The framebuffer is a part of RAM in a computer allocated to hold the graphics information for one frame or picture. This information typically consists of color values for every pixel (point that can be displayed) on the screen. A framebuffer is either:

• Off-screen, meaning that writes to the framebuffer don't appear on the visible screen
• On-screen, meaning that the framebuffer is directly coupled to the visible display

The frame buffer organization may be chunky or planar.

External link

• http://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-fbdev/ The linux framebuffer device (fbdev) driver was added to Linux to support the Macintosh display, which does not have a text mode. It was ported to x86 and is used to display a logo (often Tux) above a screen of text.