dual head with two workspaces possible?

arobinson74 · 10-10-2007, 10:17 AM

I am looking to find out if it would be possible to run a dual head setup with a workspace for each screen, instead of one large workspace.

Environment:
Dell Latitude D630
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
1280x1024 external DVI monitor
1440x900 display on the laptop
Xubuntu 7.10 / Gutsy
Xfce 4.4.1

I am currently using one video card, one screen with xorg.conf and using xrandr with 1.2 extensions to add the second screen. My xorg:

Code:

...
Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller"
        Driver          "intel"
        BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
        Option          "DPMS"
        Option          "DPI"   "96 x 96"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller"
        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth   24
                Modes   "1440x900"
                Virtual 2048 2048
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"
        InputDevice     "stylus"        "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "cursor"        "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "eraser"        "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Is something like this possible?

If so it would give so much better multiple monitor support (like windows and popup dialogs always opening in the same screen because it is contained in a workspace).

bigrigdriver · 10-11-2007, 10:42 AM

Sounds like you need to run multiple sessions of X. Each user logs in to a different X session.

User 1 uses the command: startx
User 2 uses the command: startx -- :1 to start X in the second session.

Read more here: http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/L...-multiple.html

Or point your browser at www.google.com/linux, and search for "multiple x sessions" for more reading.

arobinson74 · 10-11-2007, 01:16 PM

I do not want multiple x-sessions, but rather have a different workspace for each screen.

bigrigdriver · 10-11-2007, 01:41 PM

The alternative to multi-session X is multi-head display. Google turns up a wealth of information on how to setup multi-head display.

arobinson74 · 10-11-2007, 01:55 PM

Yes, but none that I can find addresses having a workspace dedicated to each screen instead of one large workspace on a virtual x-display

GrapefruiTgirl · 10-11-2007, 01:56 PM

Sounds to me like you are looking for Twinview or Xinerama. The differences are somewhat trivial, and you can read about them in either 'man xorg.conf' or <your video driver docs> or Googling each one. I have used each mode about the same amount of time, and found little or no difference between them.

I currently use KDE/Slackware. I'm pretty sure but not certain that Xfce, if that's what you're using, offers similar control as KDE for making applications or windows/boxes open on a specific screen and so you may need to check into that for yourself or otherwise tell some applications somehow where to open.
With KDE, I use the menu from clicking the top left corner icon in a window and selecting 'application or window advanced properties..'

Here's a sample of (the important parts of) what you'll need for Twinview (which I'm currently using) that you could reference or change to suit your devices and stuff. The not-included sections are usually the same/generic, and it provides 'two desktops', one on each screen, which you can traverse with the mouse, or drag windows across, and Maximize/minimize applications on each screen separately.. Exact functions depend a bit on Xcfe compared to KDE..

Code:

...
Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "TwinView" "1"
EndSection
...
Section "ServerLayout" # KDS0 & IBM0, IBM1
Identifier    "computer"
Screen 0      "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice   "Mouse0"    "CorePointer"
InputDevice   "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
...
   Section    "Device"
   Identifier "nVidia1"
   Driver     "nvidia"
   VendorName "eVGA Corp."
   BoardName  "NV44-A2 nVidia GeForce 7100GS TurboCache"
   BusID      "PCI:01:00:0"
   Option     "TwinView" "1"
   Screen 0
   EndSection
...
 Section    "Device" #Connector: IBM0
 Identifier "nVidia0"
 Driver     "nvidia"
 VendorName "eVGA Corp."
 BoardName  "NV44-A2 nVidia GeForce 7100GS TurboCache"
 BusID      "PCI:01:00:0"
 Option     "TwinView" "1"
 Screen 1
 EndSection
...
Section    "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device     "nVidia1"
Monitor    "KDS0"
DefaultDepth 16
Option     "RenderAccel" "On"
Option     "HWcursor" "On"
Option     "DamageEvents" "True"
Option     "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT-0,CRT-1"
Option     "twinVieworientation" "CRT-1 Rightof CRT-0"
Option     "metamodes" "CRT-0:1600x1200,CRT-1:1280x1024 @ 1600x1200"
EndSection

..and you'd need Monitor sections too, for each monitor, but you probably already have those.