Manuals/UMx/User Guide

From Userful Support

Userful Multiplier™ User Guide

Userful Multiplier™ Multistation Software System

1 Introduction
2 Trial Version
3 Requirements for Userful Multiplier
- 3.1 Hardware Requirements
- 3.2 Supported Linux Distributions
4 The Control Panel
5 Additional Hardware
6 Installing Userful Multiplier
7 Touch Screen Support and Calibration
- 7.1 Supported TouchScreen Devices
- 7.2 Calibration
8 Licensing Userful Multiplier
- 8.1 FAQs On License Keys & Activation Codes
9 Using Userful Multiplier
10 Multimedia and Storage Devices Support
11 Uninstall Procedure
12 Known Limitations
13 Known Issues (to be addressed in future releases)
14 Technical Support
- 14.1 Reporting a Bug Via the Control Panel
- 14.2 Reporting a Bug Via the Command Line
15 Copyrights, Licenses and Trademarks
16 Appendices

Introduction

Userful Multiplier™ (formerly Desktop Multiplier™) is a set of standard Linux software packages that extend the X Window System to support up to 10 fully independent and concurrent workstations using a single computer box. This is accomplished by adding standard video cards, USB keyboards and mice to a single PC system and installing Userful's software. Userful Multiplier is compatible with all single and dual-headed video cards supported by X.Org/XFree86 and has been tested on most major 2.6 kernel Linux distributions (see "Supported Linux Distributions" below for details).

Userful Multiplier is delivered as a single zip file containing either a .RPM or .DEB package and supports a variety of Linux distributions.

Utilities package

This package includes programs, scripts and config files for system configuration, keyboard/mouse assignment and device hot-plug capabilities. Files are named:

1box-utils-k26-<version>.<arch>.rpm (For RPM based systems)
1box-utils-k26-<version>.<arch>.deb (For DEB based systems)

Multi-station X server package

This package contains the Userful Multi-Station X-Server, which supports multiple simultaneous local users. Files are named:

1box-server-xorg-<version>.<arch>.rpm (For RPM based systems)
mx11r7-<version>.<arch>.rpm (For RPM based system)
1box-server-xorg-<version>.<arch>.deb (For DEB based systems)
mx11r7-<version>.<arch>.deb (For DEB based systems)

Dual View Functionality

Userful Multiplier's Dual View functionality enables each station to support up to five users, with each user having an individual desktop workspace that spans two monitors. You can configure monitors to use Dual View during the Userful Multiplier installation process. Note that the two monitors that display a Dual View desktop must be connected to the same video card.

License Agreement

This product includes commercial software that is licensed not sold and is governed by an End User License Agreement (EULA). By installing, copying or using this software you acknowledge that you have read, understand, and agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. You can review the terms of this EULA either by visiting http://userful.com/download/eula/ or by consulting the Userful-EULA.txt file included with your download.

Trial Version

Userful Multiplier will operate as a trial version until you purchase an appropriate license for your Userful system. You may purchase a multi-station license from your Userful representative or from Userful.com – see the Licensing section below for details.

Limitations of Trial Version: The Userful Multiplier trial software supports up to 10 concurrent stations (depending on your specific hardware) and will typically display a brief registration reminder on all attached screens every 20 minutes or so.

Requirements for Userful Multiplier

Hardware Requirements

NOTE: requirements of the underlying operating system need to be taken into account and may supersede these requirements.

Hard Disk
- Required free space: 35 MB
- Minimal additional storage required for logging
Processor
- any x86 or compatible (Pentium 4 or higher recommended)
Memory
- Minimum: 256 MB and 128 MB for each additional station
- Additional memory may be required depending on performance requirements
Peripherals
- 1 USB Mouse per station
- 1 USB keyboard per station
- 1 USB audio device per station (optional)
Video cards
- One video head per station (see below for details)

Supported Linux Distributions

Userful Multiplier supports most well-known Linux distributions running kernel version 2.6 or greater. The following Linux distributions are currently supported:

RPM Based Distributions
- Fedora Core 4, 6, 7, 8
- openSUSE 10.1, 10.2, 11.0
- Novell Desktop (SLED) 9, 10
- Mandriva (Mandrake) 2008.0
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4
- CentOS 4, 5

DEB Based Distributions
- Ubuntu 6.10, 7.04, 7.10, 8.04, 8.10
- Freedows 2005
- Xandros 4.0
- Debian 3.1, 4.0
- Morphix 0.5-pre5

NOTE: Userful Multiplier may work with other Linux distributions that use the Linux 2.6 kernel, however distributions other than those listed above are not officially supported by Userful at this time. Instructions for installing Userful Multiplier on a non-supported distribution are available at How To/Port Userful Multiplier to New Linux Distros. Official support for additional Linux distributions will be available in future versions of this software. Please address specific requests for supporting an additional Linux distribution via email to partner@userful.com.

