Re: [PLUG] XFree 4.0 - multiheading

[Kevin Brosius <kbrosius@eng.kns.com>]

> 
> On Fri, 10 Mar 2000, Darxus wrote:
> 
> > In the last few months I think at least two people have asked if there was
> > any way to add an extra monitor and keyboard directly to a linux box on
> > the PLUG list.
> 
> You need to look at what they're trying to achieve, beyond just "I want to
> attach a second keyboard, mouse and monitor."
> 
> > It sounds like it's been possible to add an extra monitor for a little
> > while (as opposed to, I think, since the begining of time, on a sun box),
> > and now you can add extra mice (http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/RELNOTES2.html,
> > search for "mouse 2").
> 
> I don't think this is quite what you're looking for.  This allows you to
> extend your desktop to function on two physical monitors (which, don't get
> me wrong, is a cool thing in and of itself).  What, I think, you're trying
> to acheive is either a number of dumb terminals or thin clients connected
> to the same server.

My understanding is that you can do both.  If you use Xinerama, you get
extended desktops on multiple monitors.  If you run multiple X servers
then you get individual instances of the X-server.  Those instances
could be used by different people.  (Although you have to deal with the
keyboard issue...)

-----------------
And someone else wrote:
> > >
> > > Several companies use to make graphical terminals with full
> > > keyboard/mouse support built in. Couldn't you hook one of these up to
> > > the serial bus and have the X server communicate to it through there?
> > >
> > > These terminals aren't cheep. It does sort of defeat the purpose you are
> > > working towards but it has an advantage of showing that it can work.
> > > Once that is shown the OS community can take over from there.
> > 
> > It sounds like you're talking about X Terminals, which have their own X
> > server ?
> 
> No. These terminals are incapable of running any program on their own.
> They are sort of like an old fashioned text terminal but with full
> graphics capabilities.
> 

I believe that's why they call them X-terminals rather than
workstations.  They are standalone boxes which have X-server capability,
sometimes built into firmware.  They don't allow you to run programs
locally, but just support attaching to a host (usually over ethernet)
and running X based programs from it.

-- 
Kevin Brosius

______________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group       -       http://plug.nothinbut.net
Announcements - http://lists.nothinbut.net/mail/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion   -   http://lists.nothinbut.net/mail/listinfo/plug