Hi all,

I've recently set up Compiz on a dual-monitor system (with an nVidia 
card in TwinView) and I was wondering whether there are any plans to 
implement a true multi-screen desktop.

At the moment there are only two choices I'm aware of:

  1. Set up each monitor as a separate X screen (:0.0 and :0.1), which 
allows you to use each screen independently, with the drawback being 
that you can't move windows between monitors.

  2. Use TwinView (or Xinerama) to create a single X screen that spans 
both monitors, the drawback being that you lose the benefit of having 
multiple monitors, instead having the interface appear as if you only 
have one monitor again (albeit a very large one) - if you switch desktop 
on one monitor, it also changes on the other monitor.

For example, in the first scenario with two X screens, it's possible to 
have distinct desktops on each screen.  I can stick a web browser on one 
monitor, and a terminal on the other.  If I switch from a terminal in 
workspace #1 to an IDE in workspace #2, the web browser sits unaffected 
on the other screen.  This is what I mean by "true" multimonitor, in 
that you can manipulate the contents of one screen without affecting the 
other.

On the other hand in the second scenario if I switch workspace on one 
monitor, the workspace also changes on the second monitor, so it's 
impossible to manipulate each display independently.

What would be ideal is to be able to switch workspace independently on 
each monitor - for example displaying the first monitor's view of 
workspace #3 on the first monitor, but the second monitor's view of 
workspace #2 on the second monitor.

Would this sort of thing be difficult to implement?  I think it would 
make multimonitor setups much more useful, as you wouldn't need to keep 
flicking back and forth between workspaces as you do with a single 
screen (or currently with a TwinView configuration.)

Cheers,
Adam.

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