SVGALib
Linux graphics library From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SVGAlib is an open-source low-level graphics library which ran on Linux and FreeBSD and allowed programs to change video mode and display full-screen graphics, without the use of a windowing system.[3][4] Alongside X11 and the General Graphics Interface, it was one of the earliest libraries allowing graphical video games on Linux.
| Original author(s) | Harm Hanemaayer[1] |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Matan Ziv-Av |
| Stable release | 1.4.3
/ June 2, 2001[2] |
| Preview release | 1.9.25[2]
|
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Linux, FreeBSD |
| Platform | x86, x86-64 |
| Type | Library |
| Website | www |
History
Summarize
Perspective
The first version of SVGALib was based on version 1.2 of another library, VGALib by Tommy Frandsen.[5]
Several games like Ambrosia Software's Maelstrom by Sam Lantinga, the first-person games Freaks! and Space Plumber[6][7] using the QDGDF library,[8][9] and most famously id Software's Doom (alongside an X11 version) and Quake (after the submission of a third-party patch based on leaked source code[10]) were ported to use SVGALib from other operating systems,[11] as was Doom porter Dave Taylor's Abuse.
Wolfenstein 3D was also ported following its source code being released in 1995,[12] as well as the id produced Heretic, Hexen and Hexen II after 1999,[13] and Descent and Descent II by Parallax Software after 1998.[14] Certain source ports for Doom, Quake, and Abuse maintained support for SVGALib.[15] The library is also supported by the MAME/MESS emulator.[16]
First party Linux games that have supported it include Alizarin Tetris,[17] Bdash,[18] Fleuch,[19] Hatman,[20] Intelligent FRAC,[21] Koules,[22] LinCity,[23][24] Linberto,[25] Quadra,[26] Repton,[27] SABRE,[28] Thrust (also supported GGI),[29] Zarch,[30] and Zblast,[31] among others.[32][33][34]
SVGALib was popular in the mid to late 1990s.[35][36] A reference book, Linux Graphics Programming with SVGAlib, was authored by Jay Link in 2000.[37] Around the turn of the millennium, many applications that used it migrated to X11 and SDL,[38] which could (until SDL 2.0) make use of SVGAlib as a video driver.[39][40] This was in part due to the risks of privilege escalation due to SVGAlib requiring applications to run from root.[41][42][43]
References
External links
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