A dual-screen hack

                  Written by Fredrik Hubinette
              Based on ideas from x2x and code from VNC.

                     What it does

This program will let you use two screens on two different computers as if they were connected to the same computer.
Even if one of the computers runs Windows 95/98/NT and the other one runs X-windows.

Personally, I have two computers, both with linux installed, but I often have to run Windows 95 or Windows NT when
working, and I just got tired of switching between the two keybaords. Therefore I wrote this program. While running
this program I can move the mouse pointer beyond the right edge of my X display, and then the pointer will appear on
the screen on the other computer. If you have ever used x2x or a computer with two graphics cards, you know what I
am talking about.

                     How it works

The program will open a small (one pixel wide) window on the edge of your screen. Moving the pointer into this
window will trigger the program to take over your mouse and send mouse movements and keystrokes though the RFB
protocol to a VNC server running on another machine. When the pointer is moved back towards the opposite edge on
the other screen, the mouse is then released again.

The operation itself is almost identical to x2x, but most of the code was actually borrowed from the program
vncviewer.

As the name x2vnc implies, x2vnc can only send events from an X-windows based display to any VNC server. VNC
servers can run on Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT. x2vnc will not run without X-windows. Unfortunately, the VNC
server for X windows does not control the mouse on the screen itself, but creates a virtual server in memory instead.
This makes x2vnc unusable to control X windows. If you wish to connect two X displays togeher, use x2x instead.

                     Download

  x2vnc version 1.0
  You also need a VNC server to run on the machine you wish to control.

                      Usage

Basically, you just run x2vnc [options] host:display. Where [options] are:

-display display
  Connect to this X display.
-shared
  Allow multiple connections to the same VNC server.
-north -south -east -west
  Determine which edge leads to the other screen.
-passwd passwd-file
  With this option you can start x2vnc without entering a password. The file is created by vncpasswd which
  comes with the X-windows VNC software.
-resurface
  This option will cause the trigger window to re-surface automatically if it is covered up by another window.
  This could be a very bad thing if another program tries to do the same thing.

Some of these options are the same as for the vnclient that the code came from, so more information can be found at
the VNC site.

Problems? Questions? Suggestions? Don't hesitate to email me: hubbe@hubbe.net.


             This page has been accessed 3306 times since July 1998
                   Last modified. July 1998