Fui is a lightweight C library designed for directly manipulating the Linux framebuffer within a terminal environment. It provides a simple API for drawing basic shapes, text, and images directly to the screen, bypassing the typical terminal output mechanisms. This allows for creating fast and responsive text-based user interfaces (TUIs) and other graphical elements within the terminal's constraints, offering a performance advantage over traditional terminal drawing methods. Fui aims to be easy to integrate into existing C projects with minimal dependencies.
Martin Fama has developed "fui," a C library designed for streamlined interaction with the Linux framebuffer within a TTY (teletypewriter) context. This library aims to simplify the process of directly drawing graphics to the screen without relying on traditional X Window System or Wayland environments. It provides a clean and efficient API for developers who wish to create text-based user interfaces (TUIs) or other graphical applications that operate directly on the framebuffer.
Fui abstracts away the complexities of framebuffer manipulation, offering functions for common operations such as drawing rectangles, lines, and text. It handles tasks like memory mapping the framebuffer device, setting pixel formats, and managing screen dimensions. The library supports various color depths and pixel formats, enabling developers to adapt their applications to different hardware configurations.
The focus on TTY contexts means fui is particularly well-suited for environments where a full-fledged graphical environment isn't available or desirable, such as embedded systems, rescue environments, or minimalistic setups. This allows for the creation of lightweight and responsive applications that can directly access the display hardware. The library is designed with performance in mind, leveraging direct framebuffer access for efficient rendering. Its compact nature also makes it suitable for resource-constrained systems.
While offering a convenient abstraction, fui remains close to the underlying framebuffer operations, allowing for fine-grained control over graphics output. This provides developers with flexibility and efficiency when building framebuffer-based applications. The library's codebase is available on GitHub under the MIT license, encouraging open-source contributions and collaboration. It's presented as a lightweight alternative for creating graphical applications in resource-limited or text-based environments, bypassing the overhead of larger graphical systems.
Summary of Comments ( 51 )
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43931845
Hacker News users discuss
fui, a C library for framebuffer interaction within a TTY. Several commenters express interest in its potential for creating simple graphical interfaces within a terminal environment and for embedded systems. Some question its practical applications compared to existing solutions like ncurses, highlighting potential limitations in handling complex layouts and input. Others praise the minimalist approach, appreciating its small size and dependency-free nature. The discussion also touches upon the library's suitability for different tasks like creating progress bars or simple games within a terminal and comparing its performance to alternatives. A few commenters share their own experiences using similar framebuffer libraries and offer suggestions for improvements tofui.The Hacker News post discussing "Fui: C library for interacting with the framebuffer in a TTY context" has several comments exploring different facets of the library and its potential applications.
One commenter expresses excitement about the project, viewing it as a modern take on libraries like libcaca and AAlib, which were popular for creating text-based UIs and animations. They appreciate the focus on simplicity and direct framebuffer access, contrasting it with more complex solutions involving X11 or Wayland. They see potential for creating lightweight graphical applications within TTY environments.
Another commenter questions the practical use cases for such a library in 2024. They acknowledge the appeal for specific embedded or specialized systems but wonder if the development effort is worthwhile given the prevalence of more sophisticated graphical environments. This prompts a discussion about situations where minimal resource usage is paramount, such as embedded systems or recovery environments. The original poster (OP) chimes in, mentioning the library's utility for debugging kernels or creating simple user interfaces in resource-constrained environments where a full desktop environment is impractical.
Further discussion revolves around the library's capabilities. One comment points out the absence of input handling, suggesting it might limit interactive applications. The OP responds that input handling is outside the scope of the library, which is intentionally focused on output to the framebuffer. They suggest combining
fuiwith other libraries for input if needed.The performance of
fuiis also a topic of interest. One commenter wonders about the speed compared to writing directly to/dev/fb0. The OP explains thatfuiuses double buffering and optimized drawing routines, potentially leading to better performance than naive direct framebuffer access, particularly for complex scenes.Finally, there's a brief exchange about licensing. One commenter asks about the chosen license (MIT), and the OP confirms it, clarifying that the library is free to use and modify.
Overall, the comments reflect a mix of curiosity, skepticism, and appreciation for the project. While some question its relevance in modern computing, others recognize the potential value for specialized applications and admire its minimalist approach. The discussion highlights the ongoing need for lightweight solutions in resource-constrained environments and the appeal of direct framebuffer access for specific tasks.