Reddit mentions of CompuLab 4K Display Emulator (fit-Headless 4K)

I have a GPU in my server, passed through to a windows guest VM. I run steam on there, and then do in-home game streaming with that VM. It's not a very powerful GPU (GT 1030), I mainly did it for testing/learning, to see if I could get enough performance from it. I also wanted to see if I could stream games that only run in Windows on my Linux desktop. It works though I needed a monitor plugged in, later replaced by an HDMI display emulator.

I've also experimented with some simple machine learning stuff (with the same GPU), basically processing images from one of my security cameras and attempting to read any text from the images (ie did a big truck just pull up with "UPS" on the side, I'd like to extract the text from the image when the motion detection was triggered by the camera).

Here's what I used to set it up

• https://github.com/nicholastoddsmith/pythonml/blob/master/TFANN/TFANN.py
  
• that uses https://www.tensorflow.org/ as the compute library
  
• I followed this guide to get the drivers working since 1030 isn't really targeted for GPU compute workloads.
  
  All in all I didn't put much effort in, but had some interesting results. I intend to come back to it when I have more free time.

My desktop is headless, I use it as a Steam streaming source to my laptop regularly.

I use one of these EDID spoofers so it think it has a monitor attached, and if you're using Windows you will need a mouse plugged in or you don't get a cursor, for which I use a cheap USB to PS2 dongle like this (if you've got a spare wireless mouse receiver that'll work nicely too).

Shouldn't have any problems with any of that, even if you were planning a virtualised machine with a passthrough GPU.

No need to wait for this Kickstarter to get funded. You can a CompuLab 4K Display Emulator right now.

I don't know, but I bet it's technically possible with 2 things:

1. a way to remote in to the machine to do the initial setup/install/etc.
   
   
2. A display emulator (like this: https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8/).
   
   Essentially, it'd be pretty much like operating a headless terminal. Try at your own risk, and even then, it's got to be a pain in the ass. IMO, VR is not ready for that kind of operation. Apps crash and things of such nature happen often enough. And why the hell would you buy a gaming PC and not bother with any non-VR games? If anything, plug it into your TV.

If you pick up a couple (or whatever your card permits) of these or these then VR Desktop can show you those screens (even though they don't physically exist).

You could try this in conjunction with Virtual Desktop (setting Virtual Desktop to start on boot).
http://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426695563&sr=8-2&keywords=headless+hdmi

Nope, but that display adapter linked in the post does! Thank you!

On windows 10;
"Headless Ghost"

https://www.headlessghost.com/

or the Amazon alternativer Comulab;

https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467077521&sr=8-2&keywords=Headless+Monitor

On other windows OS's there is a means to go to display properties, 'detect' and force detect another monitor that isn't there.

You could theoretically take extra ports from your current TV monitor and connect it to your GPU and it'll 'think' more are connected, but I haven't tried this.

Been there done that, here are my thoughts:

• This is completely doable but can be frustrating and you will always be dealing with some latency.
  
• You will need a graphics card, preferably an AMD. I used a 7970 so a r9 280(x) or 290(x) would probably work. See what you can find on your local classifieds site.
  
• Steam in home streaming will stream your desktop. So you need a desktop that matches or exceeds the resolution of you client. You'll need a display emuator.
  
• You may need a sound device if you cant get the hdmi sound to work. I passed through a usb controller and plugged in a usb sound card that came with my kingston headphones.
  
  

• You can never lock the machine so you'll need to disable the lock screen and log in screen while using VNC to manage it. Remote desktop will not work.
  
  Cheers mate, you're in for a wild ride. This project definitely taught me a lot about virtualization.
  
  EDIT: Passing through the onboard is a mixed bag and wont get you far with gaming anyways. I wouldn't screw with it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JKFTYA8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is what I use, but they are normally 9bucks, so I would shop around. You just plug them in and it tricks windows into thinking there is a monitor attached. Obviously you dont need these for 1070's.

I've purchased this headless ghost and this DP to HDMI adapter.

It required some tinkering in the nvidia's control panel custom resolution settings but everything works flawlessly.

