headless 3D

[Ata Roboubi]

I am using an AGP ATI Radeon 9200 SE card (i believe with the fglrx
driver) on AMD64 linux to render 3D on a headless server. I then
gl_readpixels() and use the result without it ever being looked at on
the interactive display.

On xserver-xorg 7.0.0-0ubu (ubuntu 6.04), I made the following changes
to my xorg.conf to make it not harp about the missing monitor:
---------------------------
1.under Section "Screen", all SubSection "Display" removed any
explicit references to resolution other than my desired 1280x1024

2.added:
    Section "Monitor"
      Identifier     "Headless"
      HorizSync       80.0 - 80.0
      VertRefresh     75.0
      Option         "DPMS"
    EndSection

3.under Section "Screen", changed
    Monitor        "Headless"
--------------------------
This worked very well.

I recently upgraded to 7.5+5ubu (ubuntu 10.04). The above seized to
work. I have tried the standard and fglrx driver and both refuse to
work without a monitor.

--------------------------
X.Org X Server 1.7.6
Release Date: 2010-03-17
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-27-server x86_64 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux test 2.6.32-24-server #43-Ubuntu SMP
Thu Sep 16 16:05:42 UTC 2010 x86_64
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-server
root=UUID=e5ee83ed-44f7-4a30-a8a8-552fe2a893a3 ro quiet
Build Date: 21 July 2010  01:03:39PM
xorg-server 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.3 (For technical support please see
http://www.ubuntu.com/support)
Current version of pixman: 0.16.4
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.1.log", Time: Fri Sep 24 19:58:07 2010
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) Using config directory: "/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(II) [KMS] Kernel modesetting enabled.
(EE) RADEON(0): No modes.
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.1.log" for additional
information.

 ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log
giving up.
xinit:  No such file or directory (errno 2):  unable to connect to X server
xinit:  No such process (errno 3):  Server error.
---------------------------

I tinkered with

        Option     "NoDDC"                      "True"
        Option     "IgnoreEDID"                 "True"
        Option     "ReverseDDC"                 "False"
        Option     "LVDSProbePLL"               "False"

in  Section "Device" and various combinations of them on/off to no
avail, as well as

      Modeline "1280x1024_75.00"  138.54  1280 1368 1504 1728  1024
1025 1028 1069  -HSync +Vsync

in Section "Monitor" produced by a very standard:

gtf 1280 1024 75

With a monitor, the standard driver works great! I just want to be
able to take the monitor off and it does the same. There _must_ be a
way to tell this system to stop caring! To have a monitor sit in a
farm cage, for no other reason than to report DDC info to the card,
when no one will ever look at this monitor, is philosophically
pathetic.

Please help!!!!

-- 
Ata Roboubi
Co-Founder
EarthDetails Inc.
email: ata at earthdetails.com
http://www.earthdetails.com/