>> Just a few clues I've found about running the same binary without a GUI:
>>
>> 1) GTK supports running a program without display: 
>> http://library.gnome.org/devel/gtk/2.12/gtk-General.html#gtk-init-check. 
>> This doesn't tell if it's possible in wxWidgets though.
> 
> I see it calls gtk-init-check in wxApp::Initialize.
> 
> I can subclass Initialize, call the original one while suppressing the 
> error message and ignore the return value.  It seems to be working.

This is working.  A few more things and I'll upload it.

We'll need to tell people to install the GTK libraries.  Do you remember 
the apt-get command to install GTK, and can you install it without 
having a GUI installed?