Pointers to creating virtual monitor drivers for OS X

Question

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 1

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.

Answer 2

https://github.com/mkernel/EWProxyFramebuffer can do what you want. You have to compile it with xcode yourself and to install EWProxyFrameBuffer.kext to /System/Library/Extensions and EWProxyFrameBufferConnection.framework to /System/Library/Frameworks. Make sure all rights of the installed files are 755 and owner/group is root/wheel. Using EWProxyFrameBuffer.app, you can then de-/activate the monitor.