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2 Displays and 2 Workspaces With Linux and X?
Borov writes "I'm planning to buy a second monitor in near future and I was searching for ways to configure it under Linux. It seems there are two main ways: 1) to have one 'big' desktop, which means I have single workspace — changing virtual desktop switches both monitors or 2) to have separate X sessions for each display — which means I have separate workspaces, but I can't move applications between them. I need something in the middle — a separate workspace for each screen, so that I can have independent virtual desktops on each screen, but still have the ability to move applications between monitors (no need to strech one app across both of them). I've read that some tiling window managers can do this kind of thing, but I'd rather go with 'classical' window managers, like Openbox/Gnome/KDE or similar."
I have seen a picture on the net awhile ago of a key-commanded window manager that someone had spread across 6+ different monitors. Does anyone know of this?
We won't know until you finish compiling.
I know you don't want a tiling manager, but for anyone wondering, I can speak from experience that dwm works wonderfully with two monitors. I run an external 1920x1200 display, and an internal 1024x600 from my netbook.
Offensive, but he's right. A simple google search would have revealed this.
Not a 'classical" window manager but the only one that can do this afaik.
http://awesome.naquadah.org/
I have 4 screen using 2 nvida 9500 cards and KDE.
I have one X session. By not using Xinerama my maximize button is limited to the size of the two screens on one card. I can stretch the window to full size using all 4 screens.
I also use multiple desktops to manage windows.
Right now each screen gets its own window. When I need to look and wide things(log files) I maximize to two screens. For really big things I can stretch the window to all four screens.
gnome with two screens is just fine. you can maximize on either side and even use the window list say one panel per screen to show what windows are open on each display.
most distros dont even need configuring for dualscreen now.
he who controls the spice controls the universe
It's is going to be more work finding something that works as opposed to just adjusting your usage. Sad, but true... Plus the more monitors you have the less workspaces you will use. I currently have a 6 monitor setup (4 linux, 2 windows) and from just setting up 4 on linux, I would go with whatever works first. I'm just glad maximize works to maximize the window to a single monitor.
I'm using Twinview on a standard Ubuntu 9.10 install. While it's one big desktop stretching across two screens, you can set up metamodes in xorg.conf that allows windows to comfortably use a whole monitor (i.e. maximizing makes a window take up one monitor, not stretch across). If you're using an Nvidia card, the nvidia-setttings utility will even set this up for you. Both monitors are of course set to the same workspace, though. As far as I know, separate X servers are the only way to have each monitor on a different workspace.
30 seconds with Google points me to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra
xpra or X Persistent Remote Applications is a tool which allows you to run X programs usually on a remote host and then direct their display to your local machine without losing any state. It differs from standard X forwarding in that it allows disconnection and reconnection without disrupting the forwarded application
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmove
xmove is a computer program that allows the movement of X Window System applications between different displays and the persistence of X applications across X server restarts[3]. It solves a problem in the design of X, where an X client (an X application) is tied to the X server (X display) it was started on for its lifetime. Also, if the X server is shut down, the client application is forced to stop running.
Have you investigated any of these before 'asking /.'?
I'd fire up a second X session on your machine - you can run multiple instances of X with a single monitor after all, and try moving apps between your sessions. Get that to work and everything should be (mostly) trivial after you get your new monitor.
The standard Window Managers (kwin, metacity) just don't cut it with many displays.
I recommend trying out Awsome
It's a bit difficult to get used to a first. But it really is the best WM for multiple monitors I have ever used.
I used this along time ago on FreeBSD and Windows...
http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/09/how-to-share-your-keyboard-and-mouse-in-realtime-with-synergy/
I'm pretty sure it won't work on the iPad though.
It's designed to share mice/keyboards/buffers across computers, but perhaps you could use it to share across X sessions on the same machine.
http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/
Why did I waste my mod points earlier.... +1 Insightful!
If it isn't broke, tinker with it till it is!
Most people want mirrored or spanned. What you're looking for lies somewhere in between. The trick being to enable spaces control on individual displays, while still allowing drag between displays.
Good luck, haven't seen it. What you want is sufficiently unusual that there may not be anything that provides it. I suggest looking for someone else that's made their own variation of spaces support themselves, that offers the option to switch spaces per-display, as the odds of finding someone that's hacked an existing spaces to be per-monitor is probably going to be low.
The other route would be to find a different variation on spanning, such that the separate monitors aren't necessarily spanned, but are simply adjacent, and if you try to drag a window, it can't exist partly on one display and partly on the other, but you can still drag a window from one display to the other. That may still allow you individual spaces control perhaps? I think that's the reason you're having problems, is that most spanning allows a window to overlap off one display onto another, so for one display to change space it requires the others to change also. If you look at it that way I think you'll realize what you're initially asking for doesn't make sense. (if the displays are truly spanned (attached) and not simply adjacent)
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
I run one big desktop with 12 virtual desktops - then for the applications I want to stay available when I move from one desktop to another I simply right-click on the icon in the upper-left corner (of most windows - Chrome beta doesn't have one for some reason) and select "Always on Visible Workspace" - then it sticks there no matter which workspace I'm on.
Otherwise you could set up the VNC X-server and use VNC-viewer to log back in to the local system and use that window as your second, separate desktop.
Been there, done that, paid for the T-shirt
and didn't get it
Enlightenment DR17 (http://www.enlightenment.org) lets you do that: virtual desktops are managed on a per-screen basis, and still you can move windows between screens. Don't worry it is not "officially" released, it's really stable, I've not seen a crash or anything for months.
I use nvidia twinview on the monitors with Gnome. I also have 3 virtual desktops that I access via edge flipping on the vertical axis. I find this workas alot better than arranging the flipping on the sides with 2 large monitors.
So, Mr. Ballmer, would you please elucidate us on which is better, to have one big desktop where changing workspaces switches both monitors at once, or having one X session for each display?
I'm curious to know your opinion, since both alternatives have their own advantages and disadvantages and, since configuring Linux for dual monitors is so easy, using any of those two alternatives presents no problems.
BTW, I'm curious by what you say about how easy it is to set up Windows 7. Installing putty to run an X session on *any* older version of Windows is a royal PITA, so if, as you say, Windows 7 now supports Xwindow natively, then I'm really interested in Windows 7!
No, it doesn't. Windows doesn't have virtual desktops at all, so the set-up the OP wants (separate virtual desktops on each display) is completely impossible.
I've wanted this for as long as I've had dual-monitors. I wound up settling for an nVidia TwinView setup, but if I could find a way for each of these to be their own separate workspace that would really be terrific. I'm surprised this is so hard to set up--it seems like it shouldn't be that difficult with X.
it's really stable, I've not seen a crash or anything for months.
More importantly: I've only ever seen the window manager crash, but it has never brought down X with it. When it crashes, it gives you a very helpful (and ugly) dialog which allows you to restart the window manager. In the 3 years of using e17, I have never had a single application crash or data loss. And the last e17 crash is from 2008, I think.
Oh, and: mod parent up.
You didn't understand the question.
Here's a simple car analogy: a Linux user asking for tips on advanced uses of virtual desktops is like an off-road rally racer asking for tips on configuring the differentials on a 4x4. Your answer is "use a Ford Taurus".
presuming you have some linux experience (else you might not find your way around it), awesome windows manager is a great solution and can definetely do what you want. it features 9 "tags" - virtual desktops basically, but is completely configurable via a lua script. each monitor will automatically be controlled without difficult setup and it worked "out of the box" for me - except for the laborious install process;)
And what string did you search on such that those solutions popped up?
With the first link, the chain is forged.
not tested it yet but i believe xmonad may be of use to you as i say not tested it yet . but the mailing list seems to be very active .
Karma
That link just describes the two alternatives mentioned in the OP. It doesn't even address the question posed by the OP.
In other words, your link describes two monitors sharing a workspace. OP wants two monitors with separate workspaces, while still being able to drag windows between them.
Has anyone noticed the OP never actually asked a question?
I don't think that actually answers the OPs question. Xinerama or XRandR allow you to set up dual head (which the OP presumably already knows about - he talks about having "one big desktop," which is what Xinerama and XRandR give you), but virtual desktops are handled by the window manager, not by Xinerama or XRandR. A Xinerama or XRandR aware window manager could do what the OP wants, giving separate virtual desktops on each monitor, but simply using Xinerama or XRandR won't get that effect unless you use a specific window manager which offers that option.
Install Windows 7, run Linux in a VM.
Still doesn't solve the problem of Linux window management, though, does it? :)
Bow-ties are cool.
I looked in to this a few years ago, wouldn't work back then so I'm glad some one asked because I'm not in the habit of constantly asking Google the same question everyday and getting the same result. /. they can use real English to describe the problem and have people interpret it.
I'm not insane, not yet anyway. Plus if you don't have a good search string then you're not going to find good answers. Some of the people here get mad for people asking dumb questions but give the guy a break. At least when (s)he's asking
And as far as I know even in the previous release of Suse and the 8.04 Ubuntu this was the way to do it but it was a known issue not to work.
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
Actually there is a powertoy that gives you virtual desktops, called desktops. There are some limitations, such as you can't move stuff between desktops, and some apps get pissy about launching; once you learn to live with the limitations its a great app to have.
"linux dual head"
The first three mention either xrandr or xinerama. Didn't check beyond that.
