The NYIT setup had multiple Barcovision color CRT monitors connected to the frame buffers via multiple coax video cables I presume through some sort of video switch hardware. 8 bits per pixel. (Unsigned char) The numbers stored in the pixel frame buffer memory were used to index a color map that held the actual RGB or HSV values for the actual color. Cycling the color map array values was a cheap animation trick that Alex Schure had a particular fondness for. On Sun, Mar 5, 2023, 10:02 AM Paul Ruizendaal via TUHS wrote: > I am confused on the history of the frame buffer device. > > On Linux, it seems that /dev/fbdev originated in 1999 from work done by > Martin Schaller and Geert Uytterhoeven (and some input from Fabrice > Bellard?). > > However, it would seem at first glance that early SunOS also had a frame > buffer device (/dev/cgoneX. /dev/bwoneX, etc.) which was similar in nature > (a character device that could be mmap’ed to give access to the hardware > frame buffer, and ioctl’s to probe and configure the hardware). Is that > correct, or were these entirely different in nature? > > Paul > >