multiXnest

[Ander C. de O. <ac...@in...>]

Hello,

We're writing to annouce a new multiseat solution: multiXnest. This
solution is based on a modified Xnest server which reads it's input from
the kernel event interface. This solution should work with any video
card supported by the Xorg/Xfree86 X server.

For the last weeks, we've been working to make this usable.

A pre-compiled binary can be download from
http://www.c3sl.ufpr.br/multiterminal/multiXnest .

The patch include 7 new command line options to the orginal Xnest server:

-kbd file              evdev file to read keyboard events
-ptr file              evdev file to read pointer events
-xkb-rules string      specify the XKB rules
-xkb-layout string     specify the XKB layout
-xkb-model string      specify the XKB model
-xkb-variant string    specify the XKB variant
-xkb-options string    specify the XKB options

Know issues:
- the keyboard mapping is incomplete,
- keyboard leds don't work
- multiXnest consumes more CPU than it should

We use the multiXnest-wrapper script to start the X server because gdm
always passes a vt option in the command line. This script also=20
introduces an option to pass the .Xauthority file to use.

A sample gdm config file looks like this:
[...]

[servers]
0=3DHardware
1=3DMonitor0
2=3DMonitor1

[server-Hardware]
name=3DHardware
command=3D/usr/X11R6/bin/X
handled=3Dfalse
flexible=3Dfalse

[server-Monitor0]
name=3DMonitor0
command=3D/root/multiXnest-wrapper -display :0.0 -xauthority \=20
/var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth
-geometry 1024x768+0+0 -kbd /dev/input/kbd0ev -ptr /dev/input/mouse0ev
-dpi 92
handled=3Dtrue
flexible=3Dfalse

[server-Monitor1]
name=3DMonitor0
command=3D/root/multiXnest-wrapper -display :0.1 -xauthority \=20
/var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth
-geometry 1024x768+0+0 -kbd /dev/input/kbd0ev -ptr /dev/input/mouse0ev
-dpi 92
handled=3Dtrue
flexible=3Dfalse

The X server is configured with one layout with all the screens and
without Xinerama.


Ander Conselvan de Oliveira
Centro de Computa=E7=E3o Cient=EDfica e Software Livre - C3SL	  www.c3sl.=
ufpr.br