Note for Debian 3.1 (Sarge): Debian Sarge uses the Linux 2.4 kernel by default with new installations. You must upgrade your Linux kernel to 2.6 before installing Userful Multiplier.

The Control Panel

This software comes with a graphical interface tool, Userful Control Panel, to control various aspects of Userful Multiplier. This Control Panel can be launched from the icon labeled “Userful”. This icon can be found in the main menu of most distributions. The actual location varies between distributions, but is usually in “Accessories” or “System Tools”. The Python Gtk and glade module is required to use this interface. This module is available on most distributions and is called "python-gtk" and "python-glade" respectively. It is installed by default on Fedora Core, Ubuntu and Mandrake. On some distributions, such as Novell Linux Desktop 9, the module is only installed when the Gnome desktop is chosen as the default desktop during installation.

The location of the menu entry varies depending on your distribution.

Userful Desktop/Fedora/Redhat/Ubuntu: Applications > System Tools > Userful
Suse: Applications > Utilities > More Programs > Userful
NLD: Applications > Accessories > More > Userful

Click Activate: This will take you to a web page to get a license.
Note: If Userful does not appear as a graphical menu entry in the locations listed above, Userful Control Panel also can be launched from the command line using:
```
$ userful  debug  -submit
```

Additional Hardware

Userful Multiplier supports the following optional hardware components:

Maximum five dual head video cards
Up to 10 USB keyboards, mice and optional extension cables
10 monitors and optional extension cables and adapters
USB hubs to support devices (powered hubs are strongly recommended)

Choosing a Graphics Card

Userful Multiplier is designed to support all single and dual-headed video cards, supported by X.Org/XFree86. Any video card combinations where you can start X in multi-headed mode (i.e. multi-monitor, multi-display) should work with Userful Multiplier. Xinerama extensions are not used, so any standard single-head or multi-head video card should work.

We recommend disabling on-board video in the BIOS if your motherboard includes an on-board video chipset. If the on-board video is not disabled, boot messages will be displayed on that video output. If no monitor is connected to the on-board video output, these boot messages will not be visible. The on-board video may be able to support a workstation depending on the model and revision of your motherboard.

Note: Although heterogeneous (mixed) combinations do often work, to ensure a simple and manageable computing environment, we recommend using a consistent model and revision of graphics cards and monitors for your Userful Multiplier system. We suggest searching the following third-party database for heterogeneous graphics card combinations that should work under Linux:

http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/search.asp

Userful supports and recommends the following low cost single chip, dual head chipsets, which are available as AGP, PCI or PCI-E cards from a variety of manufacturers:

ATI
- Radeon™ 7000
- Radeon™ 7500
- Radeon™ 9000
- Radeon™ 9200
- Radeon™ 9250
- Radeon™ X300
- Radeon™ X550
NVIDIA nVidia Proprietary Drivers Required
- GeForce FX 4400
- GeForce FX 5200
- GeForce 6600GT
- GeForce 7300GS
- GeForce 7600GS
- Quadro FX 500
- Quadro FX 600
- Quadro NVS 280
- Quadro NVS 285
- Quadro NVS 400
- Quadro NVS 440
- GeForce4 MX 440
- GeForce2 MX/MX400
Matrox Matrox Proprietary Drivers Required
- G400 Series
- G450 Series
- G550 Series

Guidelines:

Mixing multiple brands of video cards can produce unexpected problems.
Older Nvidia Cards: NVIDIA has a Unified driver that supports the majority of their popular and modern GPUs. They also have two legacy drivers for their older legacy GPUs. Since only one driver can be used simultaneously per system, combining older NVIDIA GPU chipsets in the same system with recent ones can cause some of the cards to not function. If you are mixing older NVIDIA cards and are uncertain whether this will be a problem here is a list of which models use the Unified and Legacy (96.43.xx and 71.86.xx) Drivers for reference. (This is not a problem with ATI cards)
DVI Outputs: Userful Multiplier only supports automated configuration of VGA and DVI-convert-to-VGA outputs, cards with DVI ONLY (cards incompatible with DVI to VGA adapters) will most likely not have any output from the DVI slot after the automated configuration is complete. This can be fixed by manually editing the configuration files

Will Likely Work

Any video card supported by Linux (unless listed in the "Does Not Work" Section below) will likely work just fine with Userful Multiplier. Hence most cards will fit in this "will likely work" category. Userful Multiplier is designed to support all single, dual, and quad-headed video cards, supported by X.Org/XFree86. Any video card combinations where you can start X in multi-headed mode (i.e. multi-monitor, multi-display) should work with Userful Multiplier. Below is a partial list of untested cards which will likely work.

