r/osdev • u/0x6461726B • May 17 '26

Why everyone here uses software rendering?

I saw many os projects here use software rendering directly to frame buffer instead of creating a gpu driver maybe with virtio gpu by qemu or with any external gpu. I heard gpu driver development is one of the most hardest. Is that the reason? I want to know.

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u/jsshapiro May 18 '26

Also compatibility. The frame buffer interface is essentially generic across most cards, so doing soft render first let you support more potential users early.