How do you run XBMC on nvidia dual screen and stop it from taking over the keyboard and mouse?
- by Paul Swartout
I have set up dual screen under Ubuntu 12.04. I have a GeForce 8500 GT and have used the nVidia control panel to set up dual screen in "Separate screen mode". Here's the resulting xorg.conf
# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 295.33 (buildd@zirconium) Fri Mar 30 13:38:49 UTC 2012
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection
Section "Files"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Maxdata/Belinea B1925S1W"
HorizSync 31.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: builtin, VertRefresh source: builtin
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "CRT-1"
HorizSync 28.0 - 55.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 8500 GT"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device1"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 8500 GT"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "CRT-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
# Removed Option "metamodes" "CRT-1: 1280x768 +0+0"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Device1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "CRT-1: 1360x768_60 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
All well and good and I have a nice blank XWindow displayed on my TV (the 2nd monitor). I then fire up XBMC from a terminal on the PC monitor using
DISPLAY=:0.1 xbmc
XBMC fires up quite nicely on the TV however I can no longer use the main PC monitor / mouse / keyboard as XBMC on the TV screen seems to have focus. I was hoping to have XBMC running on the TV and let the kids use the MCE remote whilst I get on with my work on the PC monitor.
Does anyone have any idea how to overcome this? I'm presuming there's some xorg.conf fun and games needed but I've no idea where to start to be honest.