[rescue] Re: analog routers...

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Gavin Hubbard wrote:

> Not really, there are quite a few mainstream PC motherboards that will
> happily boot without a graphics card. Even Windows will happily boot
> without a video card if you install the nullvga.sys driver from the server
> appliance development kit (a free download).

I have 2 pc's running linux as headless systems. One is my router/etc
machine which has a nine inch monitor and tiny keyboard that came
from an electronic cash register (really a pc in disguise). I needed it
when I first got cable internet because the cable company required
you to use a javascript in a web browser to log on to your ISP.
(long since discarded)

Once I found out that I could do it via NAT from a windows pc, It sits
there turned off. I use it when I want to shutdown the machine and make
hardware upgrades to it. 

Software upgrades, etc are all done using an ssh session.

The other is my downstairs print server. It's run for months with keyboard
or monitor for months with no problem. I recently had a crash due to a power
outage caused by too many computers being on the same circuit as my clothes
dryer (No, I can't move them or the dryer). I hauled it over to a monitor
across the room and rebooted it. While I was there I upgraded it to a
faster cpu with more memory.
 
> Of course you will need a graphics card and monitor for the initial
> installation (assuming you don't have a pre-built disk image you can clone)
> but then you just yank the card out and thereafter admin the system via
> remote desktop or X etc.

Linux admins nicely without a fancy display. I just use the ssh equivalent
of telnet. RedHat and SuSE have fancy GUI admin tools, but I don't use them.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson gsm at mendelson.com 972-54-608-069
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Carp are bottom feeders, koi are too, and not surprisingly are ferrets.