Ask Ubuntu General Room

8:58 AM

I've installed Node Version Manager (nvm). It's working perfectly fine, but when I try to run it with supervisor, it returns "can't find command nvm". Someone an idea how to fix that?

Journeyman Geek

12:12 PM

@icecub hmmm

could be supervisor runs as a different user and nvm is not on its path?

vidarlo

2:11 PM

@ArturMeinild TBH, most of the problems with HA is knowing where to start and committing to a set of devices ;)

For me the natural thing was IKEA and their lights, which are cheap and use Zigbee :)

terdon

@vidarlo, why is this a feature request?

I’m voting to close this question because it's a feature or product request. — vidarlo 30 mins ago

Can't an answer simply provide a method to do what the OP wants? They basically want to control which screen something appears on, right?

Journeyman Geek

@terdon a little rejigging would be nice

vidarlo

@terdon he doesn't ask how to do it; he asks why Ubuntu hasn't made it easier

How to do it I agree is a perfectly valid question; why it's not easy is not.

Journeyman Geek

@vidarlo so maybe encourage him to rejig the question to 'how do I do it?'

vidarlo

@JourneymanGeek I agree

Journeyman Geek

2:20 PM

also part of the problem is the documentation is really bad

3

Q: How can I make a Multiseat in Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS?

I need to do Multiseat on computers at work, but I don't understand anything about it or ubuntu/linux, I would like to have an easy tutorial to follow, I read a little bit about LightDM (but I still don't understand much). The computers must have 2 seats. 2 monitors for each seat. The computers ...

vidarlo

have you ever had good documentation?

Journeyman Geek

asks that but the current answer is really unsatisfying

@vidarlo My documentation is generally good enough to replicate even if I've forgotten what I did years ago, when it exists

vidarlo

yep. And it's a tiny use case. Some, like SkoleLinux has catered to it, because it's useful in their segment

Journeyman Geek

here, someone started then ... lost interest

vidarlo

I envy your documentation. Mine tends to make me wonder what drugs I were on

Journeyman Geek

2:22 PM

@vidarlo mine is generally hard fought, and beaten into shape

vidarlo

Well, yes. Problem is when it fights back

Journeyman Geek

I'm literally waiting to forget how my routers are set up so I can use my documentation to build a new build and refine it :D

vidarlo

hah

Journeyman Geek

@vidarlo waaait, ikea stuff works with HA?

vidarlo

The documentation I have for the routers I manage at work is literally an excel sheet

with ACL rules

Journeyman Geek

2:23 PM

@vidarlo mine are DIY

vidarlo

@JourneymanGeek Yes!

Zigbee2mqtt talks zigbee on one end and MQTT on other end

Journeyman Geek

@vidarlo I've been putting off getting stuff from them cause I wasn't sure

ended up going tapo (got some stuff that works easily, some that dosen't) and tuya

vidarlo

IKEA's stuff is perfectly normal Zigbee stuff

Journeyman Geek

went mostly wifi :D

vidarlo

heh

prefer zigbee

lower power

battery powered temp sensor where the battery lasts a year

bitsex.net/software/2017/coap-endpoints-on-ikea-tradfri

Journeyman Geek

2:25 PM

most of the stuff I have now lives on a wall

vidarlo

Even their default network stuff use very well standardized protocols, so IKEA did everything right with their range

terdon

@vidarlo eh, OK, but the real question is "can I do this".

vidarlo

@terdon I'm not convinced. To me it reads more like a feature request.

Journeyman Geek

@terdon I'd actually feel like breaking it down into its constituent parts might be a better approach

IIRC the old approach involved putting each X session on a different VT...

would wayland allow for that?

terdon

@vidarlo Dunno. I can see it being a rant, I can see it being a request to understand why the devs chose not to support it. I really cannot see it as a feature request. But I really don't know the first thing about multiseat (literally, I don't even know what the term means) so I am probably not the best person to evaluate the question.

Aaaand, you both left helpful comments to the OP so the ball in now in their court. Cool.

