Running without graphics card.

Hi all,

Just wondering if it’s possible to run SUSE 11.0 without a graphics card at all?

I’ve got a box I use as a file server that I do all admin on using SSH. It has a GeForce in it that has a noisy fan that is just annoying me. The motherboard doesn’t have onboard graphics. Assuming it will even boot without a card, is it possible to run SUSE this way, and if so, will X11 still function OK? I need to be able to use YaST2 via SSH from time to time because my Linux skills are still lacking in some areas.

Sorry if this has been answered before etc. I had a quick look.

If the motherboard and BIOS allow booting without a graphics card (not all do) then yes - it’s called a headless box.

Just make it boot to init 3 so it doesn’t unnecessarily try to start Xorg.

Not seen it about but yes you’re running the x server from the one you’re coming from. Googling about you should have no problem running apps with ssh -X but running sessions will require remote desktop software from what I can see. Something like nx etc…

Though yast has a ncurses version that isn’t dependant on x as well.

Edit beaten to the answer trust what they say… Mm didn’t even think of that one, now I wonder whether I can…

Thanks for the quick response guys!

The machine already boots to init 3, but I need to switch runlevels to 5 if I want to open windows (obviously).

I guess I should rephrase my question: Will Xorg still work if/when I need it if there is no graphics driver present?

Why would you need Xorg running to run X applications? You don’t.

You can either do as Feather suggested and use ssh -X or use NX to do so - it will allow running a full KDE / GNOME / InsertHere desktop environment and “suspend” it. Well, it doesn’t really suspend the desktop - it only suspends the connection, the desktop and any applications on it will happily keep on running in the background.

I often leave my work stuff running on the work server whilst I pop off home and if I want to check on what the program is doing, I’ll just open an NX connection and continue where I left off or just see what’s cookin’.

My bad, ignore the “org” bit.

Will X windows still load if there is no graphics driver is what I was asking (excuse my bad terminology).

As it is, I use ssh -x if I need the windows, but I wasn’t sure if it’d still work if there wasn’t a driver there.

Thanks for the clarification

I did tell you in my earlier post…

You’re running the x server from the one you’re coming from,

If I hadn’t come across a thread describing it I would of presumed the same.

Though server is in the name it’s a bit misleading, it’s also the client. You’re piping the app to your clients x server over simplification, so the client is doing all the x bits. From reading the server has nothing to do with the X bits. I guess the -X flag just tells ssh to send it to the correct place on the client.

I’m a little puzzled why you’d want to launch Xorg at all? You do not need it running to run remote applications.

You can launch ssh -X applications in init 3 happily.

Sorry, it had been a long day for me :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks for the help!

Hi

The question has been answered, but I would like to add some thoughts:

I’ve got a box I use as a file server that I do all admin on using SSH. It has a GeForce in it that has a noisy fan that is just annoying me. The motherboard doesn’t have onboard graphics. Assuming it will even boot without a card, is it possible to run SUSE this way, and if so, will X11 still function OK?

I some cases, when things go terribly wrong, you might want to see what a system is doing during boot. Or you want to play with firewall settings. Then it’s very handy to have a display attached to the box itself.

Why don’t you consider to replace the GeForce with a very cheap video adapter with no fan?

That’s what I’ve ended up doing. I bought a new (as in un-used) TNT2 card. The mobo won’t allow boot without the card anyway, so I really had no choice.

Was afraid of that, some motherboards can be a little stubborn about that.

I’ve always suggested to people that if they’re building miniservers to buy a MATX with integrated chip - pretty much all of them work in 80x25 text mode without issues :slight_smile: