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> Who actually has multi-user systems. Really has them. In other words, you personally don't use multi-user systems, and somehow you interpret that as no one h

> Who actually has multi-user systems. Really has them. In other words, you personally don't use multi-user systems, and somehow you interpret that as no one having the need for multi-user systems. Does that make any sense? Speaking for myself, if multiseat Linux boxes were more easy to setup, I would certainly use one of those as my family's primary desktop. Today's desktop systems are quite capable of taking a multi-user computational beating and breeze through any amount of browser windows opened. Thus, if buying a monitor and keyboard is all it takes to get another computer seat then why not?

Koshkin 7y ago
> a monitor and keyboard And a Raspberry Pi.
- undersuit 7y ago
  Nope, you plug multiple monitors and peripherals into the multiseat box. Terminal(emulator)s are only used over long distances.
- rumanator 7y ago
  Plugging in an underpowered and resource-starved raspberry pi doesn't give you the same user experience as plugging in a Ryzen7 with 32GB of RAM that you already paid for and have lying around and idling at 5%
  - Koshkin 7y ago
    I guess people have different ideas about what a thin terminal means.
    - rumanator 7y ago
      You're the one confusing a thin terminal with a multi-seat system. This thread is discussing multi-user and multi-seat systems and thin clients is a whole different beast.
      - MarkusWandel 7y ago
        Not really. A thin client is just another way to add a seat to a multiuser machine. Thin clients are just fine for a lot of real work (programming, office tasks). But for home use you need clean 1080p fullscreen video playback and none of the traditional thin clients can handle that.
geofft 7y ago
systemd supposedly has built-in plug-and-play multiseat support: http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/multi-seat.html http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/multi-seat.html Not sure I've heard of people using it, but I'm curious!
- MarkusWandel 7y ago
  I use it. It works. I lucked into a semi-obsolete high-end gamer machine with a 6-core i7 and 24GB of memory and three full-length PCI-Express slots. I leave my machine on. The standby power of this monster (850W power supply) was too high to justify. So I tried it. Three video cards in the three slots. Came right up, the Linux desktop extended seamlessly across any monitor plugged into any of the cards (a mix of AMD and Nvidia no less). Enter multi-seat. A few "sticky" commands later (i.e. only needed for reconfiguration, not on every boot) I have three user stations, each with monitor, keyboard, mouse, audio and at least one dedicated USB socket. Works a treat. It's not 100% bulletproof; crashes to the point of needing a reboot maybe 2-3 times a year, but aside from that indistinguishable from dedicated computers for each screen. Stock Fedora 28. Here's the sum total of commands needed to set up the multiseat in my setup (seat 0 gets everything not assigned to the others). loginctl attach seat1 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:09.0/0000:05:00.0/drm/card0 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:09.0/0000:05:00.0/graphics/fb0 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-5 loginctl attach seat2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0/0000:04:00.0/drm/card2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0/0000:04:00.0/graphics/fb2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-3 loginctl attach seat2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-4/1-4.1/1-4.1.4/1-4.1.4:1.2/0003:046D:C52B.00A3/0003:046D:4004.00A4/input/input194 loginctl attach seat2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-4/1-4.4/1-4.4:1.0/0003:045E:00B9.00A5/input/input195 I hope this functionality doesn't turn into abandonware before I'm done with this monster machine i.e. it breaks or becomes too obsolete. I did in the past try to set up multiseat, just for fun, with a Displaylink box, after reading the article about it, but got nowhere, with the distinct feeling that they got it working once, and then abandoned it.
  - MarkusWandel 7y ago
    A few more details. One thing that doesn't work very well is storage devices. For one thing, as soon as one appears, the (non-multiseat aware) file managers all jump on it and try to mount it. And two of the three get a password prompt because they don't own the USB socket, and tie up the device so the one that does can't mount it. Solution: Turn off automount, and only use storage devices from seat 0. You run into occasional other "more than one user per computer" issues. For example, trying to access the same UDP RTSP camera from VLC on two different desktops. And the three desktops do get actively used by three differerent family members. Linux on the desktop for non-geeks/kids? Nobody cares. As long as the browser works with full video capability (smooth 1080p Youtube) and, in the child's case, the Tuxpaint painting program, everybody happy.
knorker 7y ago
> In other words, you personally don't use multi-user systems, and somehow you interpret that as no one having the need for multi-user systems. Does that make any sense? No need for personal attacks. I note that you opted to ridicule instead of answering, which I find unnecessary.

