Posted by gouessej on Jun 02, 2013; 10:53am
URL: https://forum.jogamp.org/How-can-I-call-glGetString-GL-RENDERER-without-creating-a-window-tp4029296p4029298.html

You need at least a current OpenGL context to get this information. We have the applet "Quick Version Info" that does what you want (and even more), there is no real JOGL canvas in it, only plain AWT components to display the information, you can find its source code on our Github repository.