Is this even technically possible? (Odd dual screen configuration)

sim

sim

Hi

I have one large main monitor (1920x1200) which work perfectly under FreeBSD 8, KDE4.2 and the nvidia binary driver. KWin compositing works splendidly, giving me 4 virtual workspaces (desktops) arrayed on the faces of a rotatable cube. So far so good.

Now... I would like to add a second, slightly smaller, monitor (1600x1200). BUT! I would like this screen to act as a single, fixed workspace, where I can (e.g.) place a browser or a video player, independent of the 4 switchable workspaces on the main screen. Is that even possible, through some funky X dual server configuration? At the moment, using nVidia TwinView, the workspaces extend across both screens, and both screens form one side of the rotating cube when switching virtual workspaces, which for me is weird, excessive, and less useful than I would like.

So my question is, is my preferred configuration even possible or am I wasting my time investigating?

Thanks all

sim (who only made the jump to X a couple of months ago... (cli since 5.3) :e)
 
Hi sim,

Although there are far more knowledgeable people here than I, I would imagine what youre looking for would be possible running two X servers, just have to enable it in nvidia-settings, and change your .xinitrc to launch two window managers. I havent tried it, but I think this would give you more of the independent features you request.
 
I know for sure you can do this with Xorg+Xinerama+fvwm
When you start fvwm, it would fork, and each fvwm would become independent screen.
 
I think nvidia-settings simply calls it 'Separate X Screen'. You get two separate independent desktops (these can be on different monitors with different sizes, etc.). When saved to xorg.conf (from within nvidia-settings) I get two things:

Code: 
Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection
and
Code: 
Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP: 1680x1050_60 +0+0; DFP: 1024x768 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"

# Removed Option "metamodes" "CRT: 1280x1024_60 +0+0; CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: 1280x1024_75 +0+0; CRT: 1280x1024_60 +0+0; CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

None of this was put in there by me ;)

The screenshot shows the nvidia-settings option screen (I'm currently on a single screen, which is why you only see 'half of it').

 
Thank-you guys, this is great help - very encouraging. I'll give it a go over weekend and report back :)

sim
 
A quick update, having finally had a chance to look again at this...

I used the nvidia-settings tool to set the "Separate X Screen" option. Rebooted. My main screen came up exactly as normal - complete with accelerated compositing and 4 virtual desktops. Good. At first I thought the second screen was dead, but then I noticed it has an old-skool X mouse pointer on it! There are always two pointers, one per screen, but control transfers between them as you mouse over the screen boundary. Interesting! Apart from that, the second display is black and does nothing else at all. So I guess I need to start a WM on it or something? I'm a bit green at this I'm afraid. I'm using KDM. I'll look into it some more tomorrow, but I'm cautiously optimistic. :)

sim
 
Sim,

I had noticed in the Openbox FAQ awhile back, that it gave instructions for setting two instances to start in .xinitrc, setting the display for each. Since youre running KDM, I think you may be able to go in and modify .xsession, but Im unfamiliar with your WM/KDE. Sounds like youre getting somewhere though.
 
Try starting X/KDE from the console (startx). I think I ran into the same problem (empty second screen) when I used a DM (Slim). By the way: XFCE starts two desktops without any intervention or extra settings.
 
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