path: root/Source/DirectFB/README

DirectFB README
---------------

   DirectFB is a graphics library which was designed with embedded
   systems in mind. It offers maximum hardware accelerated performance
   at a minimum of resource usage and overhead. 

   Check http://www.directfb.org/ for more and up to date infos.


Supported Operating Systems
---------------------------
   
   - GNU/Linux

   Using SDL (without acceleration support), DirectFB also supports
   the following operating systems:

      - FreeBSD (last tested: DirectFB 0.9.21 on FreeBSD 5.2)
      - NetBSD  (tested on NetBSD 1.6)
      - OpenBSD (tested on OpenBSD 3.2)
           (If you have problems, try ./configure --disable-mmx)
   
   Please note that SDL support is experimental and incomplete. It is
   intended for developers to allow development of DirectFB applications
   in various environments.

   Native (non SDL) support for the following operating systems is in progress:

   - Mac OS X (tested on Mac OS X 10.3.5)

   We do not have the resources to ensure that every release of
   DirectFB works on all supported platforms. If you are a user of one
   of the operating system listed above, and have the time to test the
   CVS or GIT version regularly, your help is greatly appreciated.


Build Requirements
------------------

   Mandatory are
     - libc
     - libpthread
     - libm
     - libdl

   For regenerating autofoo (./autogen.sh or autoreconf)
     - autoconf
     - automake
     - libtool
     - pkg-config

   Optionally, depending on the configuration you want:

   FBDev
     - Linux kernel 2.2.x or newer with working frame buffer device
       (check /proc/fb) for the fbdev system.

   SDL
     - libSDL (Simple Direct Media Layer) for the sdl system.

   X11
     - libX11 (X11 client library) for the X11 system (libx11-dev and libxext-dev packages).

   The following libraries are optional, but important (Debian package names):

   Fonts
     - libfreetype6-dev for TrueType and other fonts

   Images
     - libjpeg-dev for Joint Picture Expert Group images
     - libpng-dev for Portable Network Graphics

   Extra
     - zlib1g-dev for compressed screenshot support (also needed by libpng)

   The multi application core also requires <linux/fusion.h>, see the
   section "Running multiple DirectFB applications" for more details.

   The build of the image and font providers can be disabled but we
   strongly suggest that you don't do this since the code examples and
   a lot of DirectFB applications depend on the functionality provided
   by them.

   The libmpeg3 video provider requires the libmpeg3 library which is
   not commonly installed. We provide this package on our web-site at
   http://www.directfb.org/download/contrib/.

   The avifile and flash video providers that used to be shipped with
   DirectFB have been moved to the DirectFB-extra package.

   We suggest you also install pkg-config available from
   http://www.freedesktop.org/software/pkgconfig/. It will help you
   to compile applications based on DirectFB.


Usage Requirements
------------------

   Depending on the DirectFB application you want to run, you need some
   or all of these:

   - A working frame buffer device (check the output of 'fbset -i').
   - A keyboard (if it works on the console, everything should be fine).
   - A PS/2 or serial mouse for windowing. USB and ADB mice do also work
     via PS/2 emulation.

   Using the single application core you always need access to /dev/tty0,
   /dev/fb0 and the mouse device (/dev/psaux, /dev/mouse).
   You can either run all DirectFB applications as root or allow users
   to access these devices. A reasonable way to do this is to add users
   to the group tty (or some other group) and allow this group to read
   and write the files in /dev:

       crw-rw----    1 root     tty       29,   0  /dev/fb0
       crw-rw----    1 root     tty       10,   1  /dev/psaux
       crw-r-----    1 root     tty        4,   0  /dev/tty0

   If you are using the multi application core, only the master process needs
   access to all of these devices. Additional processes (slaves) just need
   access to /dev/fb0 and:

       crw-rw----    1 root     fusion    29,   0  /dev/fusion/0
   
   Note that the master creates a shared memory file, probably
   in '/dev/shm/fusion.0'. It's read/writeable for anyone matching
   the master process' user or group.


   Some applications from the DirectFB-examples package have additional
   requirements:

   - A video card supported by video4linux for df_video.
   - A joystick for df_joystick.


