Yeah, libsdl2 is built around more modern rendering devices and drawing APIs, and supports far fewer (but more popularly used) platforms. And is vastly faster on those platforms than SDL1.2 used to be, since it’s playing to the strengths of those modern devices, instead of fighting against them the way that SDL1.2 did.

Do note that libsdl2 can emulate framebuffer-style “I just want to splat pixels to the screen”-style program architectures just fine using “streaming” textures [0], but that’s not going to help you if it doesn’t support your platform.

If you need broader platform support and/or are running on low-power devices, then libsdl1.2 is still around and supported, and is probably a more appropriate choice for such projects.

[0]: http://wiki.libsdl.org/MigrationGuide#If_your_game_just_want...

It supports kmscon, maybe if works in software.