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Hey everyone, I was hoping to find an answer to this question on the forum. Can't seem to find it much of anywhere else.
How would you display output to the monitor, such as one pixel. Without using any pre-created libraries or add-ins. Using solid C++ syntax, and the int main() function.
Anyone know?
It's impossible, point blank. Pure C++ has no knowledge of any input/output system.
Yes, it does. It knows the standard and file streams.
But nothing beyond that.
If you ran your program under an operating system which did not put a layer between itself and the hardware, theoretically you could directly access videocard memory using pointers.
http://www.monstersoft.com/tutorial1/VESA_intro.html
You'll need a decent understanding of the underlying architecture, along with some assembly to talk to the BIOS.
These techniques won't work under Windows, Linux, OSX or any modern operating system, because the operating system prevents direct hardware access. Instead, programs talk to the operating system, which talks to the hardware, therefore providing a unified way to access hardware, and forcing programs to cooperate with each other.
If you want something small and basic you could use TinyPTC. I havent used it yet, but I'll be having a go at it.
Hmm.. Interesting, but i guess it makes sense that it is done through the operating system.
No direct access kinda stinks though. Anyways, thanks for your help, nice to know it can't be done.
At first direct access seems nice, but once you get into it, you'll be glad that the OS does what it does. Once you get a basic OpenGL setup going (I'd recommend in conjunction with SDL or glfw), it makes everything easier by handling Geometry, textures, transformations, and other things that would take lots of time to implement manually.