Two WMs on Two Screens (Dual Monitor) ?

phabulosa · 2007-10-18 05:33:45

HI!
Here is what I have been trying to do today.
I am trying to run two WMs side by side on two "SCREEN"s
On my main monitor, I will have a KDE (kdemod) running; on my second display, I will have another "tiling WM (such as dwm or wmii or ion) " running, so I can run most of my console based application on my second monitor, but I can have a more graphical environment for other applications on my main monitor.

In my xorg.conf, I have two "Screen" sections and I turned off "Xinerama". In the "ServerLayout" section, I listed both screens.

My problem is the following:
1. KDE can still recognize my second display, even I use "DISPLAY=:0.0 startkde" to began with. On my second display, there is an extra crude KDE desktop.
2. I don't know how to make a session (.desktop) for this setup to work for KDM.

Can someone give me little help? Especially. how to make KDE unaware of my second display.

thanks

phabulosa · 2007-10-18 08:16:08

The problem was partly resolved.

I add the following line in [X11] section of
~/.kde/share/config/kcmdisplayrc

disableMultihead=true

Now, KDE is limited on one monitor. I can also start another WM such as "dwm" by running

DISPLAY=:0.1 dwm

Here is a screenshot of runing KDE (kdemod) and "dwm" side by side.
In "dwm", I am running "wyrd" (frontend for "remind", a powerful calendar application) and "top).

phabulosa · 2007-10-18 08:20:29

However, there is still on problem.

I modified kde.desktop in /etc/X11/sessions and save it as another .desktop file.

I changed the "exec=" from

exec=/opt/kde/bin/startkde

to

exec=DISPLAY=:0.1 dwm;startkde

But it didn't work. I was kicked back to KDM login again and again.

Can someone teach me how to write a correct .desktop file?

retsaw · 2007-10-18 13:32:14

phabulosa wrote:

exec=DISPLAY=:0.1 dwm;startkde
But it didn't work. I was kicked back to KDM login again and again.

That line contains a space in it, maybe that is why it isn't working? Try enclosing the bit after the = in quotes.

Alternatively create a simple script that consists of

#!/bin/sh
DISPLAY=:0.1 dwm&
startkde

and point the exec line to that.

phabulosa · 2007-10-18 15:30:16

retsaw wrote:

phabulosa wrote:
exec=DISPLAY=:0.1 dwm;startkde
But it didn't work. I was kicked back to KDM login again and again.
That line contains a space in it, maybe that is why it isn't working? Try enclosing the bit after the = in quotes.
Alternatively create a simple script that consists of
#!/bin/sh
DISPLAY=:0.1 dwm&
startkde
and point the exec line to that.

Thanks retsaw,

I tried your alternative method and it works now.

peets · 2007-10-18 23:15:12

Good work. I had wondered whether this was possible and assumed it wasn't. Computers can do anything!

I will try it out and maybe write something up on the wiki, unless you've already done it (which would be a pleasant surprise)

Anyway, thanks for sharing, and welcome to the archlinux bbs!

Arch Linux

#1 2007-10-18 05:33:45

Two WMs on Two Screens (Dual Monitor) ?

#2 2007-10-18 08:16:08

Re: Two WMs on Two Screens (Dual Monitor) ?

#3 2007-10-18 08:20:29

Re: Two WMs on Two Screens (Dual Monitor) ?

#4 2007-10-18 13:32:14

Re: Two WMs on Two Screens (Dual Monitor) ?

#5 2007-10-18 15:30:16

Re: Two WMs on Two Screens (Dual Monitor) ?

#6 2007-10-18 23:15:12

Re: Two WMs on Two Screens (Dual Monitor) ?

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