[Gllug] Multiple X servers

[Stuart Children]

On Mon, Dec 30, 2002 at 02:10:26PM +0000, Peter Childs wrote:
> 	Cable. Unless all your machines happens to be sitting on the same 
> desk your going to need loads of Cable. (Monitor + USB I guess) Your also 
> going to need to have some code that associates monitors, mice and 
> keyboards together so the computer knows keyboard a mouse a and screen a 
> are all together.

Another plus for USB input devices: you don't have to plug every single 
one into the backplate of the machine. Some USB keyboards (all the recent 
Mac ones I've seen especially) have USB sockets within them so you can 
plug your USB mouse into the keyboard and only have one wire go back to 
the case. Some monitors also have USB hubs built into them. [1] It's 
really neat - you only have one cable running down the back of
your desk and it really helps when you need to move stuff around. Useful 
for anyone, but I'm sure a huge bonus for environments where you've got to 
manage a large number of workstations (companies, schools, internet cafes, 
etc). I've not seen that many places take advantage of it, but perhaps 
that will change with newer PCs being "all USB" as standard (and older 
OS versions that don't support USB being phased out).

Most recent motherboards will have two USB sockets in the backplate - and 
some (a lot?) also have extra sockets on the motherboard which can be 
wired up via a plate in one of the device slots. So you've got four points 
going out - one to each "station" where you attach it to a USB hub (either 
inside keyb/monitor, or a standalone one), and all the local devices plug 
into that. Or if it's more suitable just one USB out of the machine into a 
main hub. I suspect the former would be more suitable though.

[1] My soundcard (a Hercules GameTheatre XP) has a "break-out" box which 
is just fantastic. I have mic/headphone/etc inp/outs in one convenient 
place on my desk rather than making underneath even more cluttered, and 
it has four USB sockets.

Another advantage of using USB hubs - it would make it easy for people to 
come up and plug in their digital cameras, or move a scanner between the 
stations, etc.

Personally I'd favour the thin client approach, but I'd definitely be 
interested in seeing this idea carried out.

HTH

-- 
Stuart

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