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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(!) " border="0"
>Starting many X sessions</H3>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Ashwin M, Heather Stern, Jay R. Ashworth, Chris Gianakopoulos, Robos
</strong></p>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ashwin]
Hi,
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I am a relative newbie to Linux, hence this tip may be common or may
have been already published.
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] This is a particularly clear description of it, and the thread turned
a curious direction as well. Welcome to the pages of The Answer Gang,
Ashwin.
</blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ashwin]
Yes! You can have more than one X session running at the <em> _same</em> time! By
default your X session will be running on virtual terminal 7 (that is
why you use Ctrl-Alt-F7 to get to it).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
To start a new X session get to a terminal session (F1 - F6) and type
"startx -- :1". A new X session starts up. Now to go back to the older X
session, use Ctrl-Alt-F7. For the new X session use Ctrl-Alt-F8.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
(For more X sessions use the next numbers after 1 like 2,3 and so on.
They don't have to be in order like 1 next 2 and so on. No matter what
number you use here the Ctrl-Alt-Fx number will be assigned the next
available number after 7)
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] Strictly speaking, the first available open terminal; on most major
distro setups that's 7, after your 6th text console, but if you're an
oddball like me who uses enough text consoles that you set up, say, 10,
then it would show up on console 11 instead.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Of course if you do that too, make sure Xdm or its cousins don't think they
are supposed to take a console used by a text getty.
</blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ashwin]
Now, why would anyone need another X session? Some reasons could be -
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><ul>
<!-- *) To use different window managers at the same time like -->
<LI>To use different window managers at the same time like
<!-- KDE and GNOME. -->
KDE and GNOME.
<!-- *) To run X sessions logged in as different users. -->
<LI>To run X sessions logged in as different users.
<!-- *) To try out things with the XFree86 system (like fonts and such) -->
<LI>To try out things with the XFree86 system (like fonts and such)
</ul></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
You may think "why would I need this?". But, once you know this trick
you will find new ways to use it for your work
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Note:
I found this not to work on some (very few) systems with old video cards
and less VRAM.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
thanks,
Ashwin
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Chris G]
That's a cool tip. I just tried it out, and it works with Version 3.3.6 of
X.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
My favorite reasons to run multiple X sessions on the same machine are:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><ul>
<!-- *) Jim and I are both using the machine... so we want our own X session -->
<LI>Jim and I are both using the machine... so we want our own X session
<!-- each. Since we're running in different chroot spaces (for an -->
each. Since we're running in different chroot spaces (for an
<!-- experiment) on one of the machines around here that's kind of handy. -->
experiment) on one of the machines around here that's kind of handy.
<!-- *) to have different native bit depths, also for experiment. Happily -->
<LI>to have different native bit depths, also for experiment. Happily
<!-- getting to be rare, but there is occasionally software that is -->
getting to be rare, but there is occasionally software that is
<!-- happiest only at one color depth. If you're designing graphics -->
happiest only at one color depth. If you're designing graphics
<!-- for use at multiple color depths I swear this is the fastest way to -->
for use at multiple color depths I swear this is the fastest way to
<!-- tell which colors will wash out. -->
tell which colors will wash out.
</ul></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
In the modern era you <EM>could</EM> also
use Xnest to provide the reduced depth to the stupid app, but it's
less confusing to do the above than to make sure you're running
something inside the nest.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Not that it's hard mind you - make the nest's first client an xterm with
a custom color fg and bg, then launch things you want in the nest from
the special xterm.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
Well, I knew this, but did you know that the keyboard and mouse are
bound to one? Meaning you can't - like I tried - run two xsessions on
two grafik cards and share the keyboard between them. This is only
possible if you use a ps/s keyboard and a usb version. I want to do
that, but I haven't got the usb keyboard yet that I would like: small
form factor (84 keys), english layout (I'm in germany) and usb...
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
You are <EM>supposed</EM> to be able to do that.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
And indeed, a quick test proves that you can.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
RH 7.1, and whichever X ships with that. I did Ctrl-Alt-F1 to a text
login, logged in as root, did 'startx -- :1', and was whisked over to
tty8, where I got a <A HREF="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</A> desktop as root (that being the default choice
on my laptop).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Ctrl-Alt-F7 switched me right back to the desktop I'm on (KDE under
KDM, logged in as myself), and I could C-A-F8 right back to the other
one; mouse and keyboard worked in both.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
And indeed they should: X switches to a free vt before it binds the
hardware, and what it <EM>gets</EM> is the virtualization of the hardware that
it produced by the multi-console driver. It doesn't bind directly to
the hardware.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
Well, a misunderstanding and a wrong memory on my part (I run
memtest86 later on me, it always takes so long...). I meant that I
wanted to run two xservers on two graphic cards and have two keyboards
too. My motivation: Running quake3 and chatting with my pals in irc at
the same time. Thought about either two xservers or one xserver and
one mga framebuffer. But, as said, no usb keyboard yet.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Jay]
What is <EM>hard</EM> is having two X servers on different physical display
adapters <EM>with separate keyboards</EM>. Hard, but often very useful.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
And cheaper than two computers, not to mention the noise reduction.
</STRONG></P>
<blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] While I had interpreted this confusion as wanting both X servers to
listen to the keystrokes in tandem, implying that they'd both be
grabbing keyboard events from the same pool. Which given his usage
example, of course is not what you'd want
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> I could see some
vague reason why somebody might want to do it (test the same app on two
video cards at once) and I can certainly imagine the USB model of how
devices work being much better for handling it.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>X 4 lets you designate entirely different screen layouts to be stored
in its config file, and you can specify which one to use by passing
-layout "layout[1]" (or whatever ID you named it) down to X. Of
course your usual methods of starting X may try to protect you from
doing this, but with startx it's pretty easy:
startx -- -layout secondhead :2
</blockquote>
<blockquote>With X 3.3.x you probably have to just keep seperate config files.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>If anyone out there is crazy enough to be trying this, let us know
how it works out for you. And then there's always the Linux
Terminal Server Project:
<A HREF="http://www.ltsp.org"
>http://www.ltsp.org</A>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Or better yet the K-12 Linux Terminal Server Project:
<A HREF="http://k12ltsp.org/contents.html"
>http://k12ltsp.org/contents.html</A>
</blockquote>
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