going headless?

the bishop · 06-23-2004, 03:09 AM

does anyone out there know how to make mandrake's harddrake (or whatever the detection program is) not come up when I try to make it headless and remove the mouse keyboard and monitor? As it stands now, it will just sit there for some time... is there a way to have it ignore hardware being removed or just skip it?

fluppi · 06-23-2004, 03:44 AM

Yes, in BIOS look for a setting like "halt on all error except keyboard" or similar.

Set the linux runlevel to 3 (text only, without graphic).

But some computers will not work without a keyboard, it's hardwired in the BIOS. In this case, you can let him an old or cheap keyboard.
We had an old Dell who don't start without a running monitor !

Last trick: Install a USB-Mouse/Keyboard, they are not so sensitive to disconnect+reconnect.

the bishop · 06-23-2004, 04:25 PM

cool - I have already set it for that in BIOS (this was a headless windows server prior and worked good) ...

now, when I set to linux runlevel 3, will that still allow the Xwindows session to start up, etc, or does it keep it in text w/o graphics?

I'm just curious if Mandrake will hang on the detection phase when I remove the mouse/keyboard/monitor?

the bishop · 06-23-2004, 11:23 PM

ok, let me ask it in a different way -- when I boot it up for the first time after removing things, it has always sat there waiting for confirmation to remove / cancel -- is there a way to set a time limit, or remove that so it will go past that and login normally?

fluppi · 06-24-2004, 01:56 AM

You can deactivate the hardware detection, so it should start with the last configuration.

Uhm, you said "Login normally" - How without keybord, mouse and monitor ? Or do you mean the system goes up and begins to be a server ;-)

Runlevel 3 means all is started except the graphic, but you can start it anytime, you can change the runlevel too.

the bishop · 06-24-2004, 02:44 AM

coolness - I ended up RTFM'ing it and did it and it works great now

Thanks for the help too!