KDE 4: trouble setting up two separate Xservers

[Duncan]

Paul van Gerven posted on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:13:56 +0200 as excerpted:

> In Kubuntu Lucid Lynx (KDE SC 4.4), I have been trying to configure a
> two Xserver setup. One XServer uses my videocard, the other the tv-out
> of my Hauppauge 350 tv-card. I have been running this setup for a couple
> of years, both in Gnome and in KDE 3.x. This is my first attempt in KDE
> 4.

FWIW, I doubt you'll find many here with that advanced a setup, to try to 
help you.  A lot of folks run a single Xserver with multiple monitors 
(generally off the same graphics card, but not always), either in xinerama 
mode (which kde4 supports) or zaphod mode (which kde4 doesn't support), 
especially with laptops with an internal and pluggable external monitor, 
and various distributions now configure multiple Xservers in fast-user-
switching mode (multiple VTs), but I've not seen many with separate 
Xservers configured for concurrent use on separate outputs, so you're 
likely pretty much on your own, there.

I can't honestly say I've tried it, either.  Never-the-less, a 
suggestion...

Try it with something real basic first.  Perhaps xdm.  Or go even more 
basic, and startx manually, from two different text logins, setup to start 
only say a single xterm in each xsession.  Then work from there.

The idea is to ensure that each Xserver is configured correctly and 
running on its assigned monitors, only, using real basic stuff, 
preferrably all xorg apps so if it's not working, it's only xorg that you 
need to work with, before going further.

Meanwhile, I'm a Gentooer not a *buntuer, so I don't know what versions of 
xorg-server and the various drivers are included in whatever *buntu 
versions.  What I'm wondering, however, is whether the new plug-n-play 
stuff, both input and randr, are screwing you up.  They could be if the 
wrong server is detecting and trying to activate the devices before the 
other session grabs them.  You may need to have monitor section Option 
"Ignore" or Option "Enable" "0" (or "Disable") on monitors that aren't 
supposed to be used for that Xserv/ServerLayout.  Similarly for the input 
devices.  (Depending on your xorg-server version, input devices may be hot-
plug configured using hal, or using udev and xorg.conf/xorg.conf.d again.  
1.8 uses an xorg.conf.d directory and can fall-back to hal but doesn't use 
it by default.  1.6 and 1.7 use hal's config unless you disable it.)

Also, with multiple graphics devices as you have, the graphics arbitrator 
available in kernel 2.6.33 and later will probably help matters some.

Finally, you're running black-box nvidia drivers.  Most of the community, 
including the kernel and xorg communities (I've no idea whether *buntu 
tries to support them or not), are going to see that and say talk to them, 
we don't support proprietary black-box.  So as long as you're running 
them, your best bet may be to get nVidia support.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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