Pointers to creating virtual monitor drivers for OS X

the979kid picture the979kid · Sep 7, 2010 · Viewed 8.5k times · Source

I'd like to create a virtual monitor driver for OS X. What I mean by virtual is a monitor driver that does not drive an attached monitor, yet fools OS X into thinking there is such a monitor attached.

The purpose? It can tunnel display data to some other device over some other protocol, say VNC.

I believe this has been done before in one form or another (perhaps those apps that turn your iPad into a secondary display).

Any coding/kernel hackery pointers on this would be appreciated!

Answer

Nick picture Nick · Jul 29, 2011

After days and days of attempts, I found http://code.google.com/p/ioproxyvideofamily/ which works like a charm. Tried EWProxyFramebuffer, tried iDisplay, but this is the first one that actually works!

- Update -
Sounds like ioproxyvideofamily hasn't been kept up to date with new OS's. I haven't tried it (or any alternatives) since 10.7. If you find a better alternative, create a new answer to this question.