Running multiple DirectFB applications at the same time
-------------------------------------------------------

   With the default build of the DirectFB library, only one DirectFB
   application may be running. However you have the option to use the
   multi application core of DirectFB which allows multiple DirectFB
   applications to run at the same time within a session.

   DirectFB applications communicate through a layer we call "Fusion".
   This layer was previously implemented completely in user space using
   semaphores and message queues. But since 0.9.15 the Fusion Kernel
   Device is required which implements critical parts of Fusion and thus
   lead to better performance and decent stability. To install this kernel
   module (only available for Linux yet), find the linux-fusion
   module in our CVS or GIT repository or on the DirectFB website.
   For DirectFB 1.4.x releases you should use linux-fusion 8.1.1 or newer.

   Compile DirectFB with multi-application core enabled:

     ./configure --enable-multi

   Make sure your Linux kernel supports tmpfs. This is explained in
   the kernel sources in Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt.
   Mount a tmpfs filesystem as /dev/shm:

     mount tmpfs /dev/shm -ttmpfs

   Optionally a mount point can be specified via the "tmpfs" option,
   see directfbrc(5). The option has to be the same for all processes.

   A good way to test the multi-application core is to install the lite
   toolkit and DFBTerm, a DirectFB terminal (both available in the
   DirectFB CVS/GIT repository). You can then start DirectFB applications
   from dfbterm.


Recommendations
---------------

   To take full advantage of hardware acceleration, 
   a Matrox G200/G400/G450/G550 graphics card is recommend for this 
   version of DirectFB. The drivers for ATI128, Voodoo 3/4/5/Banshee,
   NeoMagic and S3 Savage cards included with this release are work in
   progress and only yet support a subset of the possible accelerations.


Installation
------------

   1) In the DirectFB directory type:

	./configure <options>
	make
	make install (as superuser)

      Use './configure --help' to get a list of possible configure options.

      Imported options include:
        --enable-multi   Enables the Multi Application Core
        --enable-debug   Enables many debug messages and assertions
        --enable-trace   Enables run time stack trace information

      Debugging and especially stack trace support are a performance
      impact. It may be noticably slower in some areas, e.g. text drawing.

      You may use the options "no-debug" and "no-trace" by default, e.g.
      in '<prefix>/etc/directfbrc', and use "--dfb:debug,trace" on the command
      line if needed.

   2) Make sure that "<prefix>/lib" is listed in your /etc/ld.so.conf.
      The default prefix is "/usr/local". After adding it you have to
      run 'ldconfig' as superuser.

      Alternatively, you can add the path to the environment
      variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH. This is useful for temporarily
      switching to another installed version.

   3) You might want to copy fb.modes to /etc or merge it with your
      existing /etc/fb.modes file. The first entry will be used by
      default - copy other entries you may need.

   4) If you want to use a serial mouse, create a link called /dev/mouse
      that points to serial device (e.g. /dev/ttyS0). Then add a line
      describing your mouse-protocol to /etc/directfbrc or ~/.directfbrc:
      "mouse-protocol=[ms|ms3|mouseman|mousesystems]".

   5) If you are cross compiling and have installed the required libraries
      someplace other than /usr/local/lib be sure to add the bin directory
      for those libraries to the front of your 'PATH'.

        For instance if you configured using:
          --prefix=/dfb/usr/local
        then be sure to
          export PATH=/dfb/usr/local/bin:$PATH
        before compiling and installing.


Configuring DirectFB
--------------------

   There are lots of things that can be configured. We try to ship DirectFB
   with reasonable defaults but you might have to tweak things. There are
   several ways to do this. You may edit the system-wide configuration
   file <prefix>/etc/directfbrc or the user-specific $HOME/.directfbrc.
   There's a manual page called directfbrc(5) that documents all the settings.
   The same manual page also explains how DirectFB application can be
   configured via the command-line.


Configuring the Linux frame buffer device
-----------------------------------------

   DirectFB's prefered way-of-working needs a Linux kernel
   with frame buffer support. Check the documentation in the kernel tree
   (/usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/) on how to enable the frame buffer device
   for your graphics card. 

