[svlug] X Sessions

[Erik Steffl]

On 11/13/2014 03:01 PM, Scott DuBois wrote:
> So if I have a full DE running on tty7 (default start up) and I switch
> to tty1, log in, and execute: $ startx -- :1, I get nothing because
> there is already a session running under those credentials?

   default is usually :0 so :1 should work

   you can also try to just run X server directly (will not load all the 
goodies but easier to troubleshoot),

   this should work:

   X :1

   on Ubuntu (didn't customize X or which vt is used etc.) this run X 
server on vt8.

   If you run X :1 on vt1 one the:

   - vt1 shows X output

   - on some other vt (or terminal window (e.g. xterm) in :0)) you can 
run e.g. xterm -display :1

   - on vt8 (possibly other, depends on configuration) you should see X 
:1 server, program that you ran in previous step (no window manager though)

> Basically I tried this twice and just got a blank screen and a locked-up
> tty1 session. I Googled around and found people applying various
> techniques but nothing that addressed this directly.

   blank screen is correct, I don't see cursor until I start xterm or 
something (not sure why, in the past the cursor was there, I guess 
initial pointer is no pointer now?)

   locked up tty1 - what does this mean? do you see output from X? Any 
error messages?

   if you switch to working vt, can you run xterm -display :1 and see 
what happens? Then :1 (likely on vt8 but could be a different one) 
should show xterm (no window decorations if you just started plain X)

   Some drivers and or configurations might not support multiple X 
servers, I encountered that in the past, check the documentation for the 
driver you are using.

	erik