Collecting data when using 2 separate X screens

[Erwin]

One thing I have realised thanks to the info displayed on the gnome applet bar is that the logger seems to only record what is happening on one of my 2 X screens.

Here is what I am running on:

- Mandriva 2008.1
- nvidia GeForce FX 4400
- two FP displays

Nvidia configured to have 2 separate X screens next to each other.

For the sake of completeness, here is how this config works:

You have two virtual desktops which behave independently of each other. Apps on one screen stay on that screen, which is quite different from Twinview where you basically have one desktop across both screens. With the mouse pointer you move from one screen to the other.

RescueTime is only logging what is going on on one screen and not the other. What seems to be worse is that the logger is logging time on the app that has focus on the one screen when you are actually working on a different app on the other screen. The logger's focus is always on the same sreen.

Regards,

Erwin

[Elliot Murphy (statik)]

I don't know much about running separate X screens.

Does the first X screen (with rescuetime running in it) ever go idle while you are working in the other screen?
Is it possible to run two instances of rescuetime, one in each screen?
Do you know anyway of finding out which X screen the user is currently working in?

[Erwin (erwin-feldhaus)]

I am new to separate X screens and only starting to understand the benefits/caveats of this approach.

To answer your questions:

1. No, it does not. Rescuetime is logging time on the application that has focus on that screen. The last application active on one screen before switching to the other seems to keep reporting as "active" while the other screen is being used.
2. No. Both instances report on the same screen. Rescuetime does not see the other.
3. The only way I can think of is the pointer. In fact, I was looking for a way to create a keyboard shortcut for switching from one screen to the other. All I found is a hint about how this can be done (http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Dual_Monitors). Look for the Switchscreen section. All I take from that is that the driver uses the mouse coordinates in conjunction with application focus.

Hope this helps! And thanks for your interest in this problem.

[Erwin (erwin-feldhaus)]

Small correction:

Apparently rescuetime_linux_uploader checks if it is already running and hence does not let the 2nd instance start.

Is there a way around this?

When I run the uploader from the gnome applets this is the process info:

500 5594 5396 1 15:42 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/rescuetime_linux_uploader_gnome_panel_controller --sm-config-prefix /rescuetime_linux_uploader_gnome_panel_controller-Q0WCOd/ --sm-client-id 117f000001000121446130500000053270003 --screen 0

500 5604 5396 1 15:42 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/rescuetime_linux_uploader_gnome_panel_notifier --sm-config-prefix /rescuetime_linux_uploader_gnome_panel_notifier-ldR2he/ --sm-client-id 117f000001000121446130500000053270004 --screen 0

As you can see, the "--screen 0" is probably telling the uploader to only look there. I don't know if sending some parameters at startup can make the uploader listen to screen 1. And then, the uploader could have a way to say:

"if I got focys tell the other to report idle" or something like that.

[Erwin (erwin-feldhaus)]

BTW: I had a non-related issue with Compiz-fusion not working correctly when 2 separate X screens were being used. The solution was to start two instances:

#!/bin/bash
# start compiz
DISPLAY=:0.0 compiz-manager &
disown $!
sleep 3
DISPLAY=:0.1 compiz-manager &
disown $!

Maybe a similar solution is workable for rescueTime?

[Erwin (erwin-feldhaus)]

Any hope someone might look for and find an answer to this problem?

Would be great....

[Erwin (erwin-feldhaus)]

Would still be interested in solving this... as only half my work is being logged!!!

[Erwin (erwin-feldhaus)]

Any chance someone would take this on?

[Piotr Kilczuk (p-kilczuk)]

Hello Erwin,

Thanks for reporting this and making your report very detailed.

As for now, I'm the only developer working on RTLU and I'm quite short of time. I'm trying to address the most important issues in my spare time. This is on a todo-list, but I'm affraid that there are few more important things first. If you want to play with this, feel free to pull bzr repo and take a look into RTLU source.

Regards,
Piotr

[Erwin (erwin-feldhaus)]

Hey Piotr,

I appreciate your quick response. I am probably not the best suited to
poke around in that code so I will wait for you to look at it when you
get a chance.

Best,

Erwin

On 25/03/10 13:45, Piotr Kilczuk wrote:
> Hello Erwin,
>
> Thanks for reporting this and making your report very detailed.
>
> As for now, I'm the only developer working on RTLU and I'm quite short
> of time. I'm trying to address the most important issues in my spare
> time. This is on a todo-list, but I'm affraid that there are few more
> important things first. If you want to play with this, feel free to pull
> bzr repo and take a look into RTLU source.
>
> Regards,
> Piotr
>
>