   The generic VESA frame buffer device does not support mode switching
   and you will not get hardware acceleration. To make DirectFB work with
   veasfb, you should add the following lines to /etc/lilo.conf:

	append="video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr"

   'ywrap' enables panning with wraparound.
   'mtrr' enables setting caching type for the frame buffer to write-combining.

	vga=791

   This sets the mode on startup. 791 means 1024x768@16, 788 means 800x600@16.

   All VESA Video Modes:

   Bits    640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
   8       769     771     773      775       796
   16      785     788     791      794       798
   32      786     789     792      795       799

   Other frame buffer devices support mode switching. DirectFB will only 
   support modes listed in your /etc/fb.modes file. By default the first 
   entry found is used.

   If you have a Matrox card you may want to try the vsync patch found in
   the patches directory that enables applications to "idle wait" for the
   vertical retrace.


Using the builtin "window manager"
----------------------------------

   Since DirectFB lacks a real window manager, we added a hack to the
   window stack to allow for basic window management. While pressing
   the <Meta> (or Windows) key or alternatively <Caps-Lock> you can do
   the following:

     - Drag your mouse to move the focused window.
     - Drag and press <Ctrl> to resize the focused window.
     - Drag and press <Alt> to change the opacity of the focused window.
     - Press C to close the focused window.
     - Press A to lower the focused window to the bottom.
     - Press X to cycle the focus through the windows.
     - Press S to raise the lowest window to the top.
     - Press P to enable and show the mouse cursor.
     - Press R to rotate the focused window by 90 degree.
     - Press E to focus the window currently under the mouse cursor,
       useful in conjunction with 'X'.
     - Press Escape to return from fullscreen mode to the desktop.
       (currently not advisable if the fullscreen app is still flipping)
     - Press F12 to redraw the whole window stack.

   You might want to use the "capslock-meta" option (see directfbrc(5))
   if you don't have a <Meta> key.


Documentation
-------------

   A complete API reference documentation in HTML format is created during 
   the build in the docs directory. You may also access the API reference
   as well as a concepts overview, tutorials and the FAQ online at
   http://www.directfb.org/documentation/. 