Probably "xinerama and xrandr"
When searching for an answer, it helps to know the answer.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
xinerama + xrandr does not solve the question posed by the OP. Xinerama allows the two alternatives mentioned in the OP as the undesired options (i.e. either two monitors as one screen sharing a workspace, or a separate screen on each monitor which does not allow moving windows between screens).
OP wants two monitors with their own separate workspaces, while still being able to drag windows between them.
In other words, OP wants to be able to transfer running applications between separate X screens, which to my knowledge is not currently possible (or, if it's possible, the functionality is not exposed in Gnome or KDE).
This isn't "+1 Insightful", it's "-1 Didn't bother reading the OP" (or "-1 Doesn't really know what xinerama+xrandr does").
Strings used: "xinerama vs xrandr", "xinerama", "xrandr"
Gosh, isn't it obvious?! Fucking christ, it's the 201st decade, use clairvoyance.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
There are any number of utilities that will give you multiple virtual desktops on Windows, while retaining Windows' native multi-display features.
In fact, one comes from Sysinternals, which is now part of Microsoft itself. It's called Desktops. It only does 4 virtual desktops though, so if that's not enough, you'll have to look elsewhere.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
Enlightenment 17 is the only WM (aside from, I think, a tiling one called 'Awesome') that lets you change desktops on a per-monitor basis while having TwinView or Xinerama active (so you can drag windows between). Compiz ought to be able to do it, but for some reason does not. Expect some stability issues with E17, though. I ended up going back to seperate screens, as I don't drag between monitors often and E17 crashes too much.
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow...
Enlightenment e17 handles this brilliantly. Each screen gets its own set of virtual desktops. Switching VTs on one does not change the current VT on the other.
With Xinerama you can drag windows from one screen to the other.
Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
He's not really right, AFAICS. A solution might include Xinerama and xrandr but they're not a solution in themselves. Most window managers will switch desktops on all displays simultaneously if you use Xinerama, whereas he wants desktop switching independently on different monitors. You also can't do it easily with separate X screens because it's apparently not possible to move windows between them, which he also would like to do.
No, xinerama does not allow that. Near as I can tell, it's due to a fundament design... flaw... of X - that is, windows are tied to the X screen on which they were created.
You can set up multiple monitors such that each montior is its own X screen with its own set of workspaces. However, this prevents you from moving windows from one monitor to the other, which is what the OP wants to do, because each monitor is a separate X screen.
On the other hand, Xinerama lets you share one screen across multiple monitors. However, you only get one set of workspaces.
OP wants the best of both worlds.
Not a solution in themselves - using Xinerama makes it possible to have a big desktop spread across multiple monitors AFAIK, which is not what the Asker needs. He wants separate virtual desktop switching on each monitor, which most WMs don't do under Xinerama, though as he notes there are some tiling WMs that do something like this.
I use one big Gnome desktop across two monitors with some of the panels duplicated on the second monitor. The two monitors behave almost like independent workspaces, windows can be maximized on an individual monitor and only show up in the taskbar for the monitor they're displayed on. The only thing I can't do is switch workspaces on the monitors independently, but I haven't run into many cases where I've had a need to.
Knowledge Brings Fear
why not just put some windows on one screen and some windows on another screen? it doesn't matter if the window manager considers it "one workspace", it'll still be 2 workspaces because they'll be on different physicals screens in real life.
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
I'm going to steal that comment the next time my friend asks me to find something he can't find with google.
Is it possible to do the same thing in Windows? OSX? Neither relies primarily on an X server, so I can see how it might make things more difficult. I know I would certainly like to be able to use screen zooming separately on the separate monitors (on OSX, which doesn't handle screen zoom very well if you're using dual: it zooms the combined desktop, and depending on settings, re-centers the screen if you perform an action like clicking a link)
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
I have had a computer running Linux (Fedora of one flavor or another) with two displays for getting on to be most of a decade. Wouldn't work seriously any other way. I have 12 desktops (one for each Fn key on standard keyboards), which are linked so that both monitors switch at the same time.
If you haven't TRIED this sort of setup yet (and it sounds very much like you have not), then I would encourage you to try it first. What problem are you trying to solve with being able to switch monitors individually? WIndows can be trivially moved between virtual desktops under Linux, and with single keystroke desktop switching (remember those Fn keys?) I find that I rarely, if ever, need to move applications from one desktop to another. To promote efficiency, I have adopted, over the years, a standard pattern of where given windows are. The details are good for me, but not necessarily anyone else, so I won't go through the particulars, but, just as one example, when I want to use a browser, I hit F6, and BOOM, there are two browser windows at full screen. When I need an editor, another single keystroke (F3, if you care), and BOOM, emacs on the left, and, usually, an xterm on the right. Fully maximized. Moving windows around and resizing them is a waste of time and screen area. Twelve desktops maps nicely to the Fn keys -- which, again, is why I have 12, and, again is why switching between applications is 1-keystroke-instantaneous -- and I cannot recall running out of room, ever.
If the reason you want to switch workspaces individually is that you don't have enough flexibility in your workspaces (like you only have four per monitor), then you're solving the wrong problem. Increase the number of workspaces you have. Also, stop putting the task bar on the long dimension of the monitor -- that's the one where you have the least distance to play with. And if you're doing any document-based work, then it's a MUST to use portrait orientation.
Or were you just going to dick around, switching the left workspace, then the right one, then the left, then the right?
When people join my lab, they universally comment on how efficient my work setup is ... and usually leave using a very similar setup themselves.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
Virtual Workspace addons for Windows? They're all crap. That goes triple for the "powertoy" one.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Is that the same one that can easily be made to crash the kernel? Or is it a new one?
While you're right to, I find it incredibly ironic that half the time when I use Google to find an answer, that answer itself contains some ridicule of the original question along the lines of "Just fucking Google it!".
I'm kinda thankful that people ask questions every now and then as it gives me something for Google to find.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I don't know about Putty, but you can install CygwinX, and run ssh in an x-session, and actually run X applications on your Windows desktop that way.
Ruby Neural Evolution of Augmenting Topologies
If you're having trouble doing this with X, then maybe you should read the rest of the comments talking about how possible it is, and relatively easily.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
The main question is what does your video card support? I use an NVidia 9600GT and run two monitors. I have 4 workspaces where both monitors are included in each workspace. It works perfectly for what I need to do. I don't understand why you would want separate workspaces for each. It is not always trivial to get this working, I am running a PAE Kernel and had to run the experimental drivers to get it to work properly. Make a backup of /etc/X11/xorg.conf before you do anything.
Existence is futile
the windows virtual desktops are kinda crappy, actually. It works if you must have a virtual desktop equivalent for windows, but that doesn't mean it works *well* or successfully.
I use mac laptops and linux desktops. I'm not an Apple hater, maybe even a fanboy to some degree. But I don't think a mac will help him do what he wants. With a second monitor on a mac, you can either do screen spanning or screen mirroring. He is saying he doesn't want spanning, he wants both monitors to have their own "desktop", i.e., separate menu bars and such with the added kicker of being able to move apps between the separate desktops. You can think of spanning as a big desk and separate desktops as two desks in two rooms making it a hassle to shuffle one set of papers to another. What he wants is two desks in one room with the ability to move papers back and forth at will, but with each having distinct work areas.
It would be cool if macs did that, but they don't. So getting a mac is totally useless for him.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Ha, that too? I never actually tried the desktops one because of the crash reports... I did try the one that was supposed to give you mouse focus. It sucked. Although I like mouse focus and multiple desktops with X11 I've mostly given up on them anywhere else.
Apparently there are a handful of commercial third-party programs that are supposed to give you multiple desktops on Windows, some of which are supposed to be much better than the powertoy one.
Don't necessarily ignore any of the other advice here but with the last two Gentoo Linux builds I've done using Xorg Server v1.6.5, the detection was pretty much automatic.
One was an ATI HD 3200 based laptop which, once I'd put the proprietary ATI drivers in place, didn't need anything added to xorg.conf, plus it detects the external display fine as well when plugged in; the other was an NVIDIA 7600GT based desktop which, again when I put the NVIDIA proprietary drivers in place, worked with only a few lines in xorg.conf, and that was because I had to get xorg to ignore the built in graphics card on the PC mobo which the BIOS wouldn't let me physically disable.
It is just worth starting Xorg and seeing what happens - if it's still not write, then start building an xorg.conf.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Not sure why you think that. Xmove is dead since 1997 but Xptra is actively maintained. Last edit I found is Nov 10, 2009. In what way does that point to it being dead?
"linux dual head"
The first three mention either xrandr or xinerama. Didn't check beyond that.
Just don't leave linux out of that search or you'll get very different results
Maybe that new Irish law isn't all that bad after all...
Maybe I am stupid. But what's the difference between a big desktop over two monitors, and separate desktops, while still moving windows from one side to the other? I have two monitors, with one big desktop (Nvidia twinview) with KDE. Both sides have a separate task bar where I switch windows on each side locally. Maximizing a window happens within one monitor. But you can stretch the window over both monitors. I can, if I want, place different pictures as background on each monitor. What is not possible with my setup, you want to do? Do you want the window decorator to change while dragging windows? Have one monitor play a screensaver?
neither one supports my second monitor natively. Xrandr is working on support so maybe by next christmas I can finally switch to linux on my second computer. I can hack Xorg, and recompile the kernel to make it work but since it works with only a driver install on mac and windows that is the way I am going for now. and every time i want to upgrade I am stuck.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Ok, you can't actually get seperate virtual desktops on different screens, however, using KDE you may be able to get something that's roughly feature equivalent.
