Framebuffer - what is it?

I'm finding it difficult to "place" the framebuffer project.

What is/are its objective(s)?

Is it meant to be an alternative to X?

Is it just a generic low-level package that complements X in the event
no specific driver for a given video chip is not available?

Most people appear to think in a vague kind of way that the framebuffer
is just a bunch of tricks that let you use a higher resolution on the
linux console.

This seems to make little sense in the light of all the activity on the
fbdev development list where patches (both corrections & enhancements)
are published on a daily basis.

I just cannot imagine a number of high-end programmers spending their
time providing enhancements for the linux console - especially when you
consider how very few applications can actually run in that environment
and usually with some feature loss as compared to running them in an
xterm, for instance.

There seems to be something much more important at stake than the linux
console but after reading the few available docs and being subscribed to
both fbdev lists for a number of years, I still don't get it.

:-(

Apologies if this post makes little sense to some/most.. I'm hitting a
wall and I guess that I am just too ignorant to ask the right questions.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will help reformulate and maybe
come up with the question(s) I am incapable of asking.

:-)

Thanks!

CJ

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