Thanks to
---------

   Johannes Zellner <johannes@zellner.org>
   Till Adam <till@adam-lilienthal.de>
   Joachim Steiger <roh@hyte.de>
   Felix von Leitner <leitner@fefe.de>
   Johannes Stezenbach <js@convergence.de>
   Michael Natterer <mitch@convergence.de>
   Holger Waechtler <holger@convergence.de>
   Kim JeongHoe <king@mizi.com>
   Jason Gaiser <jasno@san.rr.com>
   W. Michael Petullo <mike@flyn.org>
   Jiri Svoboda <Jiri.Svoboda@seznam.cz>
   Hallvar Helleseth <hallvar@ii.uib.no>
   Topi Kanerva <topi.kanerva@eke.fi>
   Daniel Mack <daniel@convergence.de>
   Ara Hacopian <ahacop@anthrotronix.com>
   Mike Haertel <mike@albert.ai.mit.edu>
   Enno Brehm <enno@convergence.de>
   Martin Mueller <mm@convergence.de>
   Sebastian Klemke <packet@convergence.de>
   Fredrik Hallenberg <hallon@lysator.liu.se>
   Antonino Daplas <adaplas@users.sourceforge.net>
   Scott A McConnell <samcconn@cotw.com>
   Alex SONG <zzaleson@uqconnect.net>
   Ville Syrjälä <syrjala@sci.fi>
   Brian J. Murrell <a40e8119bbddbe7b3d281db117f19b32@interlinx.bc.ca>
   Tim Janik <timj@gtk.org>
   Billy Biggs <vektor@dumbterm.net>
   Andreas Oberritter <obi@tuxbox.org>
   Simon Ueng <simon@ftech.com.tw>
   Scott Brumbaugh <scottb.lists@verizon.net>
   Sebastian Ley <sebastian.ley@mmweg.rwth-aachen.de>
   James Su <suzhe@turbolinux.com.cn>
   Sarma Kolluru <Sarma.Kolluru@nsc.com>
   Oliver Schwartz <Oliver.Schwartz@gmx.de>
   Florian <florian.fernandez2@wanadoo.fr>
   J.P. Delport <jpdelport@csir.co.za>
   Michel Dänzer <michel@daenzer.net>
   Maurizio Monge <monge@sns.it>
   Tim Wright <tim.wright@iosystems.co.uk>
   Liam Girdwood <liam.girdwood@wolfsonmicro.com>
   Andreas Robinson <andro134 at student.liu.se>
   Michael Hunold <hunold@convergence.de>
   Brandon M. Reynolds <breynolds@comtime.com>
   Micha Nelissen <micha@neli.hopto.org>
   Vadim Catana <vcatana@registru.md>
   Henning Glawe <glaweh@physik.fu-berlin.de>
   Ed Millard <emillard@direcway.com>
   Claudio Ciccani <klan82@cheapnet.it>
   Tom Bridgwater <genuss@gmail.com>
   Oskar Liljeblad <oskar@osk.mine.nu>
   Bryce Nichols <bryce@bnichols.org>
   Stefan Lucke <stefan@lucke.in-berlin.de>
   Mws <mws@twisted-brains.org>
   Ivan Daniluk <ivan@shvydko.ua>
   Mark Salter <msalter@redhat.com>
   Martin Lütken <nitram@lutken.dk>
   Sylvain Meyer <sylvain.meyer@worldonline.fr>
   Mark Adams <mark147m@gmail.com>
   Damian Kowalewski <damian.kowalewski@mail.mcgill.ca>
   Jakub Bogusz <qboosh@pld-linux.org>
   Nathanael D. Noblet <nathanael@gnat.ca>
   Ryan Burns <rburns@mvista.com>
   Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>
   Guillem Jover <guillem@debian.org>
   Jeff Bailey <jbailey@ubuntu.com>
   Andreas Jochens <aj@andaco.de>
   Daniel J Laird <daniel.j.laird@nxp.com>
   Marko Mäkelä <marko.makela@hut.fi>
   Nils Magnus Larsgard <nmlarsgaard@atmel.no>
   Pär Degerman <parde@ikp.liu.se>
   Michel van Noorloos <michel.van.noorloos@sioux.nl>
   Gery <gxkahn@gmail.com>
   Shane <shanevolpe@gmail.com>
   Paul Mackerras <paulus@samba.org>
   Attilio Fiandrotti <attilio.fiandrotti@gmail.com>
   Vaclav Slavik <vslavik@fastmail.fm>
   Philip Jägenstedt <philipj@opera.com>
   sridewa <sridewa@gmail.com>
   Eugene Everson <eugene@tranzas.co.jp>
   Mike Crowe <mac@mcrowe.com>
   Kieran Bingham <kbingham@mpc-data.co.uk>
   Luis Mondesi +lemsx1 +gmail,com
   Keith Mok <ek9852@gmail.com>
   GARDET Guillaume <ggardet@adeneo.adetelgroup.com>
   Phil Endecott <spam_from_directfb_dev@chezphil.org>
   Brian Austin <brian.austin@cirrus.com>
   Keith Mok <ek9852@gmail.com>
   Young Hoon <jcybha@hanmail.net>

Special thanks to Ville Syrjala for his great work on the
Matrox TV-Out support and for his several patches including
fixes and enhancements for the whole library. He also did
several ports like UAE or mplayer for DirectFB. Check out his
site at 'http://www.sci.fi/~syrjala/'.


Legal stuff
-----------

   (c) Copyright 2001-2009  The DirectFB Organization (directfb.org)
   (c) Copyright 2000-2004  Convergence (integrated media) GmbH

   All rights reserved.

   Written by Denis Oliver Kropp <dok@directfb.org>,
              Andreas Hundt <andi@fischlustig.de>,
              Sven Neumann <neo@directfb.org>,
              Ville Syrjälä <syrjala@sci.fi> and
              Claudio Ciccani <klan@users.sf.net>.

   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
   License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
   version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

   The complete text of the license is found in the file COPYING.