: Request a buffer from the kernel matching the screen's current resolution and color depth (usually 32-bit ARGB).
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Directly writing to the video framebuffer bytes to repaint screen pixels.
The Linux framebuffer provides a legacy, yet highly educational, abstraction layer for graphics hardware. It exposes the video card's frame memory as a simple memory-mapped file, allowing user-space programs to render pixels using basic file operations. Hands On Projects For The Linux Graphics Subsystem
You'll understand how modern hypervisors provide GPU acceleration to guests and the trade-offs between full passthrough and paravirtualization.
: Run a Linux kernel inside a virtual machine (like QEMU) with debugging symbols enabled, or link a physical target device via a serial/network connection.
The projects range from low-level driver-style tasks to higher-level system analysis: : Request a buffer from the kernel matching
: Write a small OpenGL program that intentionally creates a performance bottleneck (e.g., many draw calls or texture uploads). Then, use Perfetto to trace both CPU scheduling and GPU execution, identify the bottleneck, and implement an optimization (such as batching draw calls or using a more efficient texture layout). Document the improvement with before/after traces.
: Build a driver for a virtual GPU within a QEMU environment. This project involves implementing a PCI device that receives instructions from the guest kernel to render images.
On supported hardware (Intel Gen11+ or AMD SRIOV-capable GPUs), enable virtual functions (VFs) on the physical GPU and assign a VF to a QEMU/KVM virtual machine for near-native 3D acceleration. It exposes the video card's frame memory as
You'll experience raw framebuffer programming and understand the minimal requirements for showing pixels on a Linux display.
: Find an available CRTC to feed data to the encoder.
In this project, we'll use GPU profiling tools to optimize the graphics performance of a Linux application. This project will help you understand how to use profiling tools to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize graphics rendering.
: From your development host, connect to the target system.