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Xinerama is an extension to the X Window System which allows applications and window managers to use the two (or more) physical displays as one large virtual display.
It was originally developed by DEC (under the name PanoramiX), who contributed it to The Open Group for X11 Release 6.4 (X11R6.4), where it was renamed Xinerama. From there it was incorporated into XFree86 for the XFree86 4.0 release, and Solaris in the Solaris 7 11/99 release.
The physical displays do not need to be the same resolution. Some window managers assume that the virtual display area is rectangular, but this isn't necessarily the case if the component physical displays are not the same size. The excess space, which is needed to make the area rectangular, is called "dead space". The window manager needs to be aware of Xinerama to recognize dead space, and avoid placing new windows there.
It is also an advantage if the window manager, via Xinerama awareness, can pop up new windows on the active physical display. Another advantage of Xinerama awareness is to only maximize windows to the dimensions of the active physical display.
Known problems
Xinerama requires that the physical screens have the same bit depth — an 8-bit screen cannot be combined with a 16-bit screen, for example.
See also
References
- Overview of X11R6.8 (X.Org)
External links
- Xinerama - Official website.
- Using Xinerama to MultiHead XFree86 V. 4.0+ - HOWTO from The Linux Documentation Project.
"Xinerama"