ATI
- Radeon™ X850
- Radeon™ X800
- Radeon™ X700
- Radeon™ X600
- Rage XL QUAD Display Card
NVIDIA
- e-GeForce 6200
- GeForce 7 Series
- GeForce 8 Series
- GeForce 9400
- GeForce 9500

If you have purchased a card (not listed in our "Known Incompatible" section below) with which you are encountering problems, please email us at multiplier@userful.com and we will work with you to help resolve the problem.

Known Incompatible

ATI
- Radeon™ X1050 and above Series
- Radeon™ HD Series
NVIDIA
- GeForce FX 5900
- GeForce 9600 and above Series
- GeForce 200 Series

Please do not purchase or contact Userful support regarding these video cards. We expect support for these video cards will be included in future releases. However, they are currently not supported.

Typically a 10 station system with one monitor each can be built using five dual head video cards.

Note: The default "mga/nv" display drivers included with X.Org/XFree86 do not provide adequate multi-head support. To use dual head Matrox or NVIDIA video cards, refer to Appendix B and C to install vendor's proprietary driver.

Supported Video Cards for Dual View

The following video cards have been successfully tested with Dual View in our lab. Note that the Dual View is only supported on ATI and NVIDIA cards at this time. If you require Dual View support for specific ATI/NVIDIA cards not in the list, please contact us at: 1-866-USERFUL (873-7385).

ATI - Radeon 7000, 7500, 9200, 9250, X300, X550
NVIDIA - GeForce MX440, FX5200, 6600 (PCIE) 7200/7300 and Quadro FX 500/600

Installing Userful Multiplier

Requirements

Prior to installing Userful Multiplier on your existing Linux system, you will need to add enough video cards and USB ports to provide a video head for each station. We recommend using USB keyboards with an integrated USB hub to easily connect each station's mouse (and other USB devices) to minimize the number of devices connected to the central system. If a USB hub is required, be sure to use a powered hub. Non-powered hubs may not provide sufficient power for all connected devices. Similarly, if you need to use extension cables ensure that the distance between the keyboard or other USB device and the computer/powered hub is not greater than 3 m (10 ft).

Getting Userful Multiplier

You can download the latest version from http://userful.com/download/ or copy the zip file of Userful Multiplier from DVD provided to hard disk.

Command Line Installation

Step 1: Position one USB keyboard and mouse combination for each workstation.

(Note: the built-in system PS/2 keyboard and mouse connections can be used to connect one station.)
Connect all cables to the back of the computer where you have installed the Userful Multiplier software, including Ethernet, monitors, USB keyboards and mice, printers, etc.
Power on all monitors and then turn on the multiplier computer.

Step 2: Start a terminal program.

Step 3: Unzip Userful Multiplier zip file with `unzip' command.

$ unzip userful-multiplier-<version>.zip

Step 4: `cd' to the newly created directory from Userful Multiplier zip file.

$ cd userful-multiplier

Step 5: Run `installer.sh' as root.

$ ./installer.sh

After the Userful Multiplier demo software installation has completed, you will need to reboot the computer to begin the automated configuration process and enable your additional stations.

Uninstalling Userful Multiplier software from your system should fully restore the original system configuration. See Uninstallation Procedure below for details.

Graphical Installation

Step 1: Open a file browser and find Userful Multiplier zip file (userful-multiplier-<version>.zip)

Step 2: Double-Click the zip file, then extract.

Step 3: Go to the newly created directory.

Step 4: Double-Click installer.sh, then choose `Run in Terminal' button.

Install Userful Multiplier with `Add/Remove tool' on Ubuntu system

For Graphical instruction, visit here: How_To/UMx/Userful_Multiplier_on_Ubuntu

Since Userful Multiplier is available from the Ubuntu Multiverse Repository, Ubuntu users can easily Userful Multiplier with the Add/Remove tool.

This is the easiest and recommended way for Ubuntu users to install Userful Multiplier.

Launch Add/Remove tool from the `Application' menu.
In the Show combobox, select All available applications.
Type in userful in the Search field.
Check Userful in the Application list.
Click on the Apply Changes button.
System will ask to confirm the action. Click Apply to download and install Userful Multiplier.
After installation is complete, reboot the computer.

Installing on Linspire

Userful Multiplier software is currently not compatible with LDM (the default display manager in Linspire Linux). Because Linspire does not provide any display management packages other than LDM, you will need to install the GDM package from the standard Debian repository before installing Userful Multiplier software on your Linspire system.

Installing GDM on Linspire:

Step 1: Uncomment the last two lines in the /etc/apt/sources.list file to install packages from the standard Debian distribution.

Step 2: Update the package index file.

$ apt-get update

Step 3: Install GDM package.

