Second X session at one machine

Oinopion · 01-07-2006, 10:38 AM

Hi!
I would have in my Slackware-current possibitity to open a next X session for next user to use KDE or sth, like it is in some others distros (Mandrake, Kubuntu...) in 'switch user' applet. How to do this? Where can I find some infos?

raska · 01-07-2006, 10:54 AM

if you are running runlevel 3 (the default one), while on KDE press [ctrl]+[alt]+[FX] so you can access to the TTY number X. You can login with another or the same user, then type

Code:

startx -- :n

where n is the number of display, the default is 0 so you won't access that one.

your new X session is bound to the F8 key as the first one is to the F7 key.
you can repeat this up to 6 times as there are 6 possible terminals (F1 - F6) and 6 possible X sessions (F7 - F12).

hope this had helped and you had understood me

Oinopion · 01-07-2006, 11:11 AM

I'm using runlevel 4 by default and my X-screen is linked to F3, but logging on a TTY and doing startx -- :1 works good and I'v even managed to start KDE and XFCE at once at one X-screen (I'v got xfcepanel and so with K-menu and icons, weird, but true

)
Now, I'm not perfectly satisfied with this solution. I want my KDE to run next X-session for me (from K-menu, switch user applet). Is there some config file for this or it runs on some patches? Isn't it KDE feature?

raska · 01-07-2006, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oinopion

I want my KDE to run next X-session for me (from K-menu, switch user applet). Is there some config file for this or it runs on some patches?

I don't know any that way. By the well-known feeling of Slackware, I don't think so...

maybe you can find something useful at http://kde-look.org/, there are lots of improvements and nice stuff

odevans · 01-07-2006, 12:54 PM

KDE should start a new session for you when you do KMenu -> Switch User.

Do you have all if the X packages installed? I'm pretty sure you need xnest (and possibly xdmx?). I remember having this problem (ages ago) and installing all the X packages fixed it.

raska · 01-07-2006, 01:55 PM

ooh ... me? I just install everything always, afterwards I proceed to delete some stuff which I don't use... like Firefox... just to say one.

here:

Code:

$ ls -l /var/log/packages/x*
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  50667 2005-11-16 16:28 x11-6.8.2-i486-4
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  93371 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-devel-6.8.2-i486-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   3254 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-docs-6.8.2-noarch-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  41378 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-docs-html-6.8.2-noarch-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 105245 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-fonts-100dpi-6.8.2-noarch-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   4815 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-fonts-cyrillic-6.8.2-noarch-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 127815 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-fonts-misc-6.8.2-noarch-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   4237 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-fonts-scale-6.8.2-noarch-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    777 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-xdmx-6.8.2-i486-4
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    773 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-xnest-6.8.2-i486-4
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    868 2005-11-16 16:29 x11-xvfb-6.8.2-i486-4
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   3977 2005-10-03 13:08 x3270-3.3.2p1-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   3827 2005-10-03 13:06 xaw3d-1.5-i386-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   4593 2005-10-03 13:08 xchat-2.4.5-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 357695 2005-10-03 13:08 xfce-4.2.2-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  76708 2005-10-03 13:12 xfig-3.2.3d-i386-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  28889 2005-10-03 13:08 xfm-1.4.3-i386-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   7445 2005-10-03 13:08 xfractint-20.2.03-i386-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   5657 2005-10-03 13:02 xfsprogs-2.6.13-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   1601 2005-10-03 13:08 xgames-0.2-i386-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  12821 2005-10-03 13:08 xine-lib-1.0.2-i686-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   7369 2005-10-03 13:08 xine-ui-0.99.4-i686-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   1563 2005-10-03 13:08 xlockmore-5.18-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   8339 2005-10-03 13:08 xmms-1.2.10-i486-3
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   6291 2005-10-03 13:08 xpaint-2.7.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   1635 2005-10-03 13:08 xpdf-3.01-i486-2
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   9335 2005-10-03 13:08 xsane-0.97-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  28757 2005-10-03 13:08 xscreensaver-4.22-i486-2
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   1047 2005-10-03 13:08 xv-3.10a-i486-4
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  41229 2005-10-03 13:09 xvim-6.3.086-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   1031 2005-10-03 13:09 xxgdb-1.12-i386-1

as you can see there at the dates, the x11* packages where updated to current on Nov 16th...

and as I prefer to boot on runlevel 3, I do not outright need the Switch User thing. Though it is quite odd I have never seen that feature on KDE, while I've KDE 3.5 (qt is current):

Code:

$ ls -l /var/log/packages/ | grep kde
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 167016 2005-12-10 12:05 kdeaccessibility-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  24937 2005-12-10 12:05 kdeaddons-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  13915 2005-12-10 12:05 kdeadmin-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 445861 2005-12-10 12:05 kdeartwork-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 228468 2005-12-10 12:05 kdebase-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  32728 2005-12-10 12:05 kdebindings-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 145716 2005-12-10 12:05 kdeedu-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 133750 2005-12-10 12:06 kdegames-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  75279 2005-12-10 12:06 kdegraphics-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 318200 2005-12-10 12:04 kdelibs-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   3823 2005-12-10 12:06 kdelinks-1.3-noarch-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  63526 2005-12-10 12:06 kdemultimedia-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 114366 2005-12-10 12:06 kdenetwork-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 117884 2005-12-10 12:06 kdepim-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  53432 2005-12-10 12:06 kdesdk-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  34317 2005-12-10 12:06 kdetoys-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  31587 2005-12-10 12:06 kdeutils-3.5.0-i486-1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  90619 2005-12-10 12:06 kdevelop-3.3.0-i486-2
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  89630 2005-12-10 12:06 kdewebdev-3.5.0-i486-1
$ ls -l /var/log/packages | grep -i qt
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 241145 2005-10-03 13:11 qt-3.3.4-i486-2

silent_cutthroat · 01-07-2006, 04:08 PM

Play a little with Xnest(capital X). See it's manpage. After you can add a .desktop file to your start menu with the commands you wish.

