<s>
VIDIX	B-Application
(	O
video	O
interface	O
for	O
*	B-Operating_System
nix	I-Operating_System
)	O
is	O
a	O
portable	B-Architecture
programming	B-Application
interface	I-Application
for	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
that	O
allows	O
video	B-Device
card	I-Device
drivers	O
running	O
in	O
user	B-Operating_System
space	I-Operating_System
to	O
directly	O
access	O
the	O
framebuffer	B-Algorithm
through	O
Direct	B-Algorithm
Graphics	I-Algorithm
Access	I-Algorithm
extension	O
to	O
the	O
X	B-Operating_System
Window	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nick	O
Kurshev	O
,	O
the	O
author	O
of	O
VIDIX	B-Application
,	O
writes	O
that	O
his	O
motivation	O
in	O
creating	O
the	O
interface	O
was	O
to	O
resolve	O
the	O
issue	O
reported	O
by	O
Vladimir	O
Dergachev	O
in	O
his	O
RFC	O
for	O
an	O
alternative	O
kernel	B-Operating_System
multimedia	O
API	B-Application
:	O
Dergachev	O
noted	O
that	O
existing	O
multimedia	O
interfaces	O
were	O
hard-coded	O
for	O
each	O
device	O
,	O
and	O
suggested	O
that	O
driver	B-Application
developers	O
would	O
have	O
more	O
flexibility	O
with	O
a	O
layer	O
of	O
abstraction	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VIDIX	B-Application
was	O
born	O
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
to	O
the	O
Linux	O
kernel-based	O
drivers	O
from	O
the	O
MPlayer	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
a	O
long	O
time	O
,	O
VIDIX	B-Application
lived	O
within	O
the	O
MPlayer	B-Application
project	O
;	O
later	O
,	O
it	O
lived	O
within	O
the	O
MPlayerXP	B-Application
project	O
,	O
a	O
fork	O
of	O
MPlayer	B-Application
by	O
Kurshev	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
that	O
time	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
and	O
many	O
other	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
lacked	O
quality	O
drivers	O
for	O
the	O
video	O
subsystems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
developers	O
became	O
interested	O
in	O
using	O
VIDIX	B-Application
for	O
their	O
own	O
players	O
,	O
and	O
they	O
asked	O
Kurshev	O
to	O
separate	O
it	O
from	O
the	O
MPlayer	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VIDIX	B-Application
became	O
an	O
alternative	O
set	O
of	O
device	B-Application
drivers	I-Application
,	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
idea	O
of	O
direct	O
hardware	O
access	O
(	O
similar	O
to	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
DirectX	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
drivers	O
mapped	O
accelerated	O
video	O
memory	O
to	O
avoid	O
colour-space	B-Algorithm
conversion	O
and	O
software	O
scaling	B-Algorithm
from	O
the	O
side	O
of	O
the	O
players	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
X	B-Operating_System
Window	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
now	O
includes	O
the	O
Direct	B-Application
Rendering	I-Application
Infrastructure	I-Application
,	O
which	O
provides	O
similar	O
functionality	O
with	O
broad	O
hardware	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Kurshev	O
continued	O
to	O
develop	O
VIDIX	B-Application
through	O
2007	O
,	O
when	O
version	O
1.0.0	O
of	O
the	O
software	O
was	O
released	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ATI	O
Technologies	O
Radeon	B-Device
and	O
Rage128	O
chips	O
:	O
</s>
