boot without monitor

[ZZT]

Im building a sound generating device with a raspberry pi, running Arch and I want it to be able to operate even without a screen. Yet the software I want it to run require a running xserver. I have everything set up and installed and it works perfectly, untill I boot without any graphical output and it stays silent. I havent looked at the xorg logs yet, I'm troubleshooting blind, but I have a hunch it will be that xorg spews out the "NO SCREEN DETECTED" error. I've googled around but havent seen an answer besides "Xvnc", which I could do, but it seems like a cheat as I dont need to connect to the device when its running, and it seems like an aweful lot of work for a relatively simple idea (KISS). Is there a simple way to do this, and let me keep my hdmi port for future troubleshooting?

[sdjf]

Booting without a monitor, lots of us do that, and just ssh in to our pi's.

if you don't want to use xvnc to get an xserver running, maybe you could use different software for generating the sound you want? Have you looked into using commandline sound utilities instead? I know I thought it was a waste when I was using mplayer to play sounds and was not using the gui, so I changed to aplay or alsaplayer.

[simplesi]

KISS x11vnc install
http://cymplecy.wordpress.com/2014/02/0 ... ll-x11vnc/

Simon

[ZZT]

Lovely looking script. I ran it and it installed without flaws. Problem remains though. The device wont make sound unless a hdmi monitor is attatched. I made it so the sound leaves though the mini-jack on startup, and it works like a charm, if a hdmi monitor is attatched. I have no idea if its startx related anymore. Any ideas? Or do I actually have to log in remotely for it to create the xserver? Thats really not what this idea is about.

[pepedog]

This should all work with an old tv, ie combined video and analog stereo. That's what it defaults to if hdmi is missing, and pi doesn't care if tv video source is plugged in or not. So setup on old tv first

Install alsa stuff
http://archlinuxarm.org/packages
aplay -l
if analog is not default, create an /etc/asound.conf file.
If you want sound on remote desktop look into pulseaudio (which general doesn't run as root)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio

[simplesi]

Sorry - never really used sound on Pi so can't help - I've seen lots of posts on re-directing sound to 3.5mm port if HDMI in use though

Simon

[ZZT]

Thanks for the input all!

I like the "old tv" idea.I'll try that tomorrow, if RCA is enabled by default when hdmi is not connected it should at least make debugging a whole lot easier.

I got it to a point where aplay works without HDMI, which is a huge step forward. Its probably a fault in the software I'm trying to run, which runs SDL. My best bet now is that it freezes whenever the software starts running while trying to figure out the graphic specs and frizzes. The numlock doesn't respond anymore which is something I regret not figuring out earlier. CTL-ALT-2'ing to another terminal doesn't seem to work either. All should become clear when I can see what happens on the RCA.

I also found some other terminal tool that appears to be able to do the job allot better, though it needs some more tweaking to get right. It fails at different places. Story for another day!

[sdjf]

You mentioned trouble CTRL-ALT-2'ing to another terminal. But did not say what sort - in case you did not know, you have to log in to the other terminal, it won't do anything if you do not log in.

Contents of $DISPLAY indicate where any GUI stuff has to go, and it can be different for different users and different shells. It defaults to :0 I believe, but you can send it anywhere else as long as the applications know which display number they are supposed to use.

I think you want the hdmi console to stay at :0, but Xvnc can go to :1 or :2 or whatever. What is your sound output device? your .asoundrc file tells the applications where to route the sound.

[erwan]

There's Xvfb, that's a headless xserver. Basically an xserver that doesn't needs a screen.

[sdjf]

Interesting. Package name in Arch for that is apparently xorg-server-xvfb

[kushrami]

boot without monitor is possible....question should edited to control the pi without monitor because it will automatically boot when u power up....

so it u want to control the pi's terminal using ssh u can use putty.....for that u need to assign pi a particular ip address ......in cmdline.txt.....

u can also see your desktop of your pi...using putty and vncserver.....with the help of that ip too....

if u want it in detail...refer this it is very good link....
https://kushrami.wordpress.com/2015/01/ ... op-screen/