Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

ttouch · 2013-01-17 21:25:02

I want to make awesome or dwm multi-seat compatible. I don't want to use different sessions or xorg servers for each user/seat. The same WM in the same session both users. My only problem is that when one user gains focus, the other lose it. So I need "different" focus for each mouse. I configured awesome to focus on click. I also use a simple bash script to make the second keyboard/mouse actually work. Any help please?
I may change from awesome to dwm, so a dwm solution is also acceptable....

I have some ideas (that i don't know how to implement):
1. The two screens are completely separated so one user can't take focus of the other user's program (but only one wm instance running...)
2. Each input set has it's own focus. So the users can focus on two different windows simultaneously...
3. Each user has a screen "attached", so he can only focus on windows in it's own screen, but he can hover in the other screen...

I have only 1 graphics card (an old EVGA gt9800) but plenty of ram (16GB).
I want to run two instances of minecraft (one for each user), so keep 3d acceleration on your mind...

Last edited by ttouch (2013-01-17 21:52:23)

Trilby · 2013-01-17 21:31:30

Point 3 is a bit confusing, but perhaps is possible with modification to the WM code.

Points 1 and 2 are simply not possible in a single X session - unless you completely rewrite X.

ttouch · 2013-01-17 21:52:13

so 2 simultaneous window focuses is impossible...
ideas?

Last edited by ttouch (2013-01-17 21:52:44)

moetunes · 2013-01-17 22:17:05

dminiwm, snapwm and monsterwm can all do this. Just don't enable click to focus and follow mouse. I don't know how your bash script to enable the mouse will go with them.
HTH

ttouch · 2013-01-17 22:25:48

hmm, monsterwm seems the most lightweight and powerful. Any help would be appreciated

theGunslinger · 2013-01-17 23:48:11

Let us know if you make it work, my surplus of monitors could easily turn into a lan party from time to time

ttouch · 2013-01-18 15:10:33

@theGunslinger: sure!
@moetunes: could you help me a bit? I *try* to set up monster wm. which of the 3 do you recommend? I want the most lightweight.
Also please help me configure your recommended wm for multiseat.

moetunes · 2013-01-18 19:30:11

monsterwm has a well written wiki page and a thread in the community contribution forum that should let you make a start. Basically you download the source from git, edit the config.h to suit your needs (make sure to not enable click to focus or follow mouse) and build it.
I use my own window managers so I'm not up to date with monsterwm but the people in the thread are friendly and helpful if you have any issues.
HTH

ttouch · 2013-01-18 19:58:44

I tested snapwm and I have no mouse pointer and the font is a bit creepy. is this normal? I can't find a lot of resources in google...

moetunes · 2013-01-18 20:18:57

How is the font 'a bit creepy' ? Show us a pic please.
What sort of resources are you looking for?
Edit:
To have a mouse pointer you need to have a line in .xinitrc like
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr &

Last edited by moetunes (2013-01-18 20:20:56)

moetunes · 2013-01-19 10:05:18

I led you astray ttouch.
dminiwm, snapwm and monsterwm can have one window accepting keyboard input and another window accepting mouse input but not two windows accepting both keyboard and mouse inputs at the same time which is what you want.
Apologies for that.
I'll have some free time tomorrow so I'll see if I can hack something together to do multiseat like you want. No promises though

ttouch · 2013-01-19 11:27:16

testing dminiwm and it seems very promising with dzen2 and dmenu...
very nice work moetunes!
I have nearly no idea of C, so I can't help...
Can't you keep focus for each input set in an array for example? So each user can focus different windows at the same time. Tribly said not possible, is that true?

Unia · 2013-01-19 11:56:14

ttouch wrote:

Tribly said not possible, is that true?

Most probably

ttouch · 2013-01-19 12:15:08

hmmm, ok...
moetunes let us know if find a way to fix it

moetunes · 2013-01-19 17:18:51

ttouch wrote:

Can't you keep focus for each input set in an array for example?

Easiest way to do that is to use one of the established methods for multiseats i.e. separate xsessions. The only reason to try and have multiseats in the one window manager is so the users can have access to the same application windows.

ttouch · 2013-01-19 22:43:55

what about 3d acceleration?

Zagzagel · 2013-05-15 23:33:25

I'm trying to acomplish something similar: multi-seat (2 user for now) on same display, but different screens, and same window manager preferably.

Have you heard of XInput2 and Multi-Pointer X?
I tried that, but I get some keyboard issues (see my post which sadly has no replies).
Got the mice working independently and just as intended, though, after I did

xdotool mousemove --screen 1 500 500

to move the main pointer to the other screen. I'm currently examining dwm to see if I can add support for XInput2.

Raimundo · 2013-11-07 18:01:28

See http://lists.suckless.org/dev/1310/17982.html

There are some problems with this, namely programs which assume that "Virtual Core" is the only thing that exists.
On Wine non-"Virtual Core" pointers flicker alot, in QtCreator's text editor shift-key inputs only key (and caps doesn't seem to work), but for web-browsing and 3d gaming it's ok, as long as you don't mind the flickering.
Expect some unexpected behaviour to happen but please try this and tell me what you think.
I have no feedback but I'm using this for 2-3 weeks now and apart for some small minor inconveniences it works well. I have a strange minimalist setup though

ttouch · 2013-11-07 19:32:07

That's awesome!
I also moved to DWM quite a while ago and this is just perfect!
I'll try it and report!

Thank you!

ttouch · 2013-11-09 13:39:52

Hrm...
I use TwinView and I have no DISPLAY=:0.0 and DISPLAY=:0.1 available...
And I don't want to disable twinview.
Investigating the problem...

Arch Linux

#1 2013-01-17 21:25:02

Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#2 2013-01-17 21:31:30

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#3 2013-01-17 21:52:13

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#4 2013-01-17 22:17:05

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#5 2013-01-17 22:25:48

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#6 2013-01-17 23:48:11

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#7 2013-01-18 15:10:33

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#8 2013-01-18 19:30:11

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#9 2013-01-18 19:58:44

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#10 2013-01-18 20:18:57

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#11 2013-01-19 10:05:18

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#12 2013-01-19 11:27:16

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#13 2013-01-19 11:56:14

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#14 2013-01-19 12:15:08

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#15 2013-01-19 17:18:51

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#16 2013-01-19 22:43:55

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#17 2013-05-15 23:33:25

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#18 2013-11-07 18:01:28

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#19 2013-11-07 19:32:07

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

#20 2013-11-09 13:39:52

Re: Awesome WM or DWM multiseat

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