Vidix
Encyclopedia
VIDIX is a portable
Software portability
Portability in high-level computer programming is the usability of the same software in different environments. The prerequirement for portability is the generalized abstraction between the application logic and system interfaces...

 programming interface for Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....

 operating systems that allows video card drivers running in user space
User space
A conventional computer operating system usually segregates virtual memory into kernel space and user space. Kernel space is strictly reserved for running the kernel, kernel extensions, and most device drivers...

 to directly access the framebuffer
Framebuffer
A framebuffer is a video output device that drives a video display from a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data.The information in the memory buffer typically consists of color values for every pixel on the screen...

 through Direct Graphics Access
Direct Graphics Access
Direct Graphics Access is a plug-in for the X Window System that allows client programs direct access to the frame-buffer.Graphics hardware communicates via a chunk of memory called a frame-buffer. This is an array of values that represent pixel color values on the screen...

 extension to the X Window System
X Window System
The X window system is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces and rich input device capability for networked computers...

.

History

Nick Kurshev, the author of VIDIX, writes that his motivation in creating the interface was to resolve the issue reported by Vladimir Dergachev in his RFC for an alternative kernel multimedia API: Dergachev noted that existing multimedia interfaces were hard-coded for each device, and suggested that driver developers would have more flexibility with a layer of abstraction.

VIDIX was born as an alternative to the Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....

-based drivers from the MPlayer
MPlayer
MPlayer is a free and open source media player. The program is available for all major operating systems, including Linux and other Unix-like systems, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Versions for OS/2, Syllable, AmigaOS and MorphOS are also available. The Windows version works, with some minor...

 project. For a long time, VIDIX lived within the MPlayer project; later, it lived within the MPlayerXP project, a fork of MPlayer by Kurshev. During that time, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 and many other Unix-like operating systems lacked quality drivers for the video subsystems. Almost all of the technical documentation for video hardware was under non-disclosure agreement
Non-disclosure agreement
A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement , confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties...

s at the time, and many programmers had to code their drivers blindly. Other developers became interested in using VIDIX for their own players, and they asked Kurshev to separate it from the MPlayer project.

VIDIX became an alternative set of device driver
Device driver
In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....

s, based on the idea of direct hardware access (similar to Microsoft's DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...

). These drivers mapped accelerated video memory
Video memory
Video memory is a term generally used in computers to describe some form of writable memory, usually RAM, dedicated to the purpose of holding the information necessary for a graphics card to drive a display device...

 to avoid colour-space
Color space
A color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four values or color components...

 conversion and software scaling
Image scaling
In computer graphics, image scaling is the process of resizing a digital image. Scaling is a non-trivial process that involves a trade-off between efficiency, smoothness and sharpness. As the size of an image is increased, so the pixels which comprise the image become increasingly visible, making...

 from the side of the players.

The X Window System now includes the Direct Rendering Infrastructure
Direct Rendering Infrastructure
In computing, the Direct Rendering Infrastructure is an interface and a free software implementation used in the X Window System to securely allow user applications to access the video hardware without requiring data to be passed through the X server. Its primary application is to provide...

, which provides similar functionality with broad hardware support. Kurshev continued to develop VIDIX through 2007, when version 1.0.0 of the software was released.

Supported hardware

  • Trident Microsystems
    Trident Microsystems
    Trident Microsystems is a supplier of display-processors for flat panel displays . At one time, Trident was also a supplier of PC graphics chipsets and sound controllers.- History :...

     Cyberblade/i1
  • Hauppage PVR350
  • ATI Technologies
    ATI Technologies
    ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...

     Mach64 and 3DRage chips
  • ATI Technologies Radeon
    Radeon
    Radeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by...

     and Rage128 chips:
    • Radeon R100
      Radeon R100
      The Radeon R100 is the first generation of Radeon graphics chips from ATI Technologies. The line features 3D acceleration based upon Direct3D 7.0 and OpenGL 1.3, and all but the entry-level versions offloading host geometry calculations to a hardware transform and lighting engine, a major...

       chip series
    • Radeon R200
      Radeon R200
      The Radeon R200 is the second generation of Radeon graphics chips from ATI Technologies. The architecture features 3D acceleration based upon Microsoft Direct3D 8.1 and OpenGL 1.3, a major improvement in features and performance compared to the preceding Radeon R100 design. The GPU also includes 2D...

       chip series
    • Radeon R300
      Radeon R300
      The Radeon R300 is the third generation of Radeon graphics chips from ATI Technologies. The line features 3D acceleration based upon Direct3D 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0, a major improvement in features and performance compared to the preceding Radeon R200 design. R300 was the first fully Direct3D...