Using your favorite one of xrandr, xorg.conf, or the proprietary Nvidia/ATI tools, you can set up multiple monitors. The default behavior, in the latest Xorg, at least, will let you swap windows between your two displays, the default behavior for "maximize" in KDE will be to fill a single display with one large window, but if you do need a window to span multiple desktops, you can manually resize it.
You can add a seperate KDE panel to each desktop, both can have thier own task managers which can be configure to only show that windows from a given display screen (or not). If you want, you can set things like the desktop background independantly on each display.
Unfortunately, this still isn't quite as functional as actually being able to actually switch virtual desktop independantly on each screen, but it's still pretty nice. (this is my personal setup, when I have two monitors available). In fact, the tiling and tabbed window management features which are allegedly coming in KDE 4.4, may address some of the remain limitations of the current dual head setup in KDE, also, allegedly KDE 4.4 fixes the bug which currently makes the "systemsettings>display>multiple monitors" configuration tool un-usable for many people.
No, it doesn't. Windows doesn't have virtual desktops at all, so the set-up the OP wants (separate virtual desktops on each display) is completely impossible.
If you assume what he wants is separate virtual desktops, plus the ability to move applications from one to another, then that doesn't exist.
The fact is that if you truly do have virtual desktops, then they cannot know about each other by definition, therefore dragging applications between them is impossible.
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
Use VirtualBox and put the guest OS on the 2nd monitor. You'll have 2 workspaces and the ability to drag and drop
X server abstraction makes this hard.
The X server sits between your display driver and your window manager and does not communicate sufficient information about the underlying devices to the client program, which in this case is the window manager itself, that it's able to distinguish the real estate boundaries between the displays. Because it doesn't know the boundaries, it can't make good decisions on mapping a workspace (a window manager abstraction) onto a display (an X Server abstraction which is being intentionally glossed over by the X Server or by the display itself).
I've often complained that the X abstraction of the window management from the server software did a big disfavor to the overall capability to pick a window server and have all you applications adopt a uniform "look and feel" based on the window manager selected: the window manager being integral to the server would have prevented this.
I've also complained about the need to load display drivers into what is effectively user space resulting in a loss of state information to the kernel, since it has a very hard time with "putting the display back into a known, reasonable state", either because the user space driver is making state changes to write-only registers in the card, and these are not shadowed into the kernels idea of the card state, or that even being shadowed, the kernel driver doesn't know what to do about it. I first brought this up in the context of debugging kernel panics in FreeBSD write running X windows, in the 1990's. You could address this a couple ways, including the hardware itself allowing for a kernel to reset to a "known good state" (most won't), or moving the driver into the kernel and breaking the X server/driver integration (and several projects have done this).
Another project which attempted to put the abstractions where I thought they should be was "Saluatation", but it got bogged down in commercial encumberment by companies like HP and Ricoh for its standards, and by the license (GPL) on what reference implementations they did make available.
Really, it's about time we decided to rethink the use of X windows at all.
-- Terry
Does Windows 7 allow for precisely what the original poster is asking for? Independant Virtual Desktops which can be switched out individually and the ability to drag apps between them? I'm pretty sure XP doesn't.
Linux isn't all that hard to configure for dual monitors in the usual sense, one extended desktop. Just use Xinerama (if you aren't using nVidia cards). I used to have 2 monitors and my livingroom TV all hooked to my machine. It wasn't that hard though I did have to edit the xorg.conf file which might be scary to one not used to working with ini files. I use Gentoo, I suspect a more userfriendly distro like Ubuntu might have a nice GUI wizard.
Windows is very easy to configure this way. I have 3 monitors on my XP box at work. You just check the boxes to extend the desktop then drag the screens into the order you want. Easy is nice but unlike my Linux box the Windows one forgets what order/orientation I wanted my screens in about every 7-10 boots and I have to turn my head sideways to use the mouse to put it back. (I have a flipped monitor for easy long page reading) I prefer editing an xorg.conf file ONCE to doing this almost weekly! I'm told Mac is just as easy to configure and actually remembers your preference.
I don't think Windows will let you have separate windows session on the same machine on two monitors. At least not unless you hook one monitor to a second computer, login to the first via RDC and the first is running a server edition... Linux can be multiheaded, it isn't exactly easy though.
What the poster actually asked for though... I don't think either Xorg or Windows can do. I doubt Mac can either but I wouldn't know about that one.
Or is this a new Windows feature? I'm not that familiar with the multimonitor features of Vista or 7, most of my knowledge of the Windows world ends with XP.
Believe or not, if you use a win32 box as an X-Terminal via xmingw or cygwin/X, configured in no-root (floating window mode), and let win32 handle the dual monitors... You really get the best of both worlds.
I stumbled on this solution a couple of years ago, and although my primary setup is a Sun with two separate displays (no xinerama), I like it quite a lot.
Also, windows has a nifty target when you click the control key so you can find that lost mouse pointer. Unnecessary with only two monitors, but once you have 3 or 4 it's a godsend.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Seriously? You think KDE and Gnome are 'classical' window managers? Neither of them is a window manager. They don't call themselves window managers. They might include a window manager, but that's not what they are. Classical window managers are things like TWM, FVWM, Window Maker, Fluxbox, Blackbox, Enlightenment, Afterstep.
Gumpy old Linux guy.
"You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet might be running loose in your pants."
-Calvin
What happens when you change a virtual desktop on the left monitor? Does it also change on the right? That's what happens in my experience. Maybe twinview has this fixed, but that's only a solution for those with nvidia cards.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Informative? Really? He wants multiple Desktop sessions, one for each monitor. Xinerama and XRandR do not provide this. They provide a single Desktop session across two monitors. The difference is subtle but the original poster already acknowledged the single desktop option and the whole point was not to do that.
Smug answers from Windows users AND smug answers from Linux users - and neither group seems to actually understand the questions the poster is asking!
He wants independent desktops, guys. All these silly "Jus use Windows 7, dummy" and "Use Xinerama, idiot" responders are not grasping that fundamental point - you're all thinking of one large desktop that spans multiple monitors. Basically you're confusing desktops with viewports.
Unfortunately I don't know the answer either - but I do think I at least understand the question...
#DeleteChrome
What do you mean? How do you enable multiple desktops on Windows without 3rd party software?
The OP is not talking about spreading the desktop over multiple screens which is what most distributions do.
He want to combine multiple screens and multiple desktops in a way that is not common. I personally like the OP's suggestion but apparently we must be in the minority since only Enlightenment does it that way...
That said, multiple screens have a long history of being harder on Linux due to driver issues. I believe people are usually quite successful using the NVIDIA drivers and tools. I got decent results with my EEE PC 701 and a TV. But I don't use it much so it does not really count.
I find it really hard to believe that the bloated desktop environments do not have the same capability that the minimal jwm (joe's window manager) has, but maybe so. In jwm just right click on the top of the window and send it to whatever "desktop" you want. It is not even limited to 2 desktops/monitors and jwm is available in every distro from TinyCore and Puppy(default wm) to Ubuntu and Suse.
Here is a thread to on the Puppy forum to use jwm as your complete desktop environment.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=51200/
And jwm's homepage
http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/
If you would have bothered to read the entire summary, you'd know it was a limitation of KDE/Gnome, not Linux nor the X Window System nor all window managers.
Maybe Microsoft should add reading to their MCSE program, but then all the losers would cry: "This is too hard!" I hope you are having fun trying to pay off your $30k loan by working "tech support" for the Postal Service or Burger King.
Fedora's dual-monitor setup is even easier...you don't have to press an awful keystroke combination like "Windows-P". Besides, the OP isn't asking how to set up dual-monitor. He's asking how to set up a separate workspace on each monitor, something that should not be out of reach with X's new multi-input functionality, something I've not heard of in the Windows or Mac world. BTW, I'm using an Intel IGP, not an nvidia card. It might not work great on an ATI card, but...well...it might if ATI had anywhere near decent linux support.
I use multiple monitors on my linux laptop with an Intel IGP. And, like others have said, that's not what the OP is asking about anyway. Don't spread FUD, please.
Funny that. My gaming machine runs XP with two monitors, single video card. Two seperate, different resolution, (one 16:9, one 4:3), even at times a different color depth desktops. Works great for me.
Replying again for OSX. MacBook Pro, attached to 24inch LCD. MBP's built in screen @ 1440x900, attached LCD at 1650x1080. At times I attach to a 1920x1080 42inch monitor for meetings. I think I've used display mirroring once or twice in a couple of years. havnen't used the 'stretched' desktop ever.
I use Windows 7 on my work desktop. I have dual monitors. I use UltraMon and get basically the setup requester is looking for: separate desktops that I can drag (or quickly hit the "move to other monitor" button) between screens.
I also use nomachine which tunnels compressed X sessions over SSH to remotely manage Linux servers in far away places and VirtualBox to run local Linux VMs.
It's not that hard to set up.
How many virtual desktops do you have on each screen? Do they change independently of each other?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
>> With the one large desktop when you maximize a window it fills both monitors and things might size oddly if your monitors aren't the same size/resolution
> That's true and it does not depend on which operating system you're using.
It's absolutely not true. I'm currently on Centos5 with three monitors arranged (via Xinerama) as one very large desktop.
