Question/Proposal for multiple X-Servers with multiple Graphic cards and input devices

[Adam Jackson]

On Thu, 2007-12-06 at 17:13 +0100, Ralf Schneider wrote:

> QUESTION / PROPOSAL::
> =====================
> 
> Why is it ( is it ? ) neccessary to assign a vt to a X server ? 

Because, in the classic model, that's how input is routed.  All
keyboards are bound to the vt's tty device; input is routed from them to
whichever vt is in the foreground.

If you use the evdev driver, you can assign single keyboards and mice to
individual servers.

> Would it be possible to run one X server in the usual way on 
> (e.g.) vt 21  WITH vt switching enabled to have access to the
> text/framebuffer consoles
> AND
> simultaniously multiple additional x servers on onther vt without vt
> switching so that those users can alwayws work without being interfered
> by the 'Admin' user ?

Yes, we have that.  That's what the -novtswitch option to the X server
does.

The issue you will run into is that some cards require the legacy VGA
resources to be routed to them at various times, and the VGA routing
code we currently have is only sufficient for multiple cards within one
server.  If you have multiple servers that each need the VGA space, they
both will think they own the VGA routing at all times, and eventually
you'll crash.

See Tiago Vignatti's work on the VGA arbiter for work on solving this
problem:

http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg/2007-November/030420.html

- ajax
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