       chip series
    • Radeon R420
      Radeon R420
      The Radeon R420 core from ATI Technologies was the company's basis for its 3rd-generation DirectX 9.0/OpenGL 2.0-capable graphics cards. Used first on the Radeon X800, R420 was produced on a 0.13 micrometer low-K process and used GDDR-3 memory...

       chip series
    • Radeon R520
      Radeon R520
      ATI's "R520" core is the foundation for a line of DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.0 3D accelerator X1000 video cards. It is ATI's first major architectural overhaul since the "R300" core and is highly optimized for Shader Model 3.0. The Radeon X1000 series using the core was introduced on October 5,...

       chip series
  • Matrox
    Matrox
    Matrox is a producer of video card components and equipment for personal computers. Based in Dorval, Quebec, Canada it was founded by Lorne Trottier and Branko Matić....

     MGA G200/G4x0/G5x0 chips
  • Nvidia
    NVIDIA
    Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...

     chips:
    • RIVA 128
      RIVA 128
      Released in late 1997 by Nvidia, the RIVA 128, or "NV3", was one of the first consumer graphics processing units to integrate 3D acceleration in addition to traditional 2D and video acceleration...

    • RIVA TNT
      RIVA TNT
      The RIVA TNT, codenamed NV4, is a 2D, video, and 3D graphics accelerator chip for PCs that was manufactured by Nvidia. It was released in mid 1998 and cemented Nvidia's reputation as a worthy rival within the developing consumer 3D graphics adapter industry. The first RIVA TNT based card released...

    • RIVA TNT2
      RIVA TNT2
      The RIVA TNT2 was a graphics processing unit manufactured by Nvidia starting in early 1999. The chip is codenamed "NV5" because it is the 5th graphics chip design by Nvidia, succeeding the RIVA TNT . RIVA is an acronym for Real-time Interactive Video and Animation accelerator...

    • GeForce 256
      GeForce 256
      The GeForce 256 is the original release in Nvidia's "GeForce" product-line. Released on August 31, 1999, the GeForce 256 improves on its predecessor by increasing the number of fixed pixel pipelines, offloading host geometry calculations to a hardware transform and lighting engine, and adding...

    • GeForce 2 Series
    • GeForce 3 Series
    • GeForce 4 Series
    • GeForce FX Series
    • GeForce 6 Series
      GeForce 6 Series
      The GeForce 6 Series is Nvidia's sixth generation of GeForce graphic processing units. Launched on April 14, 2004, the GeForce 6 family introduced PureVideo post-processing for video, SLI technology, and Shader Model 3.0 support .-GeForce 6 Series features:-SLI:The Scalable Link...

    • GeForce 7 Series
      GeForce 7 Series
      The GeForce 7 Series is the seventh generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units.-Features:The following features are common to all models in the GeForce 7 series except the GeForce 7100, which lacks GCAA:-GeForce 7100 Series:...

    • Some Quadro
  • 3Dlabs
    3Dlabs
    3DLABS was the name of the fabless semiconductor company that originally developed the GLINT and PERMEDIA high-end graphics chip technology that was used on many of the worlds leading computer graphics cards in the CAD and DCC markets, including its own Wildcat and Oxygen cards.In 2006 the company...

     Permedia2, Permedia3, and GLINT R3
  • S3 Savage
    S3 Savage
    Savage was a product-line of PC graphics chipsets designed by S3.-Savage 3D:At the 1998 E3 Expo S3 introduced the first Savage product, Savage3D. Compared to its ViRGE-derived predecessor , Savage3D was a technological leap forward...

  • Silicon Integrated Systems
    Silicon Integrated Systems
    Silicon Integrated Systems is a company that manufactures, among other things, motherboard chipsets. The company was founded in 1987 in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan.-Business:...

     (SiS) 300
    SiS 300
    The SiS 300/SiS 301 is a graphics processing unit that was manufactured by Silicon Integrated Systems. This GPU, targeted mainstream commercial and consumer markets.-Overview:...

     and 310/325 series chips
  • VIA Technologies
    VIA Technologies
    VIA Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory, and is part of the Formosa Plastics Group. It is the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets...

     CLE266 Unichrome


See also

  • Driver
    Device driver
    In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....

  • Video
    Video
    Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

  • Framebuffer
    Framebuffer
    A framebuffer is a video output device that drives a video display from a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data.The information in the memory buffer typically consists of color values for every pixel on the screen...

  • Video card
    Video card
    A video card, Graphics Card, or Graphics adapter is an expansion card which generates output images to a display. Most video cards offer various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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