3D Multiseat in Ubuntu 8.04

[akore]

I just built an e8400, ati hd4850, 4gb ddr2-800, computer. I'm looking at installing ubuntu, and am wondering if I could set up a multiseat. I would link the second station about 14 feet away in an adjacent room, primary for graphics work. However, I want full 3D acceleration on both stations so we can play games at both stations. I've read many guides, but all seems to lack 3d optimization. Multiseat is so beneficial and impacting, it's amazes me that it isn't part of ubuntu.

Thanks in advance for the replies.

 

[amdfangirl]

Sorry, multi-seating is normally used for not as demanding applications, as such applications involving 3D graphics normally don't split performance well...

Not many people like to spilt the graphics power and, due to inefficiencies do not perform anywhere as well. Multi-seating is mainly for non-computer intensive applications such as surfing the net. In the future, when hardware outpaces software significantly we many see this... check again in a few years...

 

[audiovoodoo]

Setting up LTSP is now VERY easy:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPQuickInstall

However as our resident forum sprite points out you're out of luck on the 3D. That having been said I used to have lots of fun playing bomber man with 10 other guys in the office using an old Sun rig that we had set up for remote X sessions.

 

[akore]

Would there still be 3D acceleration? I just want to know if it can be done, so I can still use compiz-fusion on both computers. Also, if just one of them is playing the game and the other station isnt logged in, would performance be the same as one computer? I won't play video games on the computer, but will be doing 3d work in blender, using gimp, illustrator, etc, with my wacom tablet (with multiseat I could use that, right?) I didn't necessarily mean at the same time. How much slower would it be if both people were using blender?

THanks for the quick replies.

 

[amdfangirl]

I'm not sure about playing games but 3D work in 2D non-gaming applications should work well as long as you don't encode alot or etc. Performance of the E8400 would be divided and shared among two users. Depending on what they do with the proportion of processing speed effects how well it will perform for you.

Normally in this kind of setup, it only costs 2-10% of your CPU clock cycles depending on your hardware. The rest is shared between the two users. If one uses an extremely resource-hungry multi-threaded application, expect the other to slow down rapidly. Something as powerful as an encoder at the same time... would make each terminal literally as fast as a Core 2 Solo running at 2.9Ghz (remeber the toll)...

I'm not familiar with Blender, you should monitor your application CPU usage as I really have no figures to run by =(

However if you simply use something like Painter X or Illustrator I doubt you will see many problems. =)

 

[akore]

I just tried ubuntu, but it seems to have a lot of apps that I don't need. Is there anyway to get rid of them? What other distros are there that rival ubuntu?

 

[amdfangirl]

There should be something called "add and remove programs" somewhere but I haven't used Linux in quite some time. I'm sure one of the Forum users such as Linux_0 will provide you the the uninstall terminal solution. Apart from Ubuntu there are many other distros. Just check the Linux forum sticky thread on this =)

 

[Pyroflea]

With Linux, it's just preference. Fedora and Ubuntu are usually the most popular, so go try Fedora out.

 

[amdfangirl]

^ There are many different distros but they all work alike. Only minor differences in code can be detect. There are few GUIs for Linux anyway so they all feel the same. Just slight differences in pre-installed software =P.

Also, are you familiar with WINE, as that is the most common way of running windows apps in Linux?

You should know a little about terminal before you step into the world of Linux =)

 

[akore]

no idea what terminal is, and I know that with wine you can run most windows apps. I also need support for my wacom intuos 3 tablet, will all distros be alike in that aspect? Are there any that offer default, full support?

Thanks

 

[amdfangirl]

Terminal is similar to DOS prompt and other text based consoles =)

It is the Linux/Unix implementation of it...

something like

 sudo root

In fact some DOS prompt actually work on it =P

I'm sure Linux_0 can help you out... I'm not expert at it =)

I have a Wacom Graphire 4 and its not supported by default but

Clicky: http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/

Most problems can be solved in Linux by a simple google search

Happy Linux =)

 

[darion]

I did it with debian. See http://www.automation.dn.ua/linux/3d-multiseat_en.html

 

[audiovoodoo]

Now that's neat.

 

[linux_0]

Very neat indeed

 

[akore]

Would that guide also work in ubuntu? How could I integrate wacom tablet into that?

 

[darion]

Ubuntu is Debian based system so may be yes. I don't have wacom tablet, sorry.

 

[amdfangirl]

Would that guide also work in ubuntu? How could I integrate wacom tablet into that?

If it doesn't I'm sure you can use Debian. Also I would think that you install in the normal way. Wacom tablets aren't installed by default, but still work but in the way of a mouse.

 

[darion]

This article concerns only videocards NVIdia. With other cards it
is necessary to use others of the driver, therefore it is necessary to
try.

 

[bmouring]

Running multiple X servers on multiple cards is nothing new, as a matter of fact nVidia cards with proprietary drivers support "halving" dual display cards, essentially allowing 1 card to serve the same purpose (requires some setup in xorg.conf). That said, excellent writeup darion. To those asking, quite literally speaking, anything that's possible on one distro is possible with varying degrees of modification/extra work on any other distro. Usually it's just a matter of changing references to package managers to fit your need (replace "apt-get" with "yum" or "emerge" or "ports" or "package") and perhaps some changes due to differing autostarting layouts (sys V? upstart?) or filesystem organization.

 

[darion]

Multiseat is old idea.

The goal of 3D Multiseat: to provide independent work 2-4 users without restriction in the use of 3D acceleration.

 

[bmouring]

I understood the point you were making, it's still not a new idea, however I meant no slight against you, simply wished to state a fact and thank you for a well-written guide. Furthermore, after looking into the matter more thoroughly I see that the nvidia-provided "halving" only supports openGL acceleration one one screen (at least at a time), so my information wasn't 100% correct, my appologies.