Koshkin 7y ago

> a monitor and keyboard And a Raspberry Pi.

undersuit 7y ago
Nope, you plug multiple monitors and peripherals into the multiseat box. Terminal(emulator)s are only used over long distances.
rumanator 7y ago
Plugging in an underpowered and resource-starved raspberry pi doesn't give you the same user experience as plugging in a Ryzen7 with 32GB of RAM that you already paid for and have lying around and idling at 5%
- Koshkin 7y ago
  I guess people have different ideas about what a thin terminal means.
  - rumanator 7y ago
    You're the one confusing a thin terminal with a multi-seat system. This thread is discussing multi-user and multi-seat systems and thin clients is a whole different beast.
    - MarkusWandel 7y ago
      Not really. A thin client is just another way to add a seat to a multiuser machine. Thin clients are just fine for a lot of real work (programming, office tasks). But for home use you need clean 1080p fullscreen video playback and none of the traditional thin clients can handle that.

geofft 7y ago

systemd supposedly has built-in plug-and-play multiseat support: http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/multi-seat.html http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/multi-seat.html Not sure I've heard of people using it, but I'm curious!

MarkusWandel 7y ago
I use it. It works. I lucked into a semi-obsolete high-end gamer machine with a 6-core i7 and 24GB of memory and three full-length PCI-Express slots. I leave my machine on. The standby power of this monster (850W power supply) was too high to justify. So I tried it. Three video cards in the three slots. Came right up, the Linux desktop extended seamlessly across any monitor plugged into any of the cards (a mix of AMD and Nvidia no less). Enter multi-seat. A few "sticky" commands later (i.e. only needed for reconfiguration, not on every boot) I have three user stations, each with monitor, keyboard, mouse, audio and at least one dedicated USB socket. Works a treat. It's not 100% bulletproof; crashes to the point of needing a reboot maybe 2-3 times a year, but aside from that indistinguishable from dedicated computers for each screen. Stock Fedora 28. Here's the sum total of commands needed to set up the multiseat in my setup (seat 0 gets everything not assigned to the others). loginctl attach seat1 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:09.0/0000:05:00.0/drm/card0 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:09.0/0000:05:00.0/graphics/fb0 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-5 loginctl attach seat2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0/0000:04:00.0/drm/card2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0/0000:04:00.0/graphics/fb2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-3 loginctl attach seat2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-4/1-4.1/1-4.1.4/1-4.1.4:1.2/0003:046D:C52B.00A3/0003:046D:4004.00A4/input/input194 loginctl attach seat2 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-4/1-4.4/1-4.4:1.0/0003:045E:00B9.00A5/input/input195 I hope this functionality doesn't turn into abandonware before I'm done with this monster machine i.e. it breaks or becomes too obsolete. I did in the past try to set up multiseat, just for fun, with a Displaylink box, after reading the article about it, but got nowhere, with the distinct feeling that they got it working once, and then abandoned it.
- MarkusWandel 7y ago
  A few more details. One thing that doesn't work very well is storage devices. For one thing, as soon as one appears, the (non-multiseat aware) file managers all jump on it and try to mount it. And two of the three get a password prompt because they don't own the USB socket, and tie up the device so the one that does can't mount it. Solution: Turn off automount, and only use storage devices from seat 0. You run into occasional other "more than one user per computer" issues. For example, trying to access the same UDP RTSP camera from VLC on two different desktops. And the three desktops do get actively used by three differerent family members. Linux on the desktop for non-geeks/kids? Nobody cares. As long as the browser works with full video capability (smooth 1080p Youtube) and, in the child's case, the Tuxpaint painting program, everybody happy.

knorker 7y ago

> In other words, you personally don't use multi-user systems, and somehow you interpret that as no one having the need for multi-user systems. Does that make any sense? No need for personal attacks. I note that you opted to ridicule instead of answering, which I find unnecessary.