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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."
We won't know until you finish compiling.
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.
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.
You know what? I'm glad that the submitter did not investigate any of these before asking /.. If he had, then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to read his question, ponder the answer myself, and then read your informative (but surly) response.
Mon chien, il n'a pas du nez. Comment scent-il? TrÃs mauvais!
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".
Ah! This might be it, I just Google'd it and it looks very promising: http://awesome.naquadah.org/
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.
You know, I've messed with multiple monitors enough on Linux for a few years to know that just about anything is possible, but it's not always easy. At all. I think this is a very valid question to ask /. because he is certainly trying to do something that's not at all 'out of the box' with the simple multimonitor support in things like nvidia-settings or Xinerama or whatever. In fact, some of the responses I've read seem to indicate that exactly what he's after isn't actually possible.
I recently *finally* figured out how to account for overscan on my HDTV. It involved a custom metamode line and other junk in xorg.conf, quite a lot of Google hunting, a very specialized Windows-only monitor analysis app, and mathematics to arrive at the value. A LOT of stuff that other OS's can do with a nice onscreen GUI are still not even close on Linux.
Google does not give you answers. It gives you data and tons of it. And I have no idea what to say to people who take the time to read these questions and get offended that they were asked, and bother to answer them (incorrectly) along with an insulting rtfm or something. No one really forced you to read or respond to anything. You're wasting your own time.
That's true and it does not depend on which operating system you're using.
It was extremely easy to setup in Linux long before Windows 7 came out.
Of course. In Linux, or at least in KDE, there are several other easy ways to handle window resizing. If you mid-click in the maximize button the window is maximized vertically but it keeps the original horizontal size. Conversely, if you right-click in the maximize button the window is maximized horizontally and keeps the vertical size. Want to fine-tune the window size? Press the ALT key and the right mouse button simultaneously, the cursor will grab the *nearest* window border, no need to hit the *exact* pixels of the border.
If you say so. All I know is that it's trivial in Linux, but I always hear people complaining they must install Cygwin and puTTY and I don't know what else to run Xwindow in Windows.