Re: Multiple independent terminals on a single machinde

[David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk>]

On Sat 17 Feb 2018 at 17:38:00 (-0800), David Christensen wrote:
> On 02/17/18 11:32, Richard Owlett wrote:
> >On 02/17/2018 01:19 PM, David Christensen wrote:
> >>On 02/17/18 04:46, Richard Owlett wrote:
> >>>On 02/17/2018 01:57 AM, deloptes wrote:
> >>>>Richard Owlett wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>Therefore I'll change my metaphor.
> >>>>>It is routine for one machine to support multiple
> >>>>>independent terminals.
> >>>>>Logically one expect that those terminals could appear on
> >>>>>the host device.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>How might this be done?
> >>>>
> >>>>Hi,
> >>>>first you write you want to have independent terminals on
> >>>>your machine and
> >>>>then you complain that the workspaces share same background icon.
> >>>>Can you clarify what you want to achieve.
> >>>>
> >>>>If you want to configure your workspaces differently and
> >>>>want to use light
> >>>>weight desktop you could try TDE which is continuation of
> >>>>KDE3. There you
> >>>>can configure the background per workspace.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>Asking on a local users group led to
> >>>   <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiseat_configuration>
> >>>which describes what triggered my thoughts.
> >>>It links to  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System>
> >>>which outlines what has to happen behind the scenes to have the
> >>>user experience I want.
> >>>
> >>>In a related post here, Curt referred me to KDE's "activities"
> >>>
> >>><https://www.datamation.com/open-source/how-to-setup-kde-activities.html>
> >>>
> >>>which links to
> >>>
> >>><https://www.datamation.com/open-source/how-to-setup-kde-activities.html>,
> >>>
> >>>
> >>><https://www.datamation.com/open-source/what-makes-a-classic-linux-desktop-classic-1.html>,
> >>>and
> >>>   <https://www.maketecheasier.com/use-kde-plasma-activities/>
> >>>
> >>>I've reading to do.
> >>>Thank you.
> >>
> >>Perhaps the Linux Terminal Server Project is what you seek (?):
> >>
> >>http://ltsp.org/
> >>
> >
> >I don't think so.
> >ALTHOUGH visualizing such a setup influenced how I phrased things.
> >The key difference for my use everything is in a single laptop.
> >Thanks.
> 
> Other ideas include:
> 
> 1.  Create additional user accounts and use different and/or
> customized desktop environments on each.

I don't know anything about logging in through a Display Manager
as I use startx and fvwm. However, as such, I can login on VC1
as usual and start my X session with its 20 "workspaces" (for want
of a better word).
I can then login (as myself) on VC2 and startx again and have
another X session ($DISPLAY is now :1) with another 20 workspaces.

I've always started X with:

$ type xxx
xxx is a function
xxx () 
{ 
    local TIMESTAMP="$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S)";
    [ -z "$1" ] && : >| "$HOME/.xsession-errors";
    printf '%s\n' "zzzyyyxxx $HOSTNAME $TIMESTAMP" >>
    "$HOME/.xsession-errors";
    /usr/bin/X11/startx >> "$HOME/.xsession-errors" 2>&1 &
}
$ 

so I started the second X session with
$ xxx x
to make both X servers share $HOME/.xsession-errors.

It would be a simple matter to sidestep this issue in the same
way as starts does, by testing
 [ -e "/tmp/.X$d-lock" -o -S "/tmp/.X11-unix/X$d" ]
to see what's currently running and then naming the log files
differently. Ditto for .fvwm-std{err,out}.

Naturally, the .xsession* and .fvwm/* files (whichever one uses)
could also take account of the $DISPLAY value to determine
which applications should be made available in each X server.

> 2.  Install a hypervisor (e.g. VirtualBox, KVM, Xen, VMware, etc.)
> and run one or more virtual machines, each different and/or
> customized.

More than I know how to do.

Cheers,
David.