Hi,

For developers that always want more desktop space...

If you have old laptops laying around, Xdmx is a fantastic way to re-purpose those old laptops and let them act as an extended desktop for your main system. It supports up to 16 computers.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-mltihed/index.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOzRCBGDVaE&app=desktop

I managed to get this working between two FreeBSD systems in 10 minutes
- and that included the time to install FreeBSD 10.2 on my old laptop. :) For FreeBSD users, install the x11-servers/xorg-dmx ports package.

Regards,
- Graeme -

I've looked at it in the past and found it woefully unreliable, but there's a chance that it's improved since it's been adopted as an official part of X11. I ended up using x2x which at least allows me to use a single keyboard and mouse over four screens (2x on each of 2x computers).

Hi,

Mark Morgan Lloyd wrote

I've looked at it in the past and found it woefully unreliable, but there's a chance that it's improved since it's been adopted as an official part of X11.

I can't really answer that, other than that I've used it for the last week with both systems running X Server v1.17.4 (though the one system did run v1.14.3 up until yesterday), and it hasn't given me any problems thus far.

I ended up using x2x which at least allows me to use a single keyboard and mouse over four screens.

I don't know x2x - how is that different to Xdmx?

With Xdmx you can combine up to 16 computers, and where you designate a single "master" computer. The "master" is where I sit with a keyboard and mouse. My usable desktop (thanks to xinerama) is the combination of all screen resolutions put together. I can also arrange the screens in any configuration.

eg:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4

or

1 - 2
3 - 4

etc.
The IBM link I listed in my previous email has some screenshots of various screen layouts.

From what you describe, x2x seems to do similar, but maybe uses a

different network protocol or something? Tonight I'll try and read up on x2x too.

Regards,
Graeme

x2x is specifically for controlling multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse. As such windows are limited to the size dictated by the screen (taking into account Xinerama etc.), you can't drag-and-drop screens between machines, no cut-and-paste between machines and so on.

Continuing the overall desktop and remote-access theme, I'd add that anybody using VNC could usefully look at whatever their desktop provides rather than the standard VNC client, I've found krdc to be significantly more reliable and capable than xvnc4viewer. Similarly anybody using Xnest could usefully look at Xephyr as an alternative... again this uses the same protocol but is a more up-to-date implementation.

Hi,

Mark Morgan Lloyd wrote

x2x is specifically for controlling multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse. As such windows are limited to the size dictated by the screen

Ah, okay that is similar to VNC or RDP then. Very different to what Xdmx does - combining monitors from multiple running computers and making one large desktop controlled by a single computer. Xdmx is as if you plugged multiple monitors into a single PC.

Regards,
Graeme

[Sigh] No it is not the same.