multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

[wehde]

im trying to create a multi-seat setup with my desktop and my tv so i can run boxee on one x server and run my normal desktop on the other. I want to use a generic remote for boxee that just acts like a keyboard and mouse.

im running ubuntu 11.04 and i've created an xorg.conf with 2 layouts (one for the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and layout for the pc; and one for the tv)

when i restart x i get both displays to work fine but i can move my cursor from the computer screen to the tv and it acts like a twinview setup. Also my it only displays one cursor for both servers.

im running a nvidia geforce 9800 pci xpress with a custom quadcore desktop.
my tv is plugged into the composite line out on the back of my card.

ive tried editing the /etc/kde4/kdmrc file to match my xorg.conf
also i am noticing the picture "tearing" when i type in a terminal.

[oshunluvr]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

I'm about 90% sure with only one video card you won't be able to run true multi-seat successfully.

Seems you could force Boxee output to the tv-out and lock the remote to the boxee interface though.

"Locking" the mouse to screen 0 can be done be positioning the screens on top of each other;

Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" 0 0

Then the mouse won't leave screen 0.

You can disable mulithead by editing kcmdisplayrc and adding the line;

[X11]
disableMultihead=true

This should prevent apps from opening on the TV. Alternately, configuring the xserver in xorg.conf with clone and xinerama off should do that too.

Then you'd have to figure out how to program the remote to only boxee commands and get boxee on monitor two.

[wehde]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

thanks oshunluvr.

that helps a lot for getting me in the right direction.

does wmctrl bind keyboard to a specific window or screen?
the remote i use is the actual boxee remote so it just runs via bluetooth and the computer just reads its signals as regular keyboard strokes.
Is there a way to use xorg.conf to bind the boxee remote to screen 1? or do i need some sort of third party program to steal the keystrokes and pass them along to boxee?
also if i do set up screen 1 on top of screen 0 and disable multihead will any keystrokes from the boxee remote steal the focus from the main keyboard?
i'd like to run boxee on my tv and play pc games simultaneously.

maybe i would be better off just adding another graphics card and making multi seat work....or do you think that would cause issues running games on one seat and boxee on another? I used Xephyr to open a nested x server and run boxee inside that xnested server but it runs very slow...so i would guess that xnest doesn't support direct rendering or opengl....would multiseat run this same way or would both run smoothly?

thanks again for the help

[oshunluvr]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

Xephyr has never been very smooth and you're correct, it doesn't support opengl.

If the boxee remote can be re-configured to direct it's commands via keybindings you should be able to point it at boxee, but I don't have one so I'm not sure that I could help.

Multi-seat would be easier, but don't quit yet. This isn't a typical topic for this forum. I think you might get more information over at MythTv forums.

[wehde]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

i might have to ask over at the myth tv forums about this.
i might just have to dust off an old graphics card to try out multi seat.

i did a little more research on using dual keyboards and pointers on a single desktop and i came across xinput. i used xinput list to display my devices and then i used xinput create-master {New}. then i used xinput reattach x x and i reattached my d-link remote to its own core pointer.....now my problem is that i dont have a mouse for the pointer so it doesn't want to bring focus to boxee...and then the pointer becomes very glitchy, which i think has something to do with the kde desktop because i believe dual core inputs was created for a multi touch like system which was under development by a desktop environment called mpx.

i dont think mpx is what i'm looking for but i think there might be something along those lines....

i'm about ready to just go out and buy a boxee box for 180 bucks or just build another desktop for just my living room tv

thanks for the help again.

[wehde]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

i figured out a temperary solution. i set up windows xp inside virtualbox and then set my xorg.conf to run 2 seperate x screens with xinerama enabled. then i loaded xp in safe mode and installed the guest additions. then i installed boxee inside xp. after all that i changed the virtualbox settings so it allows 3d acceleration and then set the usb section to take control of the boxee remote (since any usb that is mounted in a vm gets unmounted from the host). then i added my movies hard drive in the network section. to finish it off i ran the vm in seamless mode and then ran boxee and adjusted the overscan to work with my tv. after that i added my networked movies directory to boxee's directory.

this isn't a perment fix but it gets the job done for now. let me know if anyone has questions or comments and if anyone comes up with a better solution.

[dibl]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

Very creative! I dunno -- I'm not sure there's a downside to leaving that setup as the permanent configuration, is there?

[wehde]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

so far the only downside ive noticed is that on ocassion i will lose sound from the vm when im running graphics intensive fullscreen games. Thand and it sucks up a lot of your cpu.

the other thing i've noticed is that boxee likes more than 128mb of video memory and virtual box only runs 128 max. I did find on another thread that you can edit your .vbox file and push that to 256mb of video memory but then when you start boxee it still gives you that message that it wants more than 128mb. Either way if it isn't running the 256, boxee still runs just fine.

[oshunluvr]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

Cool solution. I think you can do natively what you want but it'll take more research.

I just too busy with work and my own projects right now to help further

[wehde]

Re: multi seat desktop and tv for boxee

k thanks for the help. ill continue to find a solution to do this natively because i dont like having to boot into another os just to run boxee....

[edit] i stumbled across a possible way to do this natively but i need some help.
you could use a program like keytouch or linEAK to change the bindings of the boxee remote and then change the keycode inputs to run remote server codes to boxee http://groups.google.com/group/comma...7d37e903cbe486

so i need some help writing a script or getting keytouch to change the binding of the remote to just send server commands to boxee...