To make sure there’s no confusion, I’m NOT talking about multiple monitors. The idea behind this article is that we’ll have multiple desktop environments running on the same computer at the same time, and we’ll be using keyboard shortcuts to switch between them.

For anyone who’s not sure what I mean when I talk about “X”, that’s the shorthand name for the X Window System. Most modern distributions use X.org to handle all their graphical needs. Basically, any time you’re seeing graphics (not just plain text), you’re probably looking at X. It manages the display for Linux and controls what’s on your screen and how it’s handled.

Virtual terminals

X keeps track of things by screens or displays. Right now, if you’re reading this article in Linux, you’re probably on the default screen number 0. You can access the different screens with key combinations. To try it out right now, try hitting Alt+Ctrl+F1. That’ll take you to your first console screen. To get back to the graphical screen, hit Alt+Ctrl+F7. Many people use this as a way to drop to a fullscreen terminal without having to close X.

At this point, you may be thinking “Why F1 and F7?”. Well I’m glad you asked, even though you didn’t really ask. When holding Alt+Ctrl, keys F1 through F6 are your console screens. They’re commonly called virtual terminals. Each one has a separate instance of the console running on it, and you can flip back and forth between them using Alt+Ctrl+(F1 through F6).

Once you get past F6, you’re in X’s territory. Much like the virtual terminals, each screen starting with F7 is a separate instance of X, which can have its own programs running, independent of the other screens. So what we’re going to do now is set things up to launch your other desktop environment in the next screen over.

Setting up the second screen

For starters, we’ll want to install whatever window manager or desktop environment you’d like to have running on your second display. In a move that will surprise no one, I’ll recommend Window Maker. For the remainder of this article, I’ll assume that you’re running Ubuntu in the default configuration and that the desktop environment you want to use is Window Maker.

Once you’ve installed Window Maker (or whatever other desktop you’d prefer) the first thing we need to do is open/create the file .xinitrc in your home. When X is launched from the command line, it reads this file to decide what needs to be run when X starts. So open or create the file .xinitrc in your home directory, and add the line:

exec wmaker

and save.

Running the second desktop

Now we’re at the main event. Open your command prompt and enter:

startx -- :1

That will tell X to start and to use display number 1 (instead of the default of 0 which you’re probably using as your main desktop). If all went well, you’ll find yourself looking at the default (and kinda ugly) base Window Maker desktop. To switch back to your main desktop, use Alt+Ctrl+F7. Back to Window Maker is Alt+Ctrl+F8. If things didn’t go so well, see the Troubleshooting section below.

Alt + Ctrl + F7 = Gnome desktop

Alt + Ctrl + F8 = Window Maker desktop

Troubleshooting

X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.
This one is a config issue, and one that’s easily remedied. Open the following file as root:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config

Change

allowed_users=console

to

allowed_users=anybody

I can’t claim to know enough about X’s programming to be able to make any educated statements about potential security problems this may or may not present, but it fixes the problem.

X: client 1 rejected from local host
Another simple fix, just delete any files in your home directory that has a filename starting with .Xauthority

You can repeat this process to add any other desktop environments you may happen to want, just change the 1 in

startx -- :1

to 2, 3, etc. There are plenty of function keys left!

Installation and setup

Before you begin you need to make sure that SSH client and server are installed on the correct computers. The host computer that will have the actual running applications needs to have SSH server running. On Ubuntu, it is not installed by default. Look for the packaged called “openssh-server” and install it. On the client computer, you will need “openssh-client“.

The other important preliminary step is to make sure both computers are connected to a network and that you can reach them via SSH. If the computers are in the same building, it will be easy. If not, you might have to configure the host computer to receive SSH connections through the firewall. See your router’s documentation for the correct method of port forwarding.

Connecting

1. Open a terminal emulator: Gnome terminal, Konsole or something similar.

2. Now connect to the host computer. As an example, if the host IP address is 192.168.254.76 and the host username is “bobolina”, you would type the following:

ssh -X -lbobolina 192.168.254.76

This tells SSH to forward the X server calls to the client computer.

3. At the password prompt, enter the password.

4. Run the application. For example, if you want to run Kwrite, just type the command:

dbus-launch kwrite &

(Note: you will need to have “dbus-launch” before KDE 4 applications. Other applications that do not require D-Bus should work without it).

Other Considerations

That is all it takes.  You should now be able to run remote X applications at will. This can be very helpful if, for example, you are running a computer with a very small hard drive, no hard drive at all or even one without a CD-ROM drive, all of which are common with many netbooks and low-cost mini desktops.

To automate this process, you could setup SSH public keys to connect without passwords and write an executable script. Also, if you need a full X session forwarded, you can use NX technology, available with the commercial NoMachine NX or with FreeNX (a free and open source alternative).