Some examples:

Code:

# launch a nested server session
$ xinit -- /usr/X11R6/bin/Xnest :1

# launch a nested server and connect to it with Xdmx
$ Xnest :1
$ xinit -- /usr/X11R6/bin/Xdmx :2 -display :1

These assume you've already started an server at :0 You may use startx instead xinit.

Interested to see the result

Oinopion · 01-07-2006, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odevans

KDE should start a new session for you when you do KMenu -> Switch User.

Do you have all if the X packages installed? I'm pretty sure you need xnest (and possibly xdmx?). I remember having this problem (ages ago) and installing all the X packages fixed it.

Yeah, KDE should start a new session, and no, these packages didn't help at my Slack(current). Perhaps there is some config file on Actions part in K-menu?
Xnest won't solve it. I want to run an another x-server on my machine, to get next KDE (or KDM) session for next user just as it is in many others distros.
And I know - it's not a pure slackware spirit.

If it require to get some patches or other soft - it's not worth. I'm just curious if I can have this by meaning of ordinary slackware.

Woodsman · 01-08-2006, 01:47 AM

Quote:

I want my KDE to run next X-session for me (from K-menu, switch user applet). Is there some config file for this or it runs on some patches? Isn't it KDE feature?

I use KDE exclusively and yes, KDE provides a convenient way to toggle between users and additional X sessions when starting from runlevel 4.

Depending upon the version of KDE you are running you should see a K-Menu option to switch sessions. For KDE 3.4.x you'll see the option of Switch User and a sub-menu from that option. For prior versions the menu will read Start New Session (IIRC). In either case the menu option will be toward the bottom of the K-Menu.

Know that if you start KDE from runlevel 3 using the startx script that KDE then will not provide any switching option in the K-Menu. You get to see that option only when starting KDE from runlevel 4. This difference is confusing to new users until they realize that starting another X session in runlevel 3 means toggling to another console and running startx again.

Xnest has nothing to do with KDE switching X sessions.

If you are indeed booting from runlevel 4, then you should see the KDM login manager that requires you to log in (unless you have auto-login already configured.) If you get that far, then the next step is to check the bottom of the KDE menu as described in the previous paragraph.

From your description of using Slackware-current you probably are using KDE 3.4.2.

I'm unsure why this option fails to appear automatically for you. In previous versions users often had to edit the /opt/kde/share/config/kdm/XServers file, but in 3.4 that file no longer is used and switching should be automatically configured in the KDM login manager. In 3.4.x, see if you have a /opt/kde/share/config/kdm/kdmrc file. That is the config file that controls the KDM login manager. Verify that the file contains a ReserveServers option and at least one X virtual terminal reservation:

[General]
ConfigVersion=2.3
ConsoleTTYs=tty1,tty2,tty3,tty4,tty5,tty6
PidFile=/var/run/kdm.pid
ReserveServers=:1,:2,:3 <--This reserves additional X sessions.
ServerVTs=-7
StaticServers=:0 <--This is your primary X session.

Another wild guess is that your K-Menu is goofy. Open Konqueror and in your home directory, rename the ~/.config directory to .config-old or something like that and restart KDE (log out and log in).

Another wild guess, check in the Control Center (KDE Components->Session Manager) and verify that you are configured to log in with an empty session.

Quote:

And I know - it's not a pure slackware spirit.

Who gives a rat's a--. Configure your box the way you want and don't worry about the priesthood.

Oinopion · 01-08-2006, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodsman

I'm unsure why this option fails to appear automatically for you. In previous versions users often had to edit the /opt/kde/share/config/kdm/XServers file, but in 3.4 that file no longer is used and switching should be automatically configured in the KDM login manager. In 3.4.x, see if you have a /opt/kde/share/config/kdm/kdmrc file. That is the config file that controls the KDM login manager. Verify that the file contains a ReserveServers option and at least one X virtual terminal reservation:

Thanks a lot! This was what I was asking for. I've forgoten to change some new config files on some system upgrade, and there was it: kdmrc was not replaced by swaret and contained no ResesrveServer section at all. I've changed the file and it works!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodsman

Who gives a rat's a--. Configure your box the way you want and don't worry about the priesthood.

I didn't

One more time: thanks to all for helping.

Woodsman · 01-09-2006, 12:49 AM

Quote:

I've forgotten to change some new config files on some system upgrade, and there was it: kdmrc was not replaced by swaret and contained no ResesrveServer section at all. I've changed the file and it works!

Great! FWIW, you might consider maintaining a copy of the original fully commented kdmrc file in that same directory. The file size is something like 21KB and is handy for occasional troubleshooting. If you no longer have a copy you can extract one from the kdebase package. The file name is kdmrc.new and you can extract a copy without reinstalling by using the explodepkg tool.

bkeeper · 02-09-2006, 09:27 AM

Raska, great tip, thank you!