Maximizing an app causes it to completely fill the leftmost monitor that it currently occupies, NOT the entire multi-monitor desktop.
>> Windows multiple monitors also supports having separate monitors where you can maximize a window on a single display, but you can move windows
>> between the monitors or even span multiple monitors. Is this setup possible to do under Linux?
This appears to be the default behavior using Xinerama, no fancy tricks required
Maybe you will get modded down for not knowing what you are talking about instead. What is being asked involves having a separate workspace on each screen. Windows does not have workspaces hence the functionality is not possible in windows. The question actually described two ways fo having a dual screen setup in linux one of which is identical to the way Windows does it. If you don't understand something, read about it first.
I spent months trying to do the same thing with a normal window manager but I never found a way that worked well. xmove sounded promising but I couldn't get it to run. Now I use xmonad and it behaves exactly the way I want. You can set it up with window decorations and run it in Gnome and whatever else you want to do. It's really not as big of a leap as you think it is. If you're scared of the "tiling" aspect, you can set every workspace to floating and it will never do any tiling.
I basically have that with KDE4 and a dual-head Nvidia card. I have it set to "span", but when I maximize, it only maximizes to the current window. If I really wanted, I could setup two instances of kicker, so that I would have the KDE menu, apps, etc on each screen. The only thing I don't think I can do is have independent virtual desktops - that is, have the left screen on desktop #1 and the right screen on desktop #3.
Buy a mac
No don't. Frankly, compared to Linux/X11, Macs suck at virtual desktops. They also suck at the interaction between mutli-monitor support and virtual desktops. Unless of course you have tried many methods and prefer the Mac method to all of them.
Seeing as you do appear to be fanboyish I find that unlikely.
And whay kind of a bloody useless comment was that anyway. EVEN if it is better on a mac (it certainly is not for me), there are plenty of reasons to prefer Linux to OSX, especially for people who visit this site. "Buy a Mac" is about as useless a response to "how do I do X under Linux" as "switch to Linux" is to "How do I do X on a Mac".
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Ultramon is not crap, and it does exactly what the OP wants.
So the question becomes: Is there a Linux tool like Ultramon?
Touche.
Xinerama and Xrandr work great for configuring multiple monitors.
Those systems say nothing about virtual desktops. Perhaps it is you who should not only use google as you suggest with almost religious fervour, but also read the results coming from google.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
No... what the OP wants, and what I want, is to be able to switch workspaces on each monitor independently.
Say on the left monitor I have some log files being monitored with tail. On the right monitor I have some reference material in one workspace, and some programming stuff in another. I want to keep an eye on the logs while still being able to switch between the two workspaces on the right monitor.
I can simulate this with "pin this window to all workspaces", and running with TwinView on both monitors. But now suppose I'd like to swap freely between monitoring two things on the left monitor in separate workspaces - suddenly that solution no longer works.
So now, I need separate X screens for each monitor so I get separate workspaces per monitor.
Now let's suppose I've started a long-running process on my right-monitor programming workspace, and I want to move it to another workspace on the left monitor so I can check on its progress later without interrupting whatever I'm doing on the right monitor. Having separate X screens prevents me from doing that.
Basically I want the flexibility of having separate workspaces per-monitor, without the restriction of tying new windows to whatever X screen it was created on.
If its using the same X session (the same user login), then this is possible. I have 2 monitors, both running 2 different "deskstops". The wm lets me switch workspaces on each one seperatly. xmonad so does enlightenment 17. I bet there are a few more wms that can do this as well, those are just the two that i've tried.
BTW, i can't believe this made it to the front page, its really a question that just belongs to your favorite distro's forums. Since we are on the topic, does anyone know how to get printers working in linux :)?
me fail english? thats unpossible
Could you explain how you set that up? Last time I tried, I tested half a dozen permutations of configuration settings and never got it to work as I've described.
Granted, I was using Gnome - maybe KDE has exposed some options that Gnome hasn't - but this should be an X configuration thing, and I've seen no method of doing it.
Can I see a screenshot? I'm curious if we're talking about the same thing.
legitimate reason number 1: I like a variety of video games. There is a small selection of them for linux and most of them are odd.
legitimate reason number 2: My job requires software that runs on windows or has other policies requiring windows.
legitimate reason number 3: My hardware doesn't have reasonable driver support under linux.
legitimate reason number 4: ... Ok, I am starting to run out of reasons.
FTFA:
How long has Windows allowed that, which virtual desktop manager do you use that supports it?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I'd say your best bet is to use an NVIDIA card with dual outputs, TwinView enabled, and let NVIDIA's implementation of Xinerama take care of the per-monitor fullscreen stuff for you (most apps I've come across are Xinerama aware...with the notable exception of games, in which you have to get creative with your X config file to get it to fullscreen only on a single display correctly). You won't have the ability to control your virtual desktops on a per-monitor basis, but I think that feature pales in comparison to being able to move stuff freely between both monitors.
What you want wirks fine with Big Desktop using the ATI propriatairy driver and VirtualBox VM in full screen in one monitor.
I know I'll get modded down for Linux bashing, but... this capability has been around on the Windows world since Windows NT.
No, it hasn't. Virtual desktops have never been a part of Windows, except in the form of glitchy third-party tools, and even those don't offer functionality comparable to what the OP is asking for.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
This is exactly my preferred work environment, I'm surprised more people don't know about it or try it.
I have a 1900x1200 screen on my laptop and a side monitor of 1600x1200. I don't ever need to maximize an application across both monitors ... either monitor is big enough for a single app. What I find useful is that I can have several applications running on one monitor, each in its own workspace, and several 'adjunct' applications on the other monitor, each of those in their own workspace. This allows me to quickly mix and match reference material or browsers to whatever is relevant to the task at hand.
For example:
I'm a software developer, and I often have many browser windows open to API references, google searches, blog postings, whatever. I will also have a database administration tool, an development IDE, two or three remote desktop sessions, and maybe a couple of non-work things - Spotify or an SSH-tunneled browser session in a separate browser. My day consists of developing and debugging in Eclipse, and rotating among several workspaces on the other monitor to support my development and debugging activities. I find the described X setup to be very efficient; once everything is running, I don't have to go hunting for windows or maximize/minimize other running applications. I just hot-key among the workspaces and easily maintain mental context for the task at hand. If someone comes in and needs a question answered, I don't have to clear the screen -- I just hot-key to an empty workspace and help them with what they are after.
The big win here is retaining the ability to cut-and-paste among applications while being able to 'pin' an application to a monitor. That is, I can leave Eclipse up on monitor 1, and then flip among the workspaces on monitor 2 while I look for whatever information I need. I don't lose my train of thought because Eclipse on monitor 1 is always visible, even as I flip among 5 or 10 different browser windows or applications on monitor 2.
If you aren't a developer, maybe you don't understand. But I'm sure other developers understand the use case ... many times, you may have to push 10 things on your mental stack while you research a problem, and it is easy to lose context. Being able to pin an application on one monitor and then quickly flip through several other applications on the other monitor is a huge productivity win. It always surprises me that more Linux people don't know about this method of using X; it drives me nuts to go to another developer's machine and watch them minimize and/or alt-tab through 30 browser windows and applications when they are trying to do something, or flip back and forth among the same 2 workspaces 16 times in a row because Xinerama has 'trapped' the IDE on their 2nd monitor to a different workspace than the one displaying their reference material. There is a better way.
Having said all that ... I have often wished for the exact capability requested by the OP. There are times when it would be convenient to be able to drag a window from one monitor to the other. As demonstrated by the 'clever' first poster, this setup is often misinterpreted as Xinerama or xrandr or some combination thereof, when actually it is just as the OP described. 'Albanach' has posted the only thing that looks helpful or relevant so far ... I don't see the point of asking "Have you investigated any of these before 'asking /.'?" though, it makes it look like Albanach is trying to be cool or look smart or something ... I guess ... but I am certainly glad that the OP posted the question. I think I tried Xmove but couldn't get it to work, and it sounds like Xpra may not be much better, but I'll try 'em again.
If anyone else understands the issue and has additional suggestions, please advise.
It works well enough for my uses I usually put email and active work on the first one, ticketing program on another, a browser with /. et al on another
I haven't had any crashing and cp/pa works with out any problems.
For testing purposes, on a dual monitor twinview setup, I've fired up Xnest with geometry that matches the resolution of one of my monitors to give me the feel of 2 X sessions running at once.
Xnest -geometry 1920x1200 -query localhost :0
I know this doesn't exactly answer the question nor solve the problem of moving windows across X servers, but depending on why you are trying to run 2 separate X's, perhaps this could work. I find the Xnest is great for trying to debug users dot file problems or creating global X settings.
I also seem to remember a way to share just the graphics of a particular application between two remote X servers (i.e. display just firefox on a remote machine), but can't remember the exact command; this was back in the sgi days. At any rate, if you want to just see the same app running on both X sessions, perhaps something like that could work well if you use localhost.
Hope that helps, but like I said it doesn't sound exactly like what you are looking for.
It's not a distro question, it's a WM question.
Your solution boils down to "use a different window manager", which might be fine, or might not. I may try XMonad at some point, but I'm sure you're aware that switching window managers requires leaving one's comfort zone for an extended period of time, which of course reduces productivity...
The OP only seems silly to you because you already knew of a solution; clearly, other people think they know the solution but really don't (by claiming xinerama+xrandr solves it), and others were not aware of anything like that.
