?No promises or guarantees.? Worked for me.? Use at your own risk.? May cause hemorrhoids, memory loss, spontaneous?radio combustion, loss of vehicle control .? Who knows, may cause anything to happen....I haven't tested beyond what is stated below.
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Background:
I usually run Pi's headless,?even on initial configuration I never connect monitor kb or mouse. Simply SSH in, raspi-config and once configed and updated run VNC.
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Chromium performance on headless Pi4 has always sucked i.e. keyboard input into?the?address bar has always lagged sometimes maybe 1.5 seconds between keystrokes, so I almost never used it.? And Conky usually launched and stayed in the middle of the screen despite me configuring it for right hand side and making the recommended /boot/config.txt changes for the video.
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Just so happens the Win laptop I usually use for VNC'ing?to the BAP pi was in the process of a several hour dd backup, so I hooked the BAP pi to a? HDMI monitor, kb and mouse to build and test? the BAP 3.2.3 64 bit beta... after installation? I noticed on startup Conky was on the right side (as it should be).? Later on I launched Chromium to check some POTA spots for FT8, and noticed NO LAG, performing like it should.? Hmmm.
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Next day, disconnected the BAP pi from external monitor kb and mouse, booted headless and VNC'd from laptop, Conky was back to the middle.? Tried Chromium for the heck of it and it was laggy again..Hmmmm...
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Did a few A/B comparisons booting Pi with a HDMI monitor attached / headless and VNC'ing?in??with?consistent results?- Chromium laggy headless, normal with HDMI monitor attached.? (Required reboot after attaching monitor to correct the issues)
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Conclusions:
Based on limited testing when using VNC with and without monitor attached to Pi at boot:
1. When the Pi "thinks" there is a HDMI monitor attached , Chromium is not laggy...Conky positions as expected .
2. When running "headless" (no physical HDMI monitor or no HDMI emulator attached) Chromium in it is so laggy it is? basically unusable except for emergency?use.....?
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Workaround:?
Make the Pi think there is an HDMI monitor attached.? Approx. $10 per Pi hardware solution
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Implementation:
I purchased a "HDMI emulator", a thumbnail sized device which emulates a? 1920x1080x60? HDMI monitor and the appropriate adapter cable (micro HDMI male to HDMI female) and no more lagging Chromium or mis-aligned Conky.? Maybe it will help some other stuff also? Don't know yet...not sure what else breaks because of headless no monitor...
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Bill Of Materials:
1 adapter cable per Pi
GANA Micro HDMI to HDMI Adapter Cable, Micro HDMI to HDMI Cable (Male to Female)??
Source:
2Pk?$8.99
1 HDMI?emulator per pi:
source:
HDMI Dummy Plug Headless Ghost Display Emulator £¨Fit Headless- 1920x1080 New Generation@60Hz£©3Pack?$14.89
73,
Dan WH6A
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