On 12/10/2014 02:42 PM, Joe wrote:
That's the way the computer is set up at our house. A single computer, keyboard and monitor (and seat) used by three different people who are all logged on almost 24/7. My wife, daughter and I each login to a separate vt. It makes no real difference who logs on to which vt, but usually we each log in to a particular vt. I have created aliases for startx for each of us that create separate X sessions for each of us. My X session is on vt-7, my wife gets vt-8 and my daughter is on vt-9. All it takes is a quick ctl-alt-f7 for me to be at my session right where I left it no matter how long that has been, or what the other two persons have done in the meantime..Proof of Concept. A bit short of a prototype. There are two different concepts here, almost no home *workstation* will be used truly multi-seat i.e. with more than one person connected simultaneously to it. A home computer may have multiple users, but generally not simultaneously. A simultaneous-multi-user computer is by definition a server of some kind. My home contains one of those, but most peoples' won't. They are becoming more common, with cheap Windows versions aimed at home server use, with a particular emphasis on media playing and backup of workstations. The tiny and very cheap Raspberry Pi and other similar devices are being used as servers, but generally for very limited purposes, and certainly not as multiple-user workstations. There is a sort of half-way house, whereby a second user can login to a workstation without the first user logging out, but the same keyboard and screen are used and the first user cannot do anything while the second user has control. I don't know how commonly used this is, Windows has had it for many years, but few home computers have enough resources to do this efficiently. Second and subsequent users have a poor 'user experience'. Server versions of Windows can allow multiple simultaneous remote users, but again, this is not likely to happen in the average home.
The box has a quad core AMD FX CPU and 8GB of memory. It runs snappy enough with no noticeable delays. I did recently add an extra case fan to help keep the temperature down, but as long as my daughter doesn't leave flash games running that is not really an issue, either.
Space is the reason for a single computer. If I can get the family room remodeled then we might set up a second computer (I have a spare sitting around doing nothing) there, but that is still one less computer than user.I think the main point being made is that computers are now sufficiently cheap that we don't have to all crowd around one machine, that where there are two or more people in a household who use a computer more than very occasionally, they will have their own computers.
Marc