As with any network solution, security is always a concern. Using SSH provides a secure connection, but it does little good if your password is easy to guess and your firewall allows anyone to gain access to it. Once you have a secure plan in place, remote X forwarding is an excellent way load remote applications on demand and manage remote machines. The possibilities are only as limited to your imagination and the speed of your network connection. Experiment with different techniques, and let us know what you discover.

Dual monitor setup in Linux has never been easier. While methods such as the xinerama extension sometimes drive people insane, using RandR (Resize and Rotate) is quick and painless. This will allow you to use both monitors as one big screen instead of two identical ones (cloning). Follow these simple steps to get started.

Note: This HOWTO assumes that you are using the opensource drivers for your video card (ATI or Intel). Nvidia and AMD proprietary drivers come with their dual screen components.

1. Setup your xorg.conf configuration file:

Edit it as root:

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

(in GNOME) or

kdesudo kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf

(in KDE)

2. Create a subsection under the “Screen” section with the following.

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1440x900" "1440x900" #the resolutions of your monitors
Virtual 2880 800
EndSubSection

Xrandr will function without these xorg.conf lines, but it will limit the size of your desktop.

For my computer, I am using two monitors with 1440×900 resolution. If you have a different resolution, put those resolutions under “modes” and then combine the width of both for “virtual”. In other words, if you have a 1280×800 monitor, it would be “Virtual 2560 800″.

3. Save your changes, exit and restart X.

4. Now, you can setup your dual screens however you like. First find out some information about the screens. Open a terminal emulator and type:

xrandr -q

It should tell you the name of each screen and its current resolution. On my computer, my screens are “DVI-0″ and “DVI-1″.

5. To make one large desktop including both screens, run this command:

xrandr --auto --output DVI-0 --mode 1440x900 --right-of DVI-1

DVI-0 is on the right, and DVI-1 is on the left.

6. Create a script called “startxrandr” to run this command whenever you want.

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --auto --output DVI-0 --mode 1440x900 --right-of DVI-1

7. Make sure to make the script executable

chmod a+x startxrandr

That is all it takes. You can play around with it and see all of xrandr’s commands by running “xrandr -help”.

Notes:

There are also a few GUI applications that allow you to control xrandr.  Check with your Linux distribution.

You can set xrandr to run when your display manager or desktop environment starts. See the its documentation for startup applications.

KDE and GNOME will automatically configure two screens correctly so that maximizing a window will only fill one of the screens. Some desktop environments do not yet have support for this. You will have to test the one you use. You should have no problems with Compiz.

You can have two monitors with different resolutions, which is useful if you are using a laptop connected to a larger monitor.

In KDE, each screen will automatically be a different activity, and you can apply different widgets on each.

Some applications, especially those that rely on SDL (like many Linux games), may not honor your xrandr settings. If you are lucky, it will just clone the game on both screens. For applications like Boxee, you will need to set the environment variable before starting it:

export SDL_VIDEO_FULLSCREEN_HEAD=1

It’s elegant, functional, flexible, and FAST!  For those who like screenshots, this link is a Google Image search for Window Maker.

Window Maker was originally developed as a clone of the NeXTstep desktop, an ancestor of OSX.  NeXTstep was considered one of the most productive and innovative desktop environments of its time, and Window Maker has extended this legacy to modern hardware and software platforms.

Enough with the history, let’s get down to business.  For starters, you’ll want to get Window Maker installed.  Depending on your choice of Linux distribution, these first few steps can vary somewhat.  For the sake of this article, I’ll assume you’re running Ubuntu or another Debian derivative.

In any Debian derivative, you can fetch it with:

sudo apt-get install wmaker

Once installed, you can load it up by logging out of your current desktop environment back to the GDM login screen.  Go to the Sessions menu and choose Window Maker, then log in normally.  Those who don’t use a graphical login like GDM can place

exec wmaker

in the file .xinitrc in their home directory.  The default settings for Window Maker aren’t too impressive, but that’s OK, it’ll be pretty slick by the time we’re done here.

Dock and Dockapps

By default, the dock can be found in the upper right corner of the screen and probably looks something like this:

As I mentioned above, this dock was based on the NeXTstep dock, which was a direct ancestor of OSX.  Window Maker’s dock offers similar functionality, as a place to launch applications.  The real beauty of the Window Maker version, however is that it can be a home for a whole range of mini-applications called, not surprisingly, dockapps.  There are hundreds of dockapps available at http://dockapps.org/, but I’ll focus on a few of my favorites that can all be found in Debian (and probably Ubuntu) standard repositories.  The dockapps I suggest are:

• wmfire – a CPU monitor.  The more CPU is in use, the higher the flames
• Mixer.app – a volume adjustment app
• wmxmms2 – XMMS controls all packed into one little square
• wmclockmon – every desktop needs a clock
• wmmemload – a memory usage monitor
• wmnd – a network monitor

To install, just enter into the command line:

sudo apt-get install wmfire mixer.app wmxmms2 wmclockmon wmmemload wmnd

Any time you run a program in Window Maker, it creates an icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen. It’s kinda like the Windows taskbar, or the window list in Gnome. When you run a dockapp, like say wmfire, the app will start down there in that corner. To place it on your dock, simply drag it from the bottom left, to the top right and place it in the dock.  I should mention that many dockapps can be hard to drag, because you’ve often go to drag the very edge of the app, which is sometimes only a few pixels wide.