Journeyman Geek

2:28 PM

@terdon basically running 2 or more sessions with seperate keyboards and monitors on a single PC

so essentially you're associating one 'session' with its own keyboard, mouse and other peripherals to one user, and automating the process of creating N sessions

terdon

Oh. But why would you even need that instead of just figuring out a way to send things to specific displays?

Journeyman Geek

well so 2 people can use the same PC at once :D

terdon

@JourneymanGeek Sure, I can see why it would be useful, but I am not sure it's what the OP wants here.

vidarlo

@terdon Was popular when computers were expensive. Schools having one computer and four displays. Makes no sense today when you can get a Pi5 for 50$ or whatever

Journeyman Geek

@terdon let 2 people use the same PC at once without getting in each others way

terdon

2:33 PM

Yes, yes, I get the point for it generally. But I think the OP just wants to send videos to one screen and games to another. Do they also want to control each using different hardware mice/keyboards?

Journeyman Geek

yup

else this would be easy

vidarlo

I would argue the answer is to stick a Pi behind the tv and access things over a network :P

Journeyman Geek

ehhh

that's a slightly boring solution ;)

there's actually a few 'interesting' things here

X for all its oldness, did let you run different sessions on different monitors in a well documented fashion

wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg_multiseat actually looks like decent docs

though it assigns seats by graphics adaptor rather than outputs?

terdon

So you all have moved to wayland?

I tried for a bit, had some glitches, but most importantly couldn't find an equivalent to things like xdotool so I went back to X.

Journeyman Geek

@terdon all my linux boxen are cli only

Other than the proxmox box

vidarlo

2:44 PM

@JourneymanGeek Probably because X was made in a age where computers were expensive

terdon

Hmm. I still think the OP just wants to control what physical screen things appear on and doesn't need actual separate input devices:

> What I want to do is use two monitors on desk for web browsing / working / gaming and dedicate tv for steam big-screen. There is no real obstacle moving big-screen to windowed mode, drag it to tv, make it full size again - every - single - time.

Real obstacle comes with games with no option to go windowed mode or choose monitor when they seem more or less pop on random screen or something between. This is rubbish.

If they're OK with dragging to the TV, that suggests they are happy with one mouse.

Journeyman Geek

@vidarlo yes and no

X was designed for multiseat from the ground up

vidarlo

yep

terdon

Yeah, one server, sending to multiple terminals.

vidarlo

With Wayland I suspect some of that pressure's gone

Journeyman Geek

2:45 PM

though multiple users on one terminal was never really done

@vidarlo sadly

terdon

@JourneymanGeek no, but single users on multiple terminals was the norm. Hell, I had one of those at work for a while, I think.

Artur Meinild

@vidarlo yeah I can relate to that - would be a nice option. 😎

vidarlo

@JourneymanGeek I'm not sure it's sad. My primary computing devices are laptops these days

One for work and one for everything else

Journeyman Geek

@terdon I feel slightly called out :D

terdon

Huh?

Journeyman Geek

2:46 PM

I kid I kid

terdon

I was agreeing with you

Journeyman Geek

(right now, I'm SSHed into the two routers, RDPed into my 'HTPC'/temporary jump box at my own place for access proxmox...)

terdon

"no, we never really had multiple users on one terminal, but we did have multiple terminals with single users each"

Journeyman Geek

OH

you mean like multiple terminals

waiiiit, you're not that much older than me right?

@terdon I parsed that as one user on multiple terminals at the same time

not many users each on their own terminal :D

terdon

@JourneymanGeek ah, no. And no, we're the same age I think, or maybe a year or so apart? But 20 years ago, in the lab I did my PhD, I think we briefly had RedHat machines which were not running X locally. But... that was 20 years ago, so I may very easily be remembering wrong.

Journeyman Geek

2:51 PM

ah

terdon

I'm from 1980. You're the same or 81 or something, right?

Journeyman Geek

83

not too different

terdon

Eh, yeah, same difference

Still. You should show me a bit more respect, child.

Journeyman Geek