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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-12T08:51:53+00:00

I want to setup a x86 Linux Box such that: It uses minimal system

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I want to setup a x86 Linux Box such that:

  • It uses minimal system resources.
  • Runs SDL, without XWindows
  • Includes sufficient functionality to
    run QEmu.

Basically I simply want it to ONLY be a host for virtualization and be as “thin” as possible leaving nearly all resources available for the “client” OS or OSs.

Is there anything like that available for the x86 and is there a straightforward way to run SDL without X-Windows.

EDIT:

Oh yeah, thanks for the info Sleske! The framebuffer comment pointed me in the right direction! For anybody else interested http://www.linux-fbdev.org looks very promising! I just need to figure out how to config SDL for FB access now.

Pete

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Are you certain that is a good idea?

    It’s not at all clear to me that SDL uses significantly less resources than X windows. Why do you believe this? Also note that X windows is much more commonly used for general software than SDL, so you’ re setting yourself up for all kinds of problems. I believe you should reconsider your assumptions.

    That said, I’d recommend Debian as the distro. It gives you very fine-grained control of what you want to install, and includes QEmu.

    Edit:

    If you just want to try it for curiosity’s sake: SDL can indeed run without X11 on Linux, by outputting to the Linux framebuffer. A quick Google however gives the impression that there is little docs on how to do this, and apparently this is mostly only used on embedded devices. So good luck trying!

    You might also want to check whether QEMU directly depends on X11, or if it will get by with just SDL. If it depends on X11, you might have to tackle that as well.

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