Do this with each of the dockapps we installed.  Once they’re all in place, your dock should look something like this:

To set a dockapp to launch every time Window Maker starts, right-click the border of the dockapp, hit Settings, and choose “Start when Window Maker is started“.

Multiple Desktop Setup

Every window manager in Linux supports multiple desktops, which Window Maker calls “Workspaces”, but some add extremely useful features when it comes to working with them.  Window Maker provides a few of those extra features, and two in particular are especially useful:

• the ability to scroll through workspaces with the mouse wheel, and
• the ability to assign certain apps to always open in certain workspaces.

Personally I use between 5 and 8, depending on the purpose of the machine.  On my home PC where I spend the most time, I have 7, each with a specific purpose.

Your default Window Maker setup starts with just one workspace.  To add more, right-click anywhere on the wallpaper (this is how you bring up the menu), choose “Workspaces”, then “New”.  This will create a second “page” to your desktop.  Go ahead and create as many workspaces as you like.  As I mentioned above, I usually use about 7 but that’s probably more than a lot of people would need.  The simplest, though slowest way to switch between those workspaces is by clicking the arrows on the clip icon in the top-left corner. That will flip you back and forth between the workspaces.

The better way to handle that flipping is by using the scroll wheel on your mouse.  Window Maker doesn’t set this option by default, so we’ll do it manually.  To do that, open the Window Maker preferences tool (third icon on your dock, the one with the screwdriver).  Scroll over to the right until you see the mouse icon, and set Mouse Wheel to Switch Workspace.

Click Save, and try it out.  Move the mouse over any part of your wallpaper, and scroll the wheel.  It should flip between your workspaces.

For now, to finish setting up the workspaces, all we’ve got to do is name them.  Click the arrow on the clip to go all the way down, to the Main workspace.  Right click the clip, and choose Rename Workspace.  Personally, I use the first desktop for my web browsers, so I’d name that workspace Browsers.  You can do this on each workspace to name what you want to use it for.  Here’s how I usually have mine set up:

#1 – Browsers
#2 – Terminals
#3 – Text Editors
#4 – Chat/P2P
#5 – File Management
#6 – Media
#7 – Misc

So now we’ve got all our workspaces set up, each with a specific purpose, and we’re able to scroll between them with the mouse wheel.  There’s only one thing left, and it’s one of the great things that Window Maker provides: the ability to assign certain apps to always open on the right desktop.

Let’s start with the web browser.  I’ll assume you’re using a similar setup to mine, with the first workspace being assigned to browsers.  Open up Firefox (or whatever other browser you like to use).  Right-click the titlebar at the top of the screen and choose “Attributes”.

Now you’ve got a window allowing you to check various preferences.  In the dropdown menu at the top, choose Icon and initial Workspace.  At the bottom of that page you can choose which workspace that program will start in when launched.  You’d be amazed how useful this can be when you’ve got a lot of things running.  With a flick of the mouse wheel you can move to whichever desktop your desired program is running on and know it’ll always be there.

Visual Style

Finally, to make our new Window Maker desktop complete, we’ve got to set themes/colors/icons.  Let’s start with a basic pre-packaged theme and work from there.  You can choose your theme or color scheme from the Window Maker menu.  As always, you can open that by right-clicking your desktop.  Choose Appearance > Themes or Appearance > Styles to choose a color scheme.  I recommend the color style Interlace as a great place to start designing your desktop.

Backgrounds can also be set by placing the desired image in ~/GNUstep/Library/WindowMaker/Backgrounds/ and choosing the image from Appearance > Background > Images.

Now that you’ve got your dockapps, desktops, and theme set up, your desktop probably looks something like this:

Visually, there’s plenty more tweaking that can be done, but the purpose of this article was to cover the functionality, configuring the aspects of Window Maker that make it so amazingly useful and productive.  If you’ve gone through this tutorial, you now have a functional desktop with multiple workspaces, each with a special purpose.  You’ve got an easy way to manage those desktops (mouse wheel), dockapps to control and monitor your machine, and a nice looking interface to top it all off. 

For those who are still interested in tweaking every other part of Window Maker, I highly recommend you flip through the WPrefs utility in your dock and see some of the other options. 

For now, you should be well on your way.

Do you use Window Maker? What is the best thing that you love about Window Maker?