone tried it? How was the performance. Holden _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fully Searchable Archives With Friendly Web Interface at http://marc.free.net.ph To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
