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(September 2011)| A Framebuffer (or sometimes Framestore) is a
video output device that drives a video display from a memory
buffer containing a complete frame of data. The information in
the memory buffer typically consists of color values for every
pixel (point that can be displayed) on the screen. Color values
are commonly stored in 1-bit binary (monochrome), 4-bit
palettized, 8-bit palettized, 16-bit highcolor and 24-bit
truecolor formats. An additional alpha channel is sometimes used
to retain information about pixel transparency. The total amount
of the memory required to drive the framebuffer depends on the
resolution of the output signal, and on the color depth and
palette size. Framebuffers differ significantly from the vector
displays that were common prior to the advent of the
framebuffer. With a vector display, only the vertices of the
graphics primitives are stored. The electron beam of the output
display is then commanded to move from v