Can I run a full screen application without a desktop?
 

I'm using a Raspberry Pi on a tiny 320x240 screen. I want to run a fullscreen app I am making using Python w/ pygame that will display graphs and other information about computers on my network. It should start on boot.

However, I don't want Gnome, KDE, FluxBox, xfce, etc. That's all overhead and unnecessary for me. I will never use a UI.

Is this possible?

If so, how?

No you don't need to run a full desktop BUT if you want to use any X application ( I assum pygame would use the gtk toolbox ) then you will need to run an X session this can be s simple as using the default xinitrc which just starts an X session with twm a couple of xterms and a clock, if you don't want to run ANY X apps then you are limited to text only output via the console ( you can do simple graphics on console but its clunky and not easy ).

Programming with Pygame will create an X application by itself, so a WM or DE is not needed. If you use Pygame to switch the app to fullscreen there shouldn't be any problems with that approach.