I've googled this subject on more than one occasion, and found nothing useful, just people's blog posts complaining that they can't figure it out either. Clearly, asking slashdot is a viable solution, as evidenced by your own post.
For an OS designed around having multiple workspaces (even on GUI-less systems, we've got multiple virtual terminals), you'd think they'd design this right into every window manager.
did Windows get virtual desktops ? ... I mean, useful virtual desktops, so you can switch between them, each with its own task bar, you can send apps from one virtual desktop to another, you can see from a "window selector" which apps are running in the current desktop and the others etc. ...
http://www.google.com/search?q=multiple+display+X11
Let me think.
You want 'multiple displays on X11' and you need a clue for three keywords?
Nah. Too hard.
LOL - you have just pointed out the problem with "googling it..." 96.11/100 answers to "how do I do it with set ABC" contain "You dummy, do it with set EFG"
Personally - on OSX (I know, irony) is that I would love a set up were I can switch monitor A + computer A, monitor B f+ computer B; to monitor B + computer A, monitor A + computer B — in a single click or hardware switch.
Was not meant to be flamebait.. i was actually interested due to my experiences with windows 7 dual-monitor setups..
i'm taking a course in UNIX this semester and was planning on doing a dual-monitor setup for a unix box for fun...
(and I do have an nVidia video card, referencing a reply to this post)
In full screen mode, the game takes up one monitor (in my experience). It'll grab full control of input in that mode, so you have to ALT-TAB out of it.
Now... If the game has a windowed mode, you can maximize it on one space, and have whatever else running on the other, and you can move the mouse out of the game and back at will... This is what I do on a fairly regular basis. It's quite convenient when you have to switch out to Vent on a regular basis.
I primarily just use console sessions...
I just had an idea...
*WATCH OUT!!!! It's a BAD IDEA*
How about using a shell script to "startx -- :1 " & "su username startx -- :2" for dual X sessions?
You'd control them by Ctrl-Alt-F7 & Ctrl-Alt-F8, etc..
I've not tried it, yet, but you should be able to at least have the ability to have common files, even if running dual instances of X...
I'll try testing this out when I get home...
open a screen session and type the first,
startx wmaker -- 1
disconnect screen & open another screen session,
startx fluxbox -- 2
disconnect from screen
or something like that?
It's a thought...
Maybe, just maybe, it could work...
I'm sure it's a bad idea, but it's an idea, without just a single WM and two monitors, etc...
--Stak
Holy happy hippy crap!
He did. These are the two solutions he is talking about and neither meets his needs. I know I have the same problem.
I use XMonad and was thinking the same thing as soon as I started reading the summary. Unfortunately the poster specifically claims to want a "traditional" DE setup, rather than a lightweight tiling WM. I've heard of using XMonad as the WM for Gnome, but I'm not sure how easy it is to set up or how well it works.
My advice to the OP is: give XMonad a try. Who knows, maybe after a few days using it you won't want to go back...
Le français vous intéresse?
How do you define/measure "quality"?
Le français vous intéresse?
It's not about running separate window managers, it's about having a separate set of workspaces for each monitor, while still being able to drag windows between monitors.
What you've described is just one of the non-desired alternatives listed by the OP.
It depends on the game.
eg. Aion has options;
1. Full Screen
2. Windowed
3. Full Screen windowed
if you use option 3, you can full screen on one monitor, but move your mouse over to second monitor and change focus over to another application there. You can do this with 1 as well, but it takes forever (something about having to reinit stuff in directx or something - you'll see that in a lot of games), and you can do it in 2 but you get nasty window title bar and minimize/maximize/close buttons.
AccountKiller
apt-get install e16
This window manager may be old fashioned but it still has by far the most flexible as well as responsive virtual desktop to be found in modern software, period.
"-1 Doesn't really know what xinerama+xrandr does"
My bet is that and "-1 Doesn't understand the question because poster OS / default Linux distribution setup doesn't do that and poster can't think of more flexibility"
There's a flaw in X where you can't move windows between screens. That you can't move them between displays makes sense (from :1.0 to :2.0 for example), but between screens (from :0.1 to :0.2 for example) it should be allowed.
Some tools try to get around that limitation (Xpra, xmove, mentioned in other posts, that I didn't know of, so the thread is useful ;) )
Then there's that technical difficulty about windows crossing screen boundaries :
Virtual workspace are only simulated by the window manager by mapping or unmapping windows.
When a window crosses screen boundaries and you change your workspace on one screen, you get an interesting case because X doesn't allow you to map half a window.
So you have two options :
- You can move from one screen to another screen with a WM option, but no dragging allowed between screens. Some applications like Gimp can do that (View->Move to screen)
- A WM could implement independant workspaces in xinerama mode (I think DR17 does just that), and have some special set of rules for windows crossing screens (and workspaces) boundaries (like always shown, or tie with the workspace where most of the windows is located)
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
I imagine you could probably do some black magic in the xorg configuration file. Upon glancing through the man pages, I think you can set up multiple "screens" in the "ServerLayout" section. The screens themselves would only differ in the "Monitor" setting, where you could point it to each different monitor. But they can use the same graphics card. I'm not positive, but this may produce the results that you are going for. It may be better than any programs to send X applications between two separate X servers. Hope this helps!
How do you define/measure "quality"?
By the price.
Shouldn't you be doing something useful?
This is an xorg.conf which supports four screen display, two per
PCI card. Note that not all X11 drivers support non-xinerama
mode (certainly with one card, possibly even with multiple
cards). Specifcally the Intel driver people explicitly removed
the working functionality and refuse to believe that anyone
actually wants this
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default"
Screen 0 "Screen Samsung NV1 CRT"
Screen 1 "Screen Samsung NV1 DVI" RightOf "Screen Samsung NV1 CRT"
Screen 2 "Screen Samsung NV2 CRT" RightOf "Screen Samsung NV1 DVI"
Screen 3 "Screen Samsung NV2 DVI" RightOf "Screen Samsung NV2 CRT"
InputDevice "Mouse-MX510" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse-basic"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protcol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse-MX510"
Driver "evdev"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/event3"
Option "Buttons" "10"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "9 10"
Option "Name" "Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse"
Option "Resolution" "800"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Samsung204LCD"
VendorName "Samsung"
ModelName "SyncMaster 204T"
HorizSync 30.0 - 75.0
VertRefresh 60.0 - 60.0
DisplaySize 411 311
Option "dpms"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Samsung226LCD"
VendorName "Samsung"
ModelName "SyncMaster 226BW"
HorizSync 30.0 - 75.0
VertRefresh 60.0 - 60.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia1-crt"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "NV44A [GeForce 6200]"
VideoRam 262144
BusID "PCI:3:1:0"
screen 0
Option "DPMS" "true"
Option "RandRRotation" "true"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia1-dfp"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "NV44A [GeForce 6200]"
BusID "PCI:3:1:0"
screen 1
Option "DPMS" "true"
Option "RandRRotation" "true"
EndSection
Sectio
The powertoy one is pretty terrible, falls over, loses windows, etc.
I thoroughly recommend using VirtuaWin instead.
(I'm currently stuck with Windows at work, and it does most things GNOME virtual desktops can do.)
So what happens if you have an application window spread across your two hypothetical desktops, and then you switch virtual desktops on one but not the other?
I don't think that virtual desktops really work well as a metaphor in this case. Hacking in support for the feature you want would probably be a major kludge.
I had enquired about this during early KDE4 development - more specifically being able to share individual virtual desktops with one user per virtual desktop. This was for a school setting so that a teacher could help students directly from the desktop. This would have drastically reduced system requirements for a classroom setting, but basically the response was NO! what a waste of effort - that is useless. Fortunately iTALC provides most of this functionality but has a larger footprint than I was looking for, however it is probably suitable to your purposes. ... Linux kernel 2.6.33 will bring kernel shared memory & I too can use iTALC
(student=1 workspace)(teacher=all/any workspaces)
http://italc.sourceforge.net//
It's the 202nd decade (CE), actually
I don't see the point of spreading an application across two physical monitors.
For the use style I'm describing here, you wouldn't want any windows spread across both monitors.
There's no need to make it do *everything*, just certain sets of things. There's no real reason X shouldn't be able to move a window between screens.
The closest thing I can think of is Fedora's multi-seat project:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Multiseat
It allows one computer with multiple displays to have multiple X sessions. Unfortunately it doesn't ship with the latest release. And I don't think it supports sliding an application window from one session to another.
I use XMonad and was thinking the same thing as soon as I started reading the summary. Unfortunately the poster specifically claims to want a "traditional" DE setup, rather than a lightweight tiling WM. I've heard of using XMonad as the WM for Gnome, but I'm not sure how easy it is to set up or how well it works.
It's easy to set up and works extremely well, but you have to be willing to hack Haskell to configure the thing once it's up and running, and you have to be happy with a tiling WM.
That said, at the most basic, you just have to install xmonad somehow (apt-get, hackage, etc), create a Gnome desktop file for it (here's an example... just edit the path to xmonad and copy it to ~/.local/share/applications/xmonad.desktop), and then use gconf-editor to change this key:
to xmonad. Logout, log back in, and enjoy!
Windows 7 dual-monitor setup is simple because Windows 7 doesn't even have virtual desktops. That kind of trivial setup also works easily on Linux.
