Re: Server - no video card

["Gary Hennigan" <glhenni@sandia.gov>]

"Mike M" <linux-support@earthlink.net> writes:
> I want to save money as I expand my collection of Debian servers by
> running without a video card.  On the rare occasion that I need
> console access to a machine I would pull it off the shelf and insert
> an AGP video card.
> 
> I just tried it on one of my servers and the only thing I observed
> was a beep during the boot-up sequence.
> 
> Several questions come to mind:
> 
> Is this an acceptable mode of operation?  Are others running in this
> mode?
> 
> Should most motherboards being recently produced be expected to run
> without a video card? (Maybe it's a BIOS thing?)

The BIOS on a lot of machines, particularly older ones, won't allow
you to boot without a video card. In some cases you can tweak a BIOS
setting to tell it to ignore the lack of a video card and boot anyway,
*but*, you have to install a video card in order to set that in the
BIOS, usually.

Is it a valid approach? Yeah, I suppose there's nothing wrong with the
approach, if your machines BIOS supports booting without a video card,
but it's a MIGHTY pain to have to add a video card when something goes
wrong. For most cases like this I generally just get a computer with
built-in video, set it up while connected to a monitor and then
disconnect the monitor and throw it in the closet. Either that or I
shell out $30 for a cheapo VGA card. If I tried setting up a server
without a video card I know I'd be cursing myself every time something
went wrong and I had to open up the case and install a video card just
to diagnose the problem.

Gary