booting ubuntu without a monitor

[Preston Kutzner]

On Apr 30, 2009, at 4:18 PM, Councill, David wrote:

> In short, I want a headless remote computer - no monitor, mouse, or
> keyboard. I need to be able to access it remotely but the programs I
> need to run require a GUI.


While I don't particularly know how to remedy your specific problem,  
there might be a work-around available for you that would get you  
functionality that you want, without the complete need to have X  
running.  However, it all depends on what operating system you're  
using to connect to this headless machine with.  If you're using  
another Linux system, or even OS X, you could simply use SSH X- 
forwarding to be able to run your remote GUI applications as "local"  
applications via SSH.  You wouldn't need VNC or even X running on the  
headless system (although you'd need it installed.)  I as about the OS  
you'll be using on the machine you'll be connecting from, because  
Windows, by default, doesn't support X applications.  OS X has X11  
available on it (and I've used it for this purpose in the past), and  
Linux obviously does.

You'd just need to do a 'ssh -CX username at hostname' (or replace the X  
with Y) and then start the application from the command-line.  It will  
open up the application locally.  The -C switch compresses the  
communication between the computers and I've found I get better  
performance from X applications when I use it, even on a fast  
connection.

Again, it's not a direct solution to your current problem, but it  
might be a work-around for you, at least in the interim until you find  
a direct solution.

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