Graphics-Framebuffer This module REQUIRES access to the video framebuffer, usually "/dev/fb0". You must be using a video device and driver that exposes this device to software. Video cards with their proprietary drivers are not likely to work. However, most open-sourced drivers, seem to work fine. VirtualBox drivers work too. INSTALLATION ** Note, this module does NOT work (natively) in Microsoft Windows ** You SHOULD install this module from the console, not X-Windows. To install this module, run the following commands: perl Build.PL ./Build clear && ./Build test ./Build install OR... perl Makefile.PL make clear && make test make install NOTE: The install step may require sudo (root access). The reason for the 'clear' is so the test log doesn't start scrolling the screen, as graphics are being drawn during the testing. FURTHER TEST SCRIPTS To test the installation properly. Log into the text console (not X). Go to the 'examples' directory and run 'threadstest.pl' or 'primitives.pl'. They basically call most of the features of the module. 'threadstest.pl' demonstrates how to use threads with this module. You can pass a number in on the command line to the "threadstest.pl" script, and it will use that many threads. The default is the number of cores you have. The script 'threadstest.pl' requires 'Sys::CPU'. It is not listed as a prerequisite for this module (as it isn't), but if you want to run this one script, then this is a required module. COMPATIBILITY vs. SPEED This module, suprisingly, runs on a variety of hardware with accessible framebuffer devices. The only limitation is CPU power. Some lower clocked ARM devices may be too slow for practical use of all of the methods in this module, but the best way to find out is to run 'examples/primitives.pl' to see which are fast enough to use. Here's what I have tested this module on: Raspberry PI2 - Tollerable, I did 16 bit mode testing and coding on this - machine. Using a Perlbrew custom compiled Perl helps a bit. - The Raspberry PI (and RP2) are configured, by default, to be - in 16 bit graphics mode. This is not the best mode if you - are going to be loading images or rendering TrueType text, - as color space conversions can take a long time. However, - basic primitives may be slightly faster in 16 bit mode, as - well as blitting. However, overall, 32 bit mode works best - on this machine, especially for image loading and text - rendering. Odroid XU3/XU4 - Surprisingly fast. All methods plenty fast enough for heavy - use. Works great with threads too, 8 of them (when done - properly). Most coding for this module is done on this - machine at 1920x1080x32. This is fast enough for full - screen (1920 x 1080 or less) animations at 15 fps. If your - resolution is lower, then your FPS rating will be higher. Atom 1.60 GHz - Decent, not nearly as fast as the Odroid XU3/4. Works good with NVidia - with threads too (when done properly). Great for normal Nouveau driver - graphical apps and static displayed output. 2.6 GHz MacBook - Blazingly fast. Most primitives draw nearly instantly. with VirtualBox - You could write a simple game with a CPU this fast - (theoretically). Windows 10 PC - Holy cow! No, seriously, this sucker is fast! I wonder how with VirtualBox - much faster if it were running Linux natively. Especially 4GHz 6 core CPU - since I noticed that VirtualBox is very inefficient with NVidia 660 Ti - threads. SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION After installing, you can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. perldoc Graphics::Framebuffer or man Graphics::Framebuffer You can also look for information at: RT, CPAN's request tracker (report bugs here) http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Graphics-Framebuffer AnnoCPAN, Annotated CPAN documentation http://annocpan.org/dist/Graphics-Framebuffer CPAN Ratings http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Graphics-Framebuffer Search CPAN http://search.cpan.org/dist/Graphics-Framebuffer/ YouTube https://youtu.be/4Yzs55Wpr7E LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Richard Kelsch This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either: the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; or the Artistic License. See http://dev.perl.org/licenses/ for more information.