Guest post by Peter Hutterer, Red Hat Xorg developer has posted the code for the first X Input 2 implementation. Peter is well known for his work on Multi Pointer X (MPX) and has more information on his blog. “XI2 is important for two reasons. One, it’s the client-side API that enables applications to make use of MPX. For obvious reasons, I have some interest in getting this done. The other part of XI2 (and why it is called XI2) is that it’s a new version of the X Input Extension. One of the goals here is a cleaned up API that is less painful to use than the first, current, version.” Phoronix has other details as well.
I looked at the Youtube presentation on MPX, and I think this is some cool stuff. Especially if used with a touch surface(tm)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MUOn_nJmRA
But what if you don’t want another person controlling your screen your programs?
Wouldn’t it be cool having one PC, but each user controlling their own account, both logged in at the same time?
Instead of remote X or terminal services it is all done locally.
eg.
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8526/dualheadpc.png
So in the end two people just sit in front of there LCD, log in to there account and get full graphics and application performance. Exactly the same performance as when you multitask.
The setup you refer to is called “Multiseat” and is not too difficult to setup. There are some links and info on it on <a href = “http://www.x.org/wiki/Development/Documentation/Multiseat“>this xorg wiki page.
Thanks. Didn’t know it existed.