SDL

SDL stands for Simple DirectMedia Layer, and it's this awesome open-source multimedia library written in C. It gives you low-level access to things like mouse, keyboard, audio, joystick, and even 3D graphics hardware through Direct3D and OpenGL. Pretty cool, right?

Why Use SDL?

These days, SDL is super popular among emulators and video playback software. A ton of well-loved games use it too! You might have heard of the award-winning Linux port of "Civilization: Call To Power" or many games from Humble Bundle. Even Valve has its share of award-winning titles that run on SDL!

Operating Systems Supported

One of the best things about SDL is that it runs on a bunch of operating systems. You can find it on mainstream ones like GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X. But that's not all! It also supports BeOS, various BSD versions (like FreeBSD and OpenBSD), Solaris, IRIX, QNX OSes, plus Android and iOS mobile devices.

Download SDL Easily

If you're using a Linux-based system, you can usually grab SDL from your official software repositories. Installing it is as easy as pie! Just download the latest source package from Softpedia. Save the archive in your Home directory and unpack it.

Installing SDL Step-by-Step

Next up, open your Terminal app and navigate to where you unpacked the archive (something like cd /home/softpedia/SDL2-2.0.3). Then run the command ./configure && make. This will set everything up for you by configuring, optimizing, and compiling the program.

The Final Step: Installation

If everything goes smoothly during compilation (which we hope!), you'll want to install SDL system-wide by running sudo make install. Just make sure you're logged in as a privileged user when you do this.

A Peek Under the Hood

If you're curious about how SDL works behind the scenes—it's primarily written in C but also plays nicely with C++. There are bindings available for several other programming languages too! Whether you're into Python, Ada, Java, Lua, or even Ruby—SDL's got your back!