[matthewbpt]

I have found a simple solution for users running compiz as their window manager. Install the package compizconfig-settings-manager with synaptic. This should add a new compiz configuration item to the Preferences menu. Open this configuration, look for 'Window Decoration' in Effects (or type it into the filter ...) and click on it, you should get some options to control window decoration, what we want to do here is disable window decorations for xbmc. Look for the field 'Decoration windows,' this specifies which windows should have window decorations, its defualt value is 'any' , change this values to,

(any) & !(title=XBMC Media Center)

This tells compiz to use window borders for all windows except those with title=XBMC Media Center. Now open XBMC and it open with no window borders, now if you maximize this window from the taskbar you it will take up the whole screen and not take complete control of the keyboard and mouse!

This worked like a charm for me =D

[havel]

Question to matthewbpt: does'nt the fact of having compiz enabled have an impact on video performance...like tearing?

[VitaminJ]

For me, the config that makes the most sense is having two X servers running, one at the resolution of your XBMC display. For me that's 1280x720 for a rear projector. So this would be DISPLAY :0

Then I'd run a virtual X server such as Xvnc, that you connect to from a remote machine to do admin tasks, like managing torrents, etc. That would be DISPLAY :1.

Since Xvnc is a virtual framebuffer server, all of it's devices are virtual and provided by the connecting client, so that alleviates the complexity of trying to share keyboard and mouse between two X servers.

Your administrative X session :1 would be independent of :0, so you can even kill and restart XBMC and its X session while still having Firefox or whatever still running on Xvnc. AND you've got the flexibility to use :1 over SSH from the Internet.

If you still want to share input devices between multiple X servers on multiple different outputs, see this Debian post which details using the x2x tool

[jrstravino]

AUTOMATIC TWINVIEW ON GNOME-SHELL

1 - Install disper :
sudo apt-get install disper

2 - replace left by right, if your tv is on the right of your screen
disper -d auto -e -t left/right

Code:

#!/bin/bash
disper -d auto -e -t left
sleep 1
__GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE=DFP-1 gnome-shell --replace --display=:0 &
move_and_fullscreen(){

  NAME='XBMC Media Center'

  while [ -z "`wmctrl -l | grep \"$NAME\"`" ]
  do
      sleep 1
  done
  
  wmctrl -r "$NAME" -b toggle,fullscreen
}

move_and_fullscreen &
__GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK=1 __GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE=DFP-1 SDL_VIDEO_ALLOW_SCREENSAVER=0 exec xbmc

[grekpg]

HY, i have same problem,
i run xbmc on tv in tyhis way

env DISPLAY=":0.1" xbmc

- in kde window manager setup xbmc size and anerythink work fine witchout mouse .
(i use radio remote controler - this device put buttons like keyboard so i must acitvate xbmc window)

and dont know how to get back mouse to monitor.
i try add global keyboard shortcut- example env DISPLAY=":0.0" dolphin

to start somethink on first screen so this mayby activate screen but this shortcut dont work when i have started xbmc.
how to do it ?

this script dont change anythink on my system

Code:

#! /bin/bash

STATUS=0
WINCLASS=xbmc.bin.xbmc.bin
DISPLAY=:0.1
SLEEPDELAY=1


/usr/bin/xbmc "$@" &

while [ $STATUS -eq 0 ]
do
  sleep $SLEEPDELAY
  STATUS=`wmctrl -x -l | grep $WINCLASS | wc -l | awk '{print $1}'`
done

wmctrl -x -r $WINCLASS -b toggle,fullscreen