On Thu, 16 May 1996, Craig Sanders wrote: > i don't use xdm at the moment, just startx. > > Is it possible to get xdm to put a login prompt on more than one vc? > > e.g. have xdm login screens on vc 3,4,5,6 > > so i can login on vc3 but let other people share my machine in X windows > without having to log out...just press ctrl-alt-F4 to switch to another X > login screen.
Yes, it's possible. Bear in mind that it will be necessary to run an X server for each VC, which will take a lot of memory. Technically you can do it by adding extra lines to /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers. The default line says: :0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X You can add more lines, of the form: :1 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X :1 :2 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X :2 etc. There may be a race condition involved in starting lots of X servers simultaneously - I haven't checked yet. If this turns out to be the case, you may be better off starting xdm without any X servers, and then starting up the X servers at a later point in the boot sequence. You can tell an X server to ask xdm for a login window using the -query command line option. For instance, to start an X server with display number 1: /usr/X11R6/bin/X :1 -query hostname If you have set up your XF86Config file correctly, and your graphics card supports it, you can have X servers with different colour depths running as well. For instance: /usr/X11R6/bin/X :3 -bpp 16 -query hostname ...would try to start up a 16bpp X server on display number 3. NB display numbers are NOT VC numbers; when you start an X server it will grab the first free VT. For more details, see the Xserver(1x) manpage. Steve Early [EMAIL PROTECTED]