x2vnc - a dual-screen hack

x2vnc <options> host:0

[ -display display ]

[ -version ]

[ -shared ]

[ -north ] [ -south ] [ -east ] [ -west ]

[ -hotkey key ]

[ -passwdfile passwd-file ]

[ -resurface ]

[ -edgewidth width ]

[ -desktop desktop-number ]

[ -timeout seconds ]

[ -wheelhack ]

[ -nowheel ]

[ -reversewheel ]

[ -scrolllines lines ]

[ -navhack ]

[ -mac ]

[ -trimsel ]

[ -noblank ]

[ -lockdelay seconds ]

[ -debug ]

x2vnc will let you use two screens on two different computers as if they were connected to the same computer. The computer with the 'main' keyboard must be running X-window, and the second computer should have a VNC server running which will update the contents on the actual screen. This means Xvnc is not suitable, but WinVNC is.

For up-to-date information on x2vnc, see the x2vnc home page: http://fredrik.hubbe.net/x2vnc.html

-display display

The X windows display to connect from.

-shared

Allow multiple connections to the same VNC server.

-north, -south, -east, -west,

Determine which edge leads to the other screen.

-passwdfile password-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. If the file does not exist, x2vnc will ask for a password and create the file.

-resurface

This option will cause the trigger window to re-surface automatically if it is covered up by another window.

-hotkey key

This option allows you to select which key to use to warp the pointer to and from second computer. The default is "Control-F12", any combination of modifiers can be used, such as "shift-alt-meta-ctrl-F1" (or s-a-m-c-F1).

-edgewidth pixels

This is a workaround for some X servers which do not allow the mouse to go all the way to the edge of the screen. By setting this to 2 or greater, the mouse will be able to reach the x2vnc window and thus warp to the windows machine. The default value is 1. If you set this value to 0, no border will be generated, which means you will have to use hotkeys to switch to the oher screen.

-desktop desktop-number

With this option, you can make x2vnc non-sticky. This may not work with all window-managers. Note that the first desktop is usually 0 (zero). If you want x2vnc to appear on the last (rightmost) desktop, use -1. This option was especially created with the sawfish edgeflipping in mind, normally you would use "-west -desktop 0" or "-east -destkop -1" with Sawfish to allow edgeflipping to work normally.

-timeout seconds

This options tells x2vnc how long to wait before warping the cursor back to the X screen if there is no activity. The reason for this is that some screen savers, such as xscreensaver, cannot activate while x2vnc is in control of the cursor. The default value is 590 seconds, which is equivalent to 9 minutes and 50 seconds. Using a value of 0 will disable timeouts completely.

-nowheel

This option does nothing and is left for backwards compatibility only.

-wheelhack

This will make x2vnc tranlate all mouse wheel events into arrow up/down events. Only use this if your VNC server doesn't understand mouse wheel events.

-reversewheel

Invert the up/down direction of the mouse wheel emulation. This option only works if -wheelhack is used.

-scrolllines lines

When using mouse wheel emulation, this selects how many up/down events will be sent for each tick of the mouse wheel.

-navhack

This will map button 6 & 7 to Alt+Left/Right, which will allow the navigation buttons on some mice to behave more like they do in windows.

-mac

Macintosh specific mode, maps second mouse button to control-mouseclick.

-trimsel

If the X selection looks like a URL, trim leading and trailing spaces. This can be useful for pasting URLs into a browser.

-noblank

Prevent screen blanking on the remote desktop while you are working on the local desktop. Requires the MIT-SCREEN-SAVER or XIDLE extension to work properly. If neither of these extensions are present, the remote desktop will always be kept from blanking.

-lockdelay seconds

This is only meaningful when using the -noblank option. When this option is present. With this option, x2vnc will not attempt to wake up the remote screen if you have been idle for more than the specified amount of time. This is useful if you need a password to unlock the remote screen and would rather leave it blanked until you need it.

-debug

This option will make x2vnc print out information about events it sends and receives to stderr for debugging purposes.

Most common usage:

x2vnc -passwdfile $HOME/.vncpasswd -resurface host:0

To make x2vnc start (and re-start) automatically, add the following to your your X startup file (usually .xinitrc):

while :;

do x2vnc -passwd $HOME/.vncpasswd -resurface host:0

sleep 2

done

Fredrik Hübinette, hubbe@hubbe.net