[Solved] Multiple instances of X on different Virtual terminals with?

emk · 2012-01-16 03:24:16

I want to run X instances on vt7-vt9 and switch between them using ctrl+alt+f?. Something like a multiseat set up except that I want to do this using the same monitor keyboard mouse. What I need tis to be able to log into a remote box using XDMCP on say vt8 and another one on vt9 and switch between these boxes by switching vts. I'm not sure if I have to go the whole multiseat hog, creating and editiing xorg.conf or if I just need to edit my login manager (using lightdm remotely and xdm on the local box). Greatly appreciate any pointers.

emk

Last edited by emk (2012-01-17 20:26:08)

ngoonee · 2012-01-16 03:28:46

Not having done this before, this is speculation, but I think just launching instances through your login manager should work. Take with a heavy grain of salt and much experimentation of course

emk · 2012-01-16 04:56:56

Ngoonee, thanks. All I had to do to get the gui logins on multiple vts was to add more seats in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.com on my test machine. So that was easy enough. Now I need to figure out how to add a session in LightDM that allows me to login to a remote computer via xdmcp.

emk · 2012-01-16 06:23:44

So after much experimentation with a horribly documented lightdm login manager, I have been able to do what I wanted. Not optimally, but its done. Here is the relevant section of my /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

[Seat:0]

[Seat:1]

[Seat:2]
xdmcp-manager=192.168.1.12
vt=9

This presents me with an LightDM login for the machine at 192.168.1.12 over XDMCP on Virtual Terminal 9 on my local machine. i.e ctrl+alt+f9. This is what I wanted so this is [SOLVED].

On the other hand, since there are other machines on my lan that offer XDMCP logins I would much rather be able to get a chooser from LightDM and then pick the machine to login to remotely. Appreciate it if any one has any ideas

emk

ngoonee · 2012-01-16 08:11:55

It may help to mark this [solved] (edit your opening post) and ask that question in a separate thread.

majiq · 2012-01-16 10:43:34

I'm not sure if you need to be able to do this from a login manager, but just to provide a complete answer for the future, you can easily do this from a terminal. You start your first X session with e.g. xinit, and each one thereafter using

xinit -- :1

Or :2 or :3 depending on which one you've already used. This will start separate X sessions denoted Display 0:0, Display 0:1, Display 0:2, etc. available starting at A-C-F7, A-C-F8 and so on. This is possible because xinit will take flags to the Xserver after the `--`, and the :# style argument tells Xorg which display to use. See the Xserver man page for more info.

It's also possible there's a location that you can tell e.g. xdm to start multiple instance, one for each of several displays.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-16 03:24:16

[Solved] Multiple instances of X on different Virtual terminals with?

#2 2012-01-16 03:28:46

Re: [Solved] Multiple instances of X on different Virtual terminals with?

#3 2012-01-16 04:56:56

Re: [Solved] Multiple instances of X on different Virtual terminals with?

#4 2012-01-16 06:23:44

Re: [Solved] Multiple instances of X on different Virtual terminals with?

#5 2012-01-16 08:11:55

Re: [Solved] Multiple instances of X on different Virtual terminals with?

#6 2012-01-16 10:43:34

Re: [Solved] Multiple instances of X on different Virtual terminals with?

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