[htpcero]

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for yesterday, ie. where to put the --only-current-screen. Anyway, I had to do couple more things to get it work properly:

1) gconf-editor and change key /desktop/gnome/session/required_components/windowmanager=compiz
2) in /usr/share/applications/compiz.desktop also specify --display :0.0

Now I can see that the second display has no WM indeed. What options are there now to get rid of some more stuff on that display, ie. gnome panels/desktop backgrounds etc?

In my case, I deleted the bottom panel and moved the application list to the top panel, then I made the top panel auto-hide.

I launch xbmc with my own startup script that launches it in windowed mode, then uses wmctrl to maximize it. All this takes a fraction of a second on my desktop (using an ssd drive for the OS and apps)

The background image in the second is the same as in the first, this seems to be a gnome limitation (not sure), however since I run xbmc on startup in that screen - maximized, the background does not bother me, since it is not visible.