diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1475f056..08348e9b 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ sinclude(scripts/checks.m4)
 CXXFLAGS="-O3"
 
 AC_PROG_CXX
-
+AC_PROG_RANLIB
 AC_SYS_LARGEFILE
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug,
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ PKG_CHECK_MODULES(STUFF, sigc++-2.0 libtorrent >= 0.4.8,
 	          CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS $STUFF_CFLAGS";
 		  LIBS="$LIBS $STUFF_liBS")
 
+AC_SEARCH_LIBS(wbkgdset, ncurses curses,,echo "*** The ncurses library is required!";exit 1)
+
 TORRENT_CHECK_CURL()
 TORRENT_OTFD()
 
@@ -45,4 +47,5 @@ AC_DEFINE(HAVE_CONFIG_H, 1, true if config.h was included)
 AC_OUTPUT([
 	Makefile
 	src/Makefile
+	src/display/Makefile
 ])
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index e81ed370..d714e295 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
+SUBDIRS = \
+	display
+
 bin_PROGRAMS = rtorrent
 
+rtorrent_LDFLAGS = -version-info $(RTORRENT_INTERFACE_VERSION_INFO)
+rtorrent_LDADD = \
+	$(top_srcdir)/src/display/libsub_display.a
+
 rtorrent_SOURCES = \
 	rtorrent.cc
-
-rtorrent_LDADD =
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/display/canvas.cc b/src/display/canvas.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..333ea4be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/display/canvas.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#include "config.h"
+
+#include "canvas.h"
+#include <stdarg.h>
+
+namespace display {
+
+void
+Canvas::init() {
+  initscr();
+  cbreak();
+  noecho();
+  nodelay(stdscr, TRUE);
+  keypad(stdscr, TRUE);
+  curs_set(0);
+}
+
+void
+Canvas::cleanup() {
+  endwin();
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/display/canvas.h b/src/display/canvas.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d965f7fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/display/canvas.h
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+#ifndef RTORRENT_DISPLAY_CANVAS_H
+#define RTORRENT_DISPLAY_CANVAS_H
+
+#include <string>
+#include <ncurses.h>
+
+namespace display {
+
+class Canvas {
+public:
+  Canvas(int x, int y, int width = 0, int height = 0) :
+    m_window(newwin(height, width, y, x)) {}
+  ~Canvas() { delwin(m_window); }
+
+  void      refresh()                                          { wnoutrefresh(m_window); }
+  void      redraw()                                           { redrawwin(m_window); }
+
+  void      update_size(int w, int h)                          { wresize(m_window, h, w); }
+
+  int       get_x()                                            { int x, y; getyx(m_window, y, x); return x; }
+  int       get_y()                                            { int x, y; getyx(m_window, y, x); return y; }
+  int       get_width()                                        { int x, y; getmaxyx(m_window, y, x); return x; }
+  int       get_height()                                       { int x, y; getmaxyx(m_window, y, x); return y; }
+
+  chtype    get_background()                                   { return getbkgd(m_window); }
+  void      set_background(chtype c)                           { return wbkgdset(m_window, c); }
+
+  void      erase()                                            { werase(m_window); }
+
+  void      print(int x, int y, const char* str)               { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str); }
+
+  template <typename A1>
+  void      print(int x, int y, const char* str, A1 a1)        { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1); }
+
+  template <typename A1, typename A2>
+  void      print(int x, int y, const char* str, A1 a1, A2 a2) { mvwprintw(m_window, y, x, str, a1, a2); }
+
+  void      print_border(chtype ls, chtype rs,
+			 chtype ts, chtype bs,
+			 chtype tl, chtype tr,
+			 chtype bl, chtype br)                 { wborder(m_window, ls, rs, ts, bs, tl, tr, bl, br); }
+
+  // Initialize stdscr.
+  static void init();
+  static void cleanup();
+
+  static void do_update()                                      { doupdate(); }
+
+private:
+  WINDOW*   m_window;
+};
+
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/rtorrent.cc b/src/rtorrent.cc
index d4951f5e..b5965c79 100644
--- a/src/rtorrent.cc
+++ b/src/rtorrent.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,27 @@
+#include "display/canvas.h"
 
 int main(int argc, char** argv) {
+  display::Canvas::init();
+
+  display::Canvas canvas1(0, 0, 20, 0);
+  display::Canvas canvas2(15, 5, 20, 10);
+
+  canvas1.erase();
+  canvas2.erase();
+  canvas1.set_background(A_REVERSE);
+
+  canvas1.print_border('|', '|', '-', '-', '+', '+', '+', '+');
+  canvas2.print_border('|', '|', '-', '-', '+', '+', '+', '+');
+
+  canvas1.print(2, 5, "test %i %s", 42, "bar");
+
+  canvas1.refresh();
+  canvas2.refresh();
+  display::Canvas::do_update();
+
+  while (true);
+
+  display::Canvas::cleanup();
+
   return 0;
 }