Dumb question, but I haven’t found a definitive answer online.
So I know if you have a CPU with no iGPU (i.e. Ryzen), you can’t get graphics. But does that only mean I can’t get a graphical desktop? Like in a Linux system, can I plug a TV up to it and get the basic framebuffer console thing?
The reason I’m asking is because I’m looking at cheap KVMs for my couple of servers and most of them are VGA only but none of my discrete GPUs even have VGA. I know I can get adapters but I figured it’d be easier if I can just go straight off the CPU…
No, the video ports on the motherboard are totally non functional with CPU with no iGPU. I suppose there might be a workstation focused board that has a seperate basic video chip, but in general no.
yes. a GPU has never been a requirement for rendering graphics. graphical rendering using only the CPUs power is called “software rendering”. however you will need something called a " display adapter" in order to physically connect the CPU to a screen.
if your goal is to control servers that have no display adapters, I’d recommend buying a laptop and using SSH or some other remote control method.
there are ways to setup X11 over SSH such that all windows are software-rendered on the remote host. the process to set that up can very between distros. sshd’s man page should be able to help you out.
if you have the ability to, re-install the server’s OS and include sshd.
otherwise, install sshd using the same means you used to install the OS.
if the servers in question have IPMI support, then I’d recommend using that.
you’ll need one to enter the BIOS/UEFI initially to configure your system
depending on the OS you may need one to perform the install
depending on your BIOS/UEFI, the system may fail to post with no GPU either entirely or unless you configure the system to ignore no GPU.
in other words, you’ll probably need one to configure the box initially. Unless it has an out of band management interface, AND that interface is configured to set itself up via DHCP (not static IP) AND you have a DHCP server for it.
otherwise you’ll need to configure the out of band management via a console (and graphics card).
that said…
Once you have an OS installed you should be able to ssh into it just fine even with the GPU removed, assuming the machine will boot without it. Not sure about RDP if it is a windows box though. Not sure if it uses the GPU to offload the drawing for that even if it is not output to a display.
i think some linux distros/installers MAY have a serial console option. maybe. its not often a thing for full fat distros these days, but things like pfsense and maybe freenas i think do have serial console installers available.
you still need to get the correct install media and still need to make the machine boot from media somehow though. if that isn’t already configured in the UEFI you’re SOL.
