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Corubba

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2010-11-14

Posts: 86

Applications on separate X server

Hey guys,

I want to run some Applications on a separate X server. So the first question is, will there an performance boost when doing this? Lot of people say yes, but I'm kind of skeptic about that. I want to run some wine games, java apps and vms there.

I tried with `xinit /path/to/binary -- :1` which works, but java e.g. don't take the full resolution. Besides that, virtualbox don't even want to start the vm (starting directly with VBoxManage). So i get the idea i maybe need an window manager on that screen, so i can start and maximize apps. So i took a look on the window manager wiki page what simple and lightweight wm is suitable for that. Based on the things i need, i should take a tilling wm like catwm. But before i get starting on that task, i wanted to gather some opinions from the great community.

So, what you guys are thinking about this plan?

Greetz corubba

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: Applications on separate X server

I run some games under wine, using xinit, but the reason is so they cannot interfere with my normal X session, e.g. by switching resolution (which can cause apps, e.g. evolution, to resize their on-screen components).

The rumours about performance, might be regarding disabling composite on the 2nd xorg instance, but I don't use composite anyway - dunno if such a strategy helps.

For a "performance boost", optimize your system. Run games at a higher priority than the default of 0.

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: Applications on separate X server

FWIW, I thought running on a headless server would improve the performance of my Windows VMs (VMware Server 2 on Ubuntu Server remotely managed vs on Ubuntu Desktop locally managed) but frankly I don't think it had much of an effect.  The biggest boost I've seen with VMs (other than from switching to VMware ESXi) is using Windows' Remote Desktop rather than the VM console.  But that was just in responsiveness of the interface, rather than a 'real' performance improvement.

Last edited by alphaniner (2012-01-27 01:44:03)

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