Just make sure that VD is NOT running while you mess with the custom resolution.

My headless ghost custom resolution settings are here

If you notice that the nvidia settings aren't "sticking" use the windows resolution manager and under "display adapter properties" you should see a 90hz option under refresh rate for your chosen resolution.

Possible to pick up a headless emulator like this:

CompuLab Display Emulator (fit-Headless) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FLZXGJ6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_4LxyybD84A4KR

Or:

CompuLab 4K Display Emulator (fit-Headless 4K) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_1NxyybJG915J3

Should recognize as a monitor even when you turn your real monitor off.

EDIT: Not just a 480 problem by the way. Happens with my Fury X as well.

You're going to need a monitor of some kind most likely, at the very least to get everything setup, and because this stuff is in it's infancy and just won't always work reliably without one.

If you already have a computer of some kind, once you get setup you can share your desktop over VNC or RDP to do just about anything you can't do in the Rift.

If not, buy a decent monitor for this rig as well. You'll want it when you get tired of trying to read in the HMD. The Rift is being marketed, and designed, as a peripheral and not a main display, so using it as one is going to be a little janky at best.

If you're still set, Virtual Desktop currently also requires a 'real' display buffer to read from.

You've got two easy options I know about there. The first, and probably preferred, is using a DVI dummy plug: http://www.amazon.com/CablesOnline-Graphics-Display-Detection-VE-D11/dp/B00N85QYGS

These were popular for bitcoin miners or CUDA devs who's GPUs wouldn't work without something plugged in. These should let you set just about whatever custom resolution you wish.

Another, newer but not necessarily better, option is to emulate a real HDMI monitor with one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-fit-Headless-Display-Emulator/dp/B00FLZXGJ6
http://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8

Reviews seem mixed, but the use cases vary widely. The main issue with these may be setting a refresh rate that isn't terrible, one reviewer mentioned not being able to get >15fps on the 4k model.

I have heard that this little dongle really helps if you want to be able to remote into the headless mini! Ups the resolution since the mini has garbage graphics when it doesn’t detect a display.

You don't necessarily need another monitor, it is definitely recommended. With my MacBook, I've got integrated graphics, which allows me to use Nvidia Optimus to run on the internal display. Not sure if the iMac has this option. Otherwise I know you can buy a ghost HDMI adapter that goes up to 4k in resolution (https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8) that plugs into the HDMI port in the graphics card. This basically backfeeds to your internal display, but that eats up bandwidth, and might reduce performance. Installing any thunderbolt eGPU on a Mac requires you to install the automate-eGPU.sh script (or some other eGPU enabler). So yes it is possible on the 5k iMac I believe. However egpu.io has got tons of info on 5k iMac implementations. Hers an example: https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/success-with-imacsegpu/#post-8632
In theory, yes it is possible, but definitely head over to egpu.io to find out more.

Bunnie, could a display emulator like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JKFTYA8 be used?

http://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=pd_sim_pc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QJKM8FSHZYH8HQ127TF

OK, I haven't read the Apple support topic in a while. You may need to purchase something like this to trick clam shell mode. Good luck!https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JKFTYA8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I snagged this one off of Amazon with the purpose of being able to set 90 refresh rate to smooth out play in VD. Using a higher resolution for tridef helped in the sense that I am rendering much higher then target rez just like with the debug tool. Setting up the ghost can be a lil twitchy with the Nvidia control panel.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JKFTYA8/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The only thing I could find (within a few seconds, I'm lazy) is a post that refers to them by 2010 on an old forum. I searched Parsec instead and a post mentions HDMI dongles, so I looked those up and ended up on an article talking about headless HDMI dongles, which linked to these things. (if that link doesn't work, I chopped the tail end off cause it looked like a referral link.) I'm not entirely sure if that's what they mean by edid dongle but the description sounded close enough.

Which operating system? You can't on an up to date Windows 10, some say it has been removed from 8.1 as well.

People have actually made gadgets like this get this functionality back.

