# Did anyone try creating a virtual display that drives a LED matrix? **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [June 1, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/did-anyone-try-creating-a-virtual-display-that-drives-a-led-matrix/1084 "2025-06-01T18:35:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thtempelmann](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/thtempelmann/32/542_2.png) [@thtempelmann](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/thtempelmann)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/did-anyone-try-creating-a-virtual-display-that-drives-a-led-matrix/1084/1 "2025-06-01T18:35:35Z")
Since the Pi runs Linux, and there are several ways to add virtual displays to it, I wonder if anyone has tried this. That way, if one then wanted to play a video, we could simply designed its output to that virtual screen, and it’ll appear on the LED matrix. I understand that this might cause a bit of a lag, but it would make things much easier for those who can’t program and would like to direct some graphics to the matrix. ---
**Author:** ![marcmerlin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/marcmerlin/32/40_2.png) [@marcmerlin](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/u/marcmerlin)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://rpi-rgb-led-matrix.discourse.group/t/did-anyone-try-creating-a-virtual-display-that-drives-a-led-matrix/1084/2 "2025-06-01T18:54:40Z")
the code already ships with ./utils/video-viewer.cc to play videos. That said, no, I do not know of anyone who has made an X11 compatible framebuffer that sends directly to the framebuffer. [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/rpi_rgb_led_matrix/original/1X/aa85185149860c79c9c3948b1594a2542c9098cc.jpeg "RGBPanels with hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix and active-3 board") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD5KXFJFuO0) I did do this for fun, but it was just a screenshot I sent to my display ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/rpi_rgb_led_matrix/original/1X/0001b599e7f90689d2eb60648a402bd5f1c45348.jpeg)