Running Debian with no mouse/keyboard/monitor

Posted by summitwulf on Wed 1 Feb 2006 at 08:47

I have built a firewall using Debian Sarge, Shorewall etc. on a VIA EPIA PD6000. I'm very happy with the performance, but I would like to get rid of the keyboard, mouse and monitor and administer the system remotely using VNC, SSH, etc. However, disconnecting the keyboard and mouse causes the X-server to fail (it seems). I've set the BIOS to ignore keyboard errors, but is there a clean and correct way to make the system operate without the keyboard and mouse attached?

Although I'm proficient with electronics (I'm an electronics engineer) I don't want to use a hardware solution (i.e. something that plugs into the mouse and keyboard connectors and 'fakes' being the missing hardware).

I feel sure there must be a clean way to solve this. Does anyone have a solution or any good ideas?

Many thanks,

SW.


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