Get a Mac. It's damn easy to use multiple monitors with it
Yeah, I love how I have to navigate the mouse between the two screens just to use the menu bar. Keeps my wrists well-exercised.
> Get a Mac. It's damn easy to use multiple monitors with it. Don't even bother under Linux unless you have an nVidia card.
So my ancient ATI card isn't "really" pushing pixels to twin 26" displays?
Or my older computer - 3 displays w. 2 ati cards?
I use Synergy ( http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/ ) to share one keyboard and mouse among several computers' displays. This should allow you to share one keyboard and mouse among multiple X servers running on your machine (and provide the opportunity for future expansion). It can even be used to do nonintuitive things like placing the "screen" of a VM (visible in a window on one of your screens) on an edge of one of your physical screens. (I'm still not sure that was a good idea.)
The latter option mentioned in the summary - each monitor being a distinct X session - is sometimes called Zaphod mode.
I have opted for it myself, but the downside of not being able to drag windows is sometimes a real pain. You can mitigate this to some degree for text programs using screen or dtach. I am interested in trying out xpra, which promises to be like 'screen for x-windows', but I haven't had time yet.
Another issue is that some programs, like Firefox, don't like to run multiple instances. So if you fire it up on one session while it's running on the other, it will try to connect to the existing instance but fail because its on a different session. I work around this with a small script that detects what screen firefox is running on and prepends the appropriate DISPLAY variable.
I'd recommend going with x2x, if you have two X servers and nothing more.
The idea behind Synergy is really good. The execution is piss-poor.
Say I'm on one machine and type the compose key sequence for "aring" (å). Synergy looks in a hard-coded table for equivalences and decides to send (IIRC) [compose key, a, *]. Fine, except that doesn't work on my other machine. And it doesn't read ~/.XCompose at all, so all my nice greek letters and weird math symbols don't get tunnelled over :(
Well, you could of course use the new under-construction version. But it doesn't have clipboard support. And the configuration file structure is completely undocumented (use the source). And it consists of a bunch of programs you have to run in concert, with no instruction as to how.
Compare with x2x: $ ssh otherbox "x2x -east -from localhost:10 -to :0" &. Go. It does nearly everything right, as far as I'm concerned.
The only thing I'd miss is having x2x suitable for gaming; synergy lets you hit scroll lock to "capture yourself" on the display you're currently on, and it switches to sending fake relative (rather than absolute) motion events in that case.
Just a friendly warning. Consider using x2x if it solves the right problem; if it doesn't, synergy doesn't either, and if it does, it does it better than synergy in most respects.
But you didn't really research this did you? I have this very setup (one low-end nvidia card running the binary blob, 2 screens, each running a standalone workspace on a single session).
I googled it and had it setup in maybe 1 hour, research included.
In xorg you define two devices that are actually the same video card.
You define the two monitors.
You define two screens, each using its own device and monitor.
There you go.
I use XFCE, but I guess it would work with other WMs.
In my opinion, Scientology is a cult you should avoid.
Did you watch Avatar a few too many times and now want to glide applications from one display to another whilst walking around the link lab?
--
My son loves the freaky blue dudes.
What is you want to do. Running some exotic X config isn't a goal, it's a very specific tactic. The fact that you haven't found anything like this, but stuff that is close, but not close enough, should make you pause.
What's your use case? Is it this: http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1528666&cid=30942320
Forget the "multiple X sessions." Again, that's a tactic. What behavior are you looking for? It sounds like you just want a virtual desktop pager for each monitor.
It's been a while, but I imagine you could hack something like Sawfish and Sawfish-Pager to do what you want. You just have to hack up some lisp, which would be good for you. ;)
xinerama + xrandr does not solve the question posed by the OP.
Yes it does.
... or a separate screen on each monitor which does not allow moving windows between screens).
OP wants two monitors with their own separate workspaces,
Xinerama.
while still being able to drag windows between them.
Xinerama
In other words, OP wants to be able to transfer running applications between separate X screens,
No he doesn't. You implied separate X screens. The OP just wanted separate virtual desktop switching.
which to my knowledge is not currently possible (or, if it's possible, the functionality is not exposed in Gnome or KDE).
Xinerama
This isn't "+1 Insightful", it's "-1 Didn't bother reading the OP" (or "-1 Doesn't really know what xinerama+xrandr does").
There are two types of xinerama. X xinerama, and nvidia xinerama. nvidia's xinerama is provided so that nvidia twinview (which fools X into thinking you only have one monitor) doesn't make windows maximise across two screens and dialogs pop up in the centre. You can use the original X xinerama without using nvidia's twinview which gives you separate virtual desktops and everything the OP wants. X sees the two monitors and uses it's own xinerama.
xinerama is understood by metacity, compiz, wine, tvtime, mplayer, xscreensaver, and a whole host of other programs. Even if they don't, it's usually sufficient for the window manager to handle it.
Could one of those USB mini monitors be configured to do this in linux?
"It's a doughnut stuffed with M&M's. That way when you finish the doughnut, you don't have to eat any M&M's."
Sure it does but just like everything else for Windows you need a third party tool. This one is free and has nice features but if you need a really loaded virtual desktop experience I would recommend AltDesk which is rock solid and has drag and drop between desktops (which is what it sounds like the OP is looking for) and it can be used standalone or integrated into AstonShell which is a really nice shell for Windows.
So yeah you can do virtual desktops in Windows, have been able to for quite awhile, you just use third party tools. Which lets be honest most folks don't use much of what Windows has built in when the third party tools are so much better. It would be like using NTBackup instead of say Acronis. Just lame.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Pedant-fail, dude. CE began with year 1. The first decade (applying the Gregorian calendar all the way back to year one) was from 1/1/1 to 12/31/10. The 202nd decade begins with the first day of 2011.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Perhaps you can explain to me how to configure Xinerama such that each monitor has its own set of virtual desktops, but still allows windows to be moved from one monitor to the other.
I have spent countless hours trying to do exactly that. If it's as simple as you say it is, surely you can provide an example configuration file?
But before you do, consider the following problems:
Xinerama has the limitation that all monitors must be the same color depth. This is not always acceptable - for example, one might wish to run a fullscreen game on one monitor that runs at 8-bit color depth, while leaving the other monitors at 24-bit color depth. Xinerama does not allow you to do this.
Xinerama does not enable separate virtual desktops per-monitor. In fact, the whole point of Xinerama is to merge multiple X screens into a single virtual desktop, which is exactly the opposite of what you're describing!
Are you still going to try to tell me Xinerama does what I'm describing?
Oh, and you claimed:
You implied separate X screens. The OP just wanted separate virtual desktop switching.
Please explain how to enable separate virtual desktop switching per-monitor without running a separate X screen on each monitor. (This is the whole point of the OP's question - if this is possible at all, it's not easy to do, and there's no documentation on it. Feel free to point me to some.)
And, to drive my point home further, I'll quote the OP:
I need something in the middle — a separate workspace for each screen, so that I can have independent virtual desktops on each screen, but still have the ability to move applications between monitors (no need to strech one app across both of them).
(Emphasis mine.) I have described exactly what the OP described.
powertoy virtual desktops is terrible, really unresponsive and not well made at all, really reduces performance i do not reccomend
I've opted for the large desktop option in general. This is better than the alternative since it requires less technical know-how and screwing around in the terminal. I use the following script to switch between the two display modes:
I have two custom application launchers on my panel, one for each of the following commands:
This generally works well. However, all the caveats posted above regarding the differences in resolution between the two displays apply: XRANDR does not work with my multi-screen display, so compiz effects are reduced to their minimum, and many applications do not work correctly as they rely on XRANDR.
I used to have the two commands above on the gdm login screen, but Ubuntu 9.10 dropped support for custom commands in the gdm greeter. The custom launchers are a usable hack. MPlayer is set up to automatically play video in fullscreen on the television display. The real solution, however, is to get dynamic layout switching into xorg. I'm not sure of the technical barriers, but having to log everyone out just to change screen layouts seems like overkill. With laptop media centers becoming more commonplace, I look forward to this feature, and hope that everyone agrees that it is the best solution to this particular problem.
"Please describe the scientific nature of the 'whammy'" - Agent Scully
Logically speaking, the functionality desired is quite possible for a windows manager. Take an x screen, and draw a line down the center. Have the Window manager forbid applications from crossing the line, so they are constrained to their half of the screen. But allow apps to be dragged between both halfs. Now implement virtual desktops on each half, which are independent of each other.
All of that is quite feasible for a window manager to do. Now the last step is to change this so that the split automatically occurs at the shared edge of two monitors. Still quite possible.
I suspect most exiting window manages could have this functionality hacked in within a few days, if they don't already have support for the basic concept, but are just failing to expose it.
Stylish sheet to fix many problems in Slashdot's D3: https://gist.github.com/801524
heck, just "head" with safe seach off gets one decapitation and porn
I'm horrified at thought what "decapitation porn" would summon
as a 'casual' user, this kind of thing has been a nightmare for me. i tripleboot osx, xp, and 64studio in my audio/video suite. i'd love to start migrating to linux and 64studio for a lot of my work but it's been extremely difficult to find info on how to match the system under linux to what i have set up in both xp and osx. i use four monitors, three tied together to display as a single, extremely wide, monitor via a matrox triplehead2go. this makes the three monitors appear to the system as a single monitor. it was fast and easy to set up in both xp and osx. the fourth monitor is on the second port of my dualhead ati card and sits above the other three. i use it to display video for either video editing or the picture when i'm editing/mixing audio for film/video post. i've never gotten the setup to match what i have in xp or osx and have, pretty much, had to give up on linux for my work for this reason. this is a very interesting thread to me and i look forward to investigating some of the tips posted. thanks, babag1
Compiz is just displaying the existing multiple workspace concept in a different way. It's still not moving windows between X screens.
