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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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What is the state of Multiseat in Linux today? (self.linux)

submitted 7 months ago by Eric_Pollock to c/[email protected]

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I currently have a PC running Windows 11 that my S/O and I use multi-seated with Aster Multiseat. However, we're both equally sick of Windows and are interested in switching to Linux.

However, all the information that I can find on multiseat in Linux are forum posts and unfinished wiki entries for Ubuntu and Fedora, and they all seem to be from around 2008-2012.

We're about to upgrade our PC to support two RTX 3060s and a Ryzen 9 (of course, including the usual two monitors and sets of peripherals).

Can Linux (preferably Fedora, as it's my favorite distro so far) easily support multiseating?

Will there be any performance issues using this method?

Is it possible to isolate applications per user? (Aster Multiseat doesn't do this, so sometimes an application can detect another instance on the other user and refuses to start...)

Thanks in advance.

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 7 months ago (1 children)

By multiseat, do you mean allowing two people to use your Linux PC at the same time, using a separate monitor and keyboard/mouse, as of they're on a separate computer? You can do this without installing additional software, though you must configure the seat from command line:

https://wiki.debian.org/Multi_Seat_Debian_HOWTO
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/xorg_multiseat
Wayland seems to support multiseat but I can't seem to find any documentation or tutorial save for an article on phoronix: https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTM4MzA

Is it possible to isolate applications per user?

Each user with have their own login session, so ther application processes should be separate from each other.

[–] INeedMana 19 points 7 months ago

Regarding Wayland, looking at this it seems that it might be pretty straightforward but then for example sway seems to be defining seats a little bit different. So it might require some tinkering in the end, depending which compositor you decide to use.
Loginctl seems to be X/Wayland independent and useful in both.

From what I've found it seems that there are more questions on the internet regarding something not working well in multi-seat or needing a patch for that, than how to set the multi-seat up. Situations like this usually mean that setting this thing up is quite straightforward. It might also be a niche, though