Bitcoin Forum

When mining on Ubuntu do you need dummy plugs? Thanks, just wondering, probably going to just sail the seven seas and be a pirate anyway but just for reference if I wanted to use a USB boot for my next rig.

Linux doesn't need dummy plug

I'm now curious as to what you actually need dummies for now. I was somehow previously led to believe it was for if you were using linux.

A dummy plug loops the signal back into the card making the card think that it is connected to a monitor. Once it is connected to a monitor, Windows properly notices that you have an available and working videocard to mine with.

Buuuuut.. It usually recognizes it these days?? I haven't heard of people using dummies since 11.4?

I don't think Linux ever needed the dummy plugs. Only Windows.

EDIT: When you say 11.4, are you talking about Ubuntu 11.4, or the 11.4 ATI Driver? Maybe they fixed the dummy plug thing in Driver 11.4 (and onward), but I didn't know about that...

To answer your first question:
The answer is no. I am running BAMT on two of my rigs. I don't need any dummy plugs, and didn't need to hotwire the PCIe 1x slots on either Motherboard.

So in my next rig or video card purchase I'm going to have to use a dummy on my current 6850 that I will keep in my rig alongside the 7970 that I'm getting?

If you are using Windows, and if the card will be in the PCIe 1x slot, then it's highly probable. You can actually build your own dummy plug by buying three resistors, and wiring up a VGA/DVI plug. It's really simple and only costs a buck or two.

on my windows rigs I use teamviwer to manage them
none of my windows rigs have monitors or dummy plugs :)

never used a dummy plug for linux :)

That's actually a cool idea. For some reason, I've never thought about that when I used to run my Windows rig.

It's going to be in what I believe to be a PCIE 3.0 16x, but 16x for sure. Oh well I'll find out in a month or two when I have the money to get my new GPU I guess?