If you are on Windows 7 or want to try it on 8.1, here is the method:

> 1. On Windows 7, go to where you change resolutions in Windows (Not Nvidia Control Panel) then skip to step 4.
> 2. First go to Control Panel (not Settings app)
> 3. Go to Adjust Screen Resolution. You will get a similar window as you did in Windows 7.
> 4. Click Detect
> 5. Go to display Drop Down and select "Display Device on VGA"
> 6. Select Desired Resolution. If windows is unable to save your settings use the software from your video card to adjust the resolution.
> 7. If you aren't able to output the display to the Fake screen only, Press Windows+P and the select "Second display only"

You can get a $30 adapter that will say it's a monitor to your video card with no display. The rift can then mirror this if you set it as your primary monitor.

Edit: it's $30 http://www.amazon.ca/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8

dude why?! You should have bought those $10 dummy HDMI plugs on Amazon that lets the GPU always active by making it think that it had a display connected...

fit-Headless GS: https://www.amazon.com/fit-Headless-GS-resolution-emulator-game-streaming/dp/B01EK05WTY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1494080294&sr=8-2&keywords=compulab

or fit-Headless 4K: https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1494080294&sr=8-3&keywords=compulab

I've done this using Proxmox and, as previously mentioned, there are videos on Youtube detailing how to do this on Unraid.

For Proxmox I used https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Pci_passthrough and https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1500404457&sr=8-5&keywords=hdmi+dummy if you want it to be truly headless. Right now mine is working with a GTX 780ti but YMMV if you use a different generation of card.

I have a relatively cheap solution that might work.

Buy one of these: https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8

Plug it into the HDMI port on your GPU. You can use it to trick your PC into thinking it's connected to a 4k monitor.

Any reason that this one shouldn't work?:

http://smile.amazon.com/Possible-Display-Ghost/dp/B00N85QYGS/

(Or this one for 4k HDMI:

http://smile.amazon.com/Possible-HDMI-Display-Ghost/dp/B00JKFTYA8/

)

First of all, in order to enable GPU acceleration, windows needs to think there's a monitor attached to the video card, so you may need a dongle like this one.

You can also use an hdmi -> vga adaptor like this or anything else that fools the operating system into thinking there's a monitor attached, unless you want to plug in a real monitor, but since your final goal is to use the VM through remote access, I don't think that would be ideal.

I do this to play games with steam in-home streaming server running in a VM(also have virtual mouse/keyboard attached or windows 10 won't show cursor pointer) and works great.

While steam in home streaming is not ideal for remote desktop access, there are some alternatives that can work, such as turbovnc which apparently was designed for running 3d applications remotely(haven't tried though)

The most reliable might be to add a fake monitor such as: https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=pd_sbs_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00JKFTYA8&pd_rd_r=b0f9a23e-d68e-11e8-ab07-4145956c2bee&pd_rd_w=lr6Tz&pd_rd_wg=trlzt&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=7d5d9c3c-5e01-44ac-97fd-261afd40b865&pf_rd_r=PAE1XP18CWFY5ZYT8BEN&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=PAE1XP18CWFY5ZYT8BEN

Alternatively you can try this software + phone one:
simulate_multiple_monitors_for_free_in_virtual

If you plan to use the headless 4k dongle like I did, beware that I could only get it to display at 15Hz with an R9 390.

EDIT: Link to it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/CompuLab-Remote-Desktop-fit-Headless-4K/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457644476&sr=8-1&keywords=headless+4k

It's cheap compared to some of the alternatives...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JKFTYA8

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201168107831

Yes it only works on iPad. I suggest using Parsec (gaming app but has the closest to zero latency), TeamViewer or Chrome remote desktop to share your screen.

The problem is 1) you’re gonna need one of these to fool your max into thinking there’s a display connected 2) No app or utility, even sidecar, can handle 4k without stuttering.

if your TV is hooked up to your computer, and it's set to your main monitor, with your screen monitor mirroring it, and your resolutions are different, since your TV screen is your main monitor, it's resolution is what's used when taking screenshots


you need a TV on the other end of the hdmi cord or a dummy plug

You can use a headless ghost and team viewer.
http://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-4K-Display-Emulator-fit-Headless/dp/B00JKFTYA8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465161882&sr=8-1&keywords=headless+ghost