+1 for VirtuaWin, better than the powertoy
You can do what he says he's got and what he's asking for in OS X 10.5 or newer. I don't really see the point of duping the menubar though.
Of course, as has already been stated, you can do it in X with a proper setup or in Windows as well.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
This may not be exactly what you want, but you can actually run XMonad as the WM on top of KDE or GNOME. It comes with a configuration so you still have the Kicker wherever you put it. XMonad also can float arbitrary windows, either programmatically by their name or class, or manually by dragging them out of the tiles. I've been using XMonad for about three days, with KDE at work, and I like it tremendously; prior to this my only real experience with tiling WMs was with Ion/Pwm, which apparently intentionally does not support Xinerama in the core, though there is a plugin for it. Tuomo is about the whiniest programmer on the planet though. Something about Finnish programmers... ;)
Another thing to consider, though I'm not sure how doable this is in actuality, would be some kind of X proxy to launch your apps in, and then just run two X sessions, one for each display, and manually migrate them through the proxy when you need to. This, if it can be done, would be completely WM/DE agnostic.
... but you are the one watching. Which is worse?
After reading this post, I imagine four monitors arranged in a square all facing out and on each monitor a face of the "compiz/beryl cube" where one person working on one desktop could pass their paper to another desktop and have someone else look at it. This would all be running from one PC...
You could even have someone remote in with a single monitor and rotate the cube to see what each person is doing.
I don't know how it would be done, but I like the idea!
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
xmonad does what you want with desktops my default. Each of my monitors is bound to one specific workspace at a time; I can switch either monitor independently to any workspace, or manually stretch windows across the gap in between.
You can use xmonad as the window manager for GNOME.
It'll require a little bit of tweaking to make it look normal, though (you'll need to add window decorations, and configure it to make windows floating by default), or you could learn the keyboard shortcuts and use tiling, which sounds like it may work better with the way you want to think about screens anyway. (It sounds terrible, I know, but it's remarkably effective.)
That link just describes the two alternatives mentioned in the OP. It doesn't even address the question posed by the OP.
In other words, your link describes two monitors sharing a workspace. OP wants two monitors with separate workspaces, while still being able to drag windows between them.
What I can't understand is whats the difference between twinview/xineorama while duplicating the menu/taskbar, and what the article poster wants?
That link just describes the two alternatives mentioned in the OP. It doesn't even address the question posed by the OP.
In other words, your link describes two monitors sharing a workspace. OP wants two monitors with separate workspaces, while still being able to drag windows between them.
What I can't understand is whats the difference between twinview/xineorama while duplicating the menu/taskbar, and what the article poster wants?
Replying to self... Sorry, realised he wants virtual desktops seperatly using Xineorama/Twinview. iirc Enlightenment WM does keep each screen seperate, including alt+tab, and does to virtual desktops the way he wants.
Replying to self... Sorry, realised he wants virtual desktops seperatly using Xineorama/Twinview. iirc Enlightenment WM does keep each screen seperate, including alt+tab, and does to virtual desktops the way he wants.
Oh, or install Compiz, and try:
"Desktop" area --> Desktop Cube --> "General" Tab and untick "One Big Cube" in "Multi Output Mode".
(afraid I can't test it myself easily)
It's not a flaw in X, the problem is that screens can have vastly different capabilities, e.g. one could be running at depth 24 and one at depth 8. That's not usually a problem these days, but the bigger issue is that they could also be running on vastly different drivers. For example, trying to move an OpenGL window from an NVIDIA screen to a screen running the VESA driver just plain isn't going to work.
This fundamental disconnect between screens is exactly what Xinerama is designed to fix. However, like you said, window managers often rely on windows not being able to move between screens to *implement* virtual desktops. With most implementations, they're fundamentally tied together. A window manager *could* implement virtual desktops in a way that allowed you to switch them independently, but nobody's bothered to implement it.
A variation on this theme, how about displaying an additional desktop from the current user session within a nested X server (a-la Xephyr)? Granted we don't yet have hardware acceleration in Xephyr, but all in good time...
Actually I have tried them all. OSX is the ONLY desktop OS that allows HOT SWAP for monitors. that right you can unplug a vga, dvi, or display monitor and plug in another one and have the desktop resize itself without having to restart X or reboot the computer. It has been that way since at least OS X I never did try it with an OS 9 machine but then i never owned one of them.
try hot swapping X one day and unless you have carefully set it up correct before hand it crashes hard. OS X it doesn't care.
I have many gripes about apples controlling nature, and some of the weird limitations they impose and other than not having native network gui like X it is my preferred desktop.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
In my experience, changing the color depth on one monitor changes the depth on all monitors. Far from ideal if an older gamer changes the color depth to 8-bit. Also, you're clearly not reading the question
I had a sig once. It was lost in the great storm of '09.
If you do any embedded hardware development, there are a number of targets that are not well supported for Linux.
Beyond that, if you develop Windows software, there is no better platform to do it on than Windows. Oh and if you do CAD/CAM, there are a number of holes in the Linux platform. For example, there is no SolidWorks, Pro/Engineer support for Linux is ending, AutoCAD under Wine is sketchy at best, no Inventor, et. al.
There are numerous reasons to continue using Windows, for the time being. It's important though that people tell their vendors they need/want Linux and if a competitor releases a Linux alternative, you would switch.
You can't legislate goodness. Let each to his own destiny, by will of his freely made choices.
That's only half the picture. Maximizing windows only filling one physical monitor is easy - that's what Xinerama does.
The hard part is making each physical monitor end up with its own independent set of virtual desktops.
This is one of the front-page features of xmonad, which appears to be able to play with a desktop as well
Languages aren't inherently fast -- implementations are efficient
Thanks for the links.
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1528666&cid=30940992
As the guy said "If the reason you want to switch workspaces individually is that you don't have enough flexibility in your workspaces (like you only have four per monitor), then you're solving the wrong problem."
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1528666&cid=3094273
Like this guy said, just mark the app that has to be everywhere as "viewable on all desktops" and be done with it. That can be done today with any decent pager.
Honestly, I think the OP just fixated on a solution instead of what behavior he wanted. Just mark something as viewable as everywhere, and be done with it. Or perhaps just have hot keys set up to switch between apps, but his proposed solution, just doesn't exist. There are other ways to get similar behavior.
here's what I have at home, and it drives me nuts.
I have 1 monitor, and 1 TV hooked up, the TV spends most of it's time off, and depending on various things may or may not be plugged in when the computer boots up.
I currently have things set up as 1 large desktop as I want to be able to drag things between the screens (so separate Xsessions is out of the question)
I don't need a second task bar.
If the TV is unplugged when the computer boots up, the computer sees 1 desktop the size of my monitor. if the TV is plugged in when the computer boots up, the computer sees 1 desktop the combined size of the TV and the monitor.
Here's where my problem lies: If I boot the computer with the TV plugged in, and then turn off the TV, most of my windows still insist on opening on the TV, even though it's off. If the TV was not plugged in when I boot up, most of my windows insist on opening with their upper left corner at the bottom edge of my main screen.
I just can't get windows to open on the screen where I want them to!
I want a different virtual desktop on each monitor, it would make everything extremely easy. As is, everything is a royal pain to work with.
And there are legitimate reasons to use Linux over Windows. Windows is great for games and home, Linux is better for reliability, manageability and cost. We spend more time and money on managing our 3-4 Windows boxes than we do managing our 50+ linux boxes.
One woman in our company who is a Windows apologist for some reason has moved to a Linux box recently. She's still a windows fan, but she couldn't get her work done on it any more, even though it's a java application. I'm guessing she has a virus.
I don't think you understand what's being asked.
Actually, since I set up dual monitors at one point, but found that it was so easy and quick to switch between virtual desktops that I didn't need it and it was a waste of deskspace and energy. The only reason I can think of now it either to impress people with multiple monitors or because you are monitoring events on separate screens where you need to see multiple events as they happen.
learn the hotkeys?
OMG Ponies!!! with Glitter!!!! I miss Pink
you don't need a special WM for that. Plain old GNOME, configured with two screens (not Xinerama and no "additional" Xsession - you'll start one session with both screens active from GDM) and a small app called xmove will do the trick moving windows from one (physical) screen to the other. I have definitely configured this a dozen times on Linux and Solaris machines with NVidia and SUN video adapters.
Oh, the beautiful gloss of greality!
Tasmanians?
aesthetic design - it looks cool
build quality - it feels sturdy, well made and has no sharp edges or flimsy bits
it is virtually silent
it puts out FAR less heat than any PC i've had this decade
Its cheap, it runs anything I throw at it (no games, admittedly, i've got a pre-nvidia model) and just sits in the corner, quite happily.
I'm not buying PC hardware again, unless its a purpose built box that can't be done by something like a mini... The mini will run PC operating systems if i need to, and the hardware is just so much nicer to actually operate.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
MacOS supported multiple monitors on Mac classics. That may have been with some rather hefty drivers from Radius, but it worked before many other systems.
