Arch Linux

ezzetabi

Member

Registered: 2006-08-27

Posts: 947

Two X servers, switching does not work[Solved]

I was playing around trying to execute a second X server, I used this command:

% xinit /bin/openbox -- :1

The new X server starts and it works fine, when I kill openbox the system goes back to the original desktop as expected.

But... If try to switch between the two (ctrl+alt+f6 and ctrl+alt+f7) I can go back to :0, but I cannot return to :1. It only appears a blinking cursor. Xorg continues executing, but I cannot see its output anymore.

What can I try?

Some random info might be useful:

% pacman -Qi xorg-server
Name           : xorg-server
Version        : 1.14.5-1
Description    : Xorg X server
Architecture   : x86_64
URL            : http://xorg.freedesktop.org
Licenses       : custom
Groups         : xorg
Provides       : X-ABI-VIDEODRV_VERSION=14  X-ABI-XINPUT_VERSION=19
                 X-ABI-EXTENSION_VERSION=7.0  x-server
Depends On     : libxdmcp  libxfont  libpciaccess  libdrm  pixman>=0.28.0
                 libgcrypt  libxau  xorg-server-common  xf86-input-evdev
Optional Deps  : None
Required By    : easystroke  nvidia-utils
Optional For   : None
Conflicts With : nvidia-utils<=290.10
Replaces       : None
Installed Size : 3440.00 KiB
Packager       : Andreas Radke <andyrtr@archlinux.org>
Build Date     : Fri Dec 13 15:12:32 2013
Install Date   : Wed Dec 18 22:30:00 2013
Install Reason : Explicitly installed
Install Script : No
Validated By   : Signature

% glxinfo | grep '^Open\|^dir'
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce GTS 250/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 331.20
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30 NVIDIA via Cg compiler
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 331.20
OpenGL shading language version string: 3.30 NVIDIA via Cg compiler
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: (none)
OpenGL extensions:

% uname -a
Linux sink 3.12.5-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Dec 12 12:57:31 CET 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Last edited by ezzetabi (2013-12-21 19:26:06)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,612

Re: Two X servers, switching does not work[Solved]

It is probably not on tty6 or tty7.  Try Ctrl-Alt-F1 or F2

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sciifer

Member

From: Cumbria, UK

Registered: 2013-12-21

Posts: 9

Website

Re: Two X servers, switching does not work[Solved]

1. Please don't use xinit. Use startx and .xinitrc/xprofile/xsession to create X servers.
2. The servers aren't on tty7 unlike Debian/Ubuntu. They are on the same tty they are launched on to preserve the logind session (i.e you can run systemctl poweroff as unpriveliged user).

However, if you see a line cursor, jump to another tty where there is a Linux console login and type 'killall X'. It will kill all the X servers on the box, but it drops you back to the terminal where you launched that X server.

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Rob Is King.

ezzetabi

Member

Registered: 2006-08-27

Posts: 947

Re: Two X servers, switching does not work[Solved]

ctrl-alt-f2 works fine. Thanks ewaller.