I am trying to run two monitors using two graphic cards. The first monitor is used for TTY, the second monitor is used to launch xserver. When I launch xserver, I still have my other screen showing TTY, but xserver picks up my keyboard inputs. When I need to switch to terminal, I press CTRL + ALT + F1 and then my first screen running TTY starts to receieve my keyboard commands again. The problem is when I switch to TTY, my monitor running xserver goes blank, and it doesn't wake up until I press CTRL F7 to go back to xserver. What I need to do is keep the xserver outputting to its monitor even when I switch to TTY. That way I can read what I have on the screen as I type things into my TTY console. I've searched everywhere and cannot find a solution. My question is "what causes xserver output to go blank when switching to tty console" because my goal is to stop xserver output from going blank when I switch to TTY console.
1 Answer
This isn't an answer to your specific question per-se, but at least based on the text of your question, might (?) be a practical solution to the same problem. I do this often myself on a dual-screen setup.
Depending on your configuration, you could run your xserver in dual monitor mode (e.g. Nvidia xinerama mode), then move a GUI terminal to your "TTY" screen, make it full-screen, and then hide the window decoration and menu. (Which can easily be done in xfce4-terminal for example.) It would look nearly identical (save for the scrollbar). Plus you'd have mouse input, be able to copy & paste, and not have to physically switch screen TTYs.
I realize there may be other details in your requirements not mentioned in the question, which could obviate this as a workable answer.
Another thing I've done in the past (for different reasons), is run Linux in a VM (on Linux), and run a full-screen, "true" TTY. You can even SSH into the host OS (even via bare-bones minimal VM), and there you go--a "native", kinda, text-mode TTY.
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I also do this, and its easy to get full screen window for me because I use xmonad. But the difference is a real TTY console has much crispier colors than an X11 server console.– OB7DEVCommented Aug 30, 2018 at 4:58
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I see. So then what do you think of the virtual machine idea? I've done that and it works well. (Actually I do it every day on more than one machine, as my default working environment, a little differently. The host is usually [not always] Windows, and the guest is usually Xubuntu. But occasionally I'll do straight VT on the VM, particularly for lightweight ZFS hosting. I don't think it picks up the virtual-virtual-terminal's screen dimensions, but I believe that can be forced in grub.) That could in high likelihood get exactly what it sounds like you're looking for.– JimCommented Aug 31, 2018 at 9:03
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Oh and you'd have to SSH back into the VM host to complete the solution.– JimCommented Aug 31, 2018 at 9:04
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1Another thing I've noticied is some GFX cards have more crispy console than others. I'm using a vega frontier card and it is way crispier for console work than my 1080ti. The TTY colors seem brighter than X11, like they stand out more.– OB7DEVCommented Sep 3, 2018 at 23:19
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1Interesting. I wonder if that has something to do with combination of card, monitor, and assumed colorspaces. For example, I use a high-end Dell monitor, supports 10-bit color, etc. Nvidia 1070. But OS colorspace mapping, including Windows 10, is a mess. No matter what I try, I can't set a colorspace where all apps have realistic colors. Chrome browser showing sRGB colors, for example, seem impossibly bright and vibrant. But photos look cartoonish. On low-end Dell monitor on same card, they are fine (much duller but realistic). Who knows how that stuff works. :-D– JimCommented Sep 5, 2018 at 1:41
loginctlcanattachdevices to seats. I don't know if it can dynamically move a keyboard between active seats though. There is akmsconcommand that talks of seats and VTs.