As for X, you're living in the rapidly fading past. Any reasonably modern installation with Intel works great. I have a eee 900 on which I hot swap a monitor on an almost daily basis. It works well with NVidia cards as well, using nvidias tool. The setup is even easier now since xorg supports configuration free startup if you want it.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Windows Devs: Please stop using MSI installers. I hate having to find the install files to remove programs.
That's not MSI per-se but a badly built install table. Blame the mechanic, not the tools.
When you install an application via MSI, the MSIEXEC process stores a cached copy of the application installation db (not the files, just their position and information) in a sub folder under windows. This cache copy SHOULD be all windows needs to uninstall the application. Ergo, in well behaved MSI installs, you do NOT need the original install files (just uninstall the app via Add/Remove Programs).
However, because MSI allows for extensive custom scripting, a lot of devs add extra checks into their install routines, some of which would probe for the existence of the install files (even during an uninstall, which is dumb obviously).
Hope this explanation helped.
-Jar
Together, We Can Make Slashdot Better. I Do NOT Mod ACs. - Check Me Out
No. I used to use the setup that your first link describes for many years. It is no what the OP was asking for. It is his idea of a "best setup", but it does not solve the problem that the OP has.
Coaxial's post is bang on the money in answering the original question.
Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
While the AC makes the point that there are alternative solutions that other people prefer, I think your first answer was bang on the money for the actual question posed.
Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
Well one reason I have dual setup is that I am developing something which spec says should be designed for a minimum 1440x900 in mind. My laptop can only manage 1280 so I have a second monitor on dual-head and use it to design the app to make good use of the larger desktop size.
Usually pressing the Windows key or alt-tabbing works just fine in that kind of setup.
My set up has four monitors and ten virtual desktops, with specific functions/applications on each. For example, kmail is always on #10. On monitors 1 and 4 I have some key things, like IM and other things that I monitor. The content is visible on all virtual desktops (for those monitors). This allows me to switch desktops and always see the same content on monitor 1 and 4.
I have two video cards which supports two monitors each. Use KDE 4.2, nvidia binary drivers for 3D acceleration and Xinerama, where they are all separate X screens. When I maximize it stays on the monitor I am at. I can drag a window to any monitor, and resize across all.
nVidia's X Server Settings utility allows me to easily configure the set up, and I can save the result to xorg.conf.
When you save you need to save to your own directory since you as a user should not have write access to /etc/X11. Then copy the file manually and set root as the owner. Restart X and voila! Lots of desktop space and freedom to use it as you please.
He want to combine multiple screens and multiple desktops in a way that is not common.
That's not true. He wants:
I need something in the middle — a separate workspace for each screen, so that I can have independent virtual desktops on each screen, but still have the ability to move applications between monitors
That is the default on Windows XP. I have my screen setup that way right now. Firefox is on my right monitor, and... I click "restore" then drag it to another screen, then... I clicked maximize, and it is full-screen on the left monitor.
The original poster asks for the ability to maximize a window and have it fit on one screen, rather than span both screens. But he also wants to be able to drag a window across from one screen to another.
I have this on my Windows XP machine right now. Also, as someone else pointed out, Microsoft offers virtual workspaces as well, it is just a powertoy.
P.S. Yet another Slashdotter who opens-up their reply with an insult.
According to the multiple desktop monitor FAQ, Windows '98 supported multiple monitors, but I don't recall exactly how it worked. For Windows XP, this is how it works out of the box. (I know OS X does this as well). I just select the "Extend my Windows desktop" check box. Once I do that, I get the 2 abilities the submitter asked for.
1) I can maximize a window and it maximizes onto whatever screen the window is on.
2) I can drag a window onto my other monitor.
Now, if you want "virtual desktops" than you can download the Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager powertoy. It's not a 3rd-party thing.
The OP is asking for 2 features.
1) Maximize a window and it maximizes onto whatever screen the window is on.
2) Drag a window onto the other monitor.
Windows XP does this out of the box. If you want virtual desktops, no need for 3rd-party tools, just download the Powertoy from Microsoft.
MSVDM is crashy as all hell, so I haven't tried it with a multiple monitor setup. Does it actually provide a separate set of workspaces for each monitor?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
No, this is the normal behaviour for a Linux dual screen setup. I have a dual screen system with gnome and this works with zero config. You can even get the benefits of having a second task bar by simply adding one to the second screen and by default each taskbar now only shows the programs on its screen.
What is wanted is a separate workspace for each screen so each screen has a group of windows on it which can be independently changed. So currently if you change workspace both screens change because they are just one workspace. This is also the way that the powertoy provided by Microsoft does this.
So Linux does by default what Windows can do by installing an additional program plus using a more complicated setup Linux can handle independent workspace switching however with a caveat of not being able to drag windows between monitors. The question asks if the second is possible with windows able to be dragged between desktops.
Maybe my first comment was slightly insulting, so far as a factual statement can be an insult. As some friendly advice, next time someone mentions you may not have understood something perhaps you should try to actually understand it before making more incorrect statements.
He wasn't asking for a frekkken googling, he was asking for working solutions. Have you tried xmove? did it work well? no is the answer one of those questions.
I'm currently looking for a X client for Windows. I'll give Xming a try.
Rethinking email
Ah, user-friendliness Mac style.
No, thanks; for heavy-duty computing, I just use a better OS.
OS X is fine for iTunes.
Create two account with the same UID. Log in on both accounts (you can set them to auto-login you lazy person.) Viola!
Okay, I like that idea. That sounds cool. If that is what the original submitter wanted, that isn't what they stated in the description. But it would do what they asked for and more.
I've never used the Microsoft virtual desktop Powertoy with multiple monitors. Now I want to see how it handles that.
As some friendly advice, next time someone mentions you may not have understood something perhaps you should try to actually understand it before making more incorrect statements.
I would suggest that you do the same. You said that "Windows does not have workspaces hence the functionality is not possible in windows" which is a factually incorrect statement.
Just for reference, I know what I'm talking about: my home machine runs OS X, Windows XP, Ubuntu Linux, and Debian. I don't run dual-monitors on the Linux installs, I just mirror them. Only on Slashdot does that make someone who does not know what they are talking about. I asked a question. This is a wonderful example of why people avoid Linux -- this is the same kind of response people get attending LUGs.
I don't know - I'm gonna download it and find out.
After going through other threads I see that the original submitter didn't just want the ability to move windows across desktops, they wanted multiple virtual desktops per monitor. I had never heard of that, so I didn't realize that was what they wanted.
Reading the summary again, I get it now. This is what he meant by "changing virtual desktop switches both monitors" I thought he meant apps were maximizing across monitors.
Of all the replies and moderations I got on this thread -- only the Anonymous Coward made a non-insulting intelligent reply. You sir, should sign-up for Slashdot. We need more like you.
NoMachine has this capability. You can run individual applications, disconnect, and reconnect them on a different X session or computer. I even set up the web based client that allowed me to tunnel into my running session over an HTTP proxy via SSH without installing any application.
Yes, you're right. I wish it was next year already, and you would've written 201st decade nonetheless, and I would have been right... If only.
I use the xmonad window manager, which does exactly what you want. The thing that will disqualify it in this case is that it is a tiling window manager. I use two displays. Each display is independent, but windows can be
moved between displays, or span displays. I can switch to another workspace on one display, without
affecting the other display. Any workspace can be shown on any display.
If KDE does this now, as others seem to indicate, I might consider switching to it.
I have a dual monitor setup and on Ubuntu I get that behaviour out of the box. Each screen is treated as a seperate workspace, so it's simple enough to move windows between them. As a caveat I do use the NVidia propriety drivers, so I don't know if that makes a difference.
Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
I tried to suggest this on IRC last year:
:-) :-)
Conversation with #compiz-fusion at Tue 03 Mar 2009 12:12:07 PM SAST on davidfraser@irc.freenode.net (irc)
(12:12:43 PM) davidfraser: I'm trying to get compiz to switch my Viewports independently for two screens - the mmmode setting seems to have no effect
(12:13:00 PM) davidfraser: I'm using Xrandr - do I need to rather configure multiple monitors in my xorg.conf to make this work?
(12:21:34 PM) maniac103: davidfraser: you need separate X screens (separate screen sections in xorg.conf), otherwise it's not possible
(12:21:50 PM) davidfraser: thanks maniac103
(12:22:12 PM) ***davidfraser thinks this is suboptimal, particularly for laptops where screens are attached and removed mid-session
(12:34:55 PM) crdlb: davidfraser: regardless, xrandr-output-specific viewport movement would be total crack
(12:56:40 PM) davidfraser: crdlb: Why do you say xrandr-output-specific viewport movement would be total crack? Methinks it would totally rock
(12:57:23 PM) adamk_: It would be one massive hack to implement.
(12:57:41 PM) davidfraser: That's true...
(12:58:15 PM) adamk_: Well what developer wants to constantly maintain a nasty hack moving forward?
(01:02:40 PM) davidfraser: OK the question is is it a desirable feature - if so perhaps more APIs etc need to be added to X to make it feasible in a non-hacky way
(01:09:52 PM) adamk_: I don't like it in e17, so I doubt I'd like it in compiz. I'm quite sure others would feel differently.
(01:09:56 PM) adamk_: So get coding then
(01:13:52 PM) davidfraser:
2 Displays and 2 Workspaces With Linux and X?