SDL

For anyone in need of a cross-platform multimedia library, Simple DirectMedia Layer should definitely be on their radar. This impressive software is the perfect tool for those in need of low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, 3D hardware via OpenGL, and 2D video framebuffer. What's impressive is that it's used by MPEG playback software, emulators, and many popular games, including the award winning Linux port of "Civilization: Call To Power."

One of the highlights of Simple DirectMedia Layer is its extensive platform support. It's compatible with Linux, Windows, BeOS, MacOS Classic, MacOS X, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BSD/OS, Solaris, IRIX, and QNX. But, that's not all – there is also code available (though no official support) for Windows CE, AmigaOS, Dreamcast, Atari, NetBSD, AIX, OSF/Tru64, RISC OS, and SymbianOS.

Another impressive aspect of Simple DirectMedia Layer is its versatility. While it's written in C, it works perfectly with C++ natively, and there are bindings available for several other programming languages. These include Ada, Eiffel, Java, Lua, ML, Perl, PHP, Pike, Python, and Ruby.

Overall, Simple DirectMedia Layer is a well-designed and powerful cross-platform multimedia library that's perfect for anyone in need of low level access to a variety of multimedia tools. With extensive platform support and compatibility with a wide range of programming languages, Simple DirectMedia Layer is a must-have for professionals and beginners alike.