$ apt-get install gdm

Step 4: Continue with the normal installation process as described above under "Installation Process".

Note: Be sure to create a Guest user before installing Userful Multiplier as it disables the root login. You can also refer to your OS guide for enabling root login.

The next time the computer boots after installing the software, the Userful Multiplier system will automatically detect your video cards. After it detects your video cards, you will be promoted to assign monitors for use with Userful Multiplier's Dual View functionality. An on-screen wizard will guide you through the process and generate the required multi-user configuration files, after which the system may reboot for the changes to take effect.

Installing on Freespire

Userful Multiplier software is currently not compatible with LDM (the default display manager in Linspire Linux). You will need to install the GDM package before installing Userful Multiplier software on your Freespire system.

Installing GDM on Freespire:

Step 1: Update the package index file.

$ apt-get update

Step 2: Install GDM package.

$ apt-get install gdm

Step 3: Continue with the normal installation process as described above, under the heading "Installation Process".

Recommended BIOS settings

Enable all USB ports
Enable Legacy USB support. (Sometimes called "USB keyboard support"), otherwise only the PS/2 keyboard will work during the Linux boot process.* Disable unnecessary integrated peripherals. Installing extra video cards increases strain on the PCI bus. Disabling any unneeded devices (e.g., serial ports, parallel ports, etc.,) in the BIOS can improve performance and compatibility.
For systems with an onboard graphics card using PCI cards
- Set the primary display card to the onboard or PEG (PCI-express)
For systems with an onboard grahpics card using PCI-express cards
- Disable the onboard card
Set to a 5 second power off (this ensures that someone intentionally and deliberately powers off the computer, and an inadvertent press on the power button wont reboot the machine and cause all connected users to loose their work).
For locked down desktops you can prevent users from changing boot options by:
- password protecting the BIOS
- disabling boot from CD, floppy, network, USB drives, etc.

Setting Screen Resolution

The first time Userful Multiplier starts, a text mode configuration tool enables you to set screen resolutions. If you need to change the screen resolutions at a later time, delete the /etc/X11/userful.Mxorg.conf file and restart X. The text mode configuration tool will once again activate, enabling you to set a new screen resolution, and create a new userful.Mxorg.conf file. Userful Multiplier supports resolutions of 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024.

Assigning keyboards and mice

Once the system has started, each workstation display will prompt you to press a function key (F-1 through F-10) on the keyboard in front of the monitor in order to link the correct keyboard to the specific monitor. Both a keyboard and a mouse are required in order to create a station. If the mouse is plugged into the USB keyboard (via an integrated hub in the keyboard) the mouse will be automatically assigned along with the keyboard when you press the correct function key. If you have the mouse plugged into a separate USB port, you will be prompted to press a button on the mouse in order to link it with the correct monitor and keyboard combination.

After setting up mice and keyboards, you may login to your desktop normally.

You may reassign keyboards and mice at any point by simply pressing the Ctrl-Alt-Break key combination or re-connecting the device by unplugging and re-connecting it to the USB port while the system is running. The assignment screen will automatically appear on top of your current desktop. No work will be lost, simply press the correct F-key and return to your desktop.

Note: You can identify unassigned keyboards by examining their LEDs. The LEDs on a unassigned keyboard will blink until the keyboard is assigned to a station.

Warning: Logging in concurrently to more than one station as the same user is not advised. It can cause unintended consequences to your system (e.g. corruption of your user settings). Most Linux distributions will warn you if you attempt to login as the same user on more than one station simultaneously. The screen will display a warning message such as "this user is already currently logged-in to the system".

Touch Screen Support and Calibration

Supported TouchScreen Devices

MicroTouch (3M) USB TouchScreen
- Vendor ID: 0x0596, Product ID: 0x0001
Elo TouchSystems TouchScreen
- Vendor ID: 0x04e7, Product ID: 0x0020
- Vendor ID: 0x04e7, Product ID: 0x0050

Note: If your touchscreen device is not in this list, it may still work. You need to edit the config file /etc/X11/userful.Nxorg.conf.

Calibration

The touch screen calibration wizard assumes all touch screens connected to the computer are of the same make and model.

Before starting the calibration procedure, all touch screens must be connected to the computer and powered on. If touch screens will not be used for all stations, make sure that a touch screen is connected to the first video head. The touch screen calibration tool will use the touch screen connected to the first video head as the basis for configuring all other touch screens connected to the computer.

Refer to the main Userful Multiplier readme to identify the location of the first video head on the computer.

On the first boot after installing Userful Multiplier, you will be prompted to press F1 on the first video head to start the calibration procedure. Only an "X" icon is displayed on the other heads.

When you are prompted to press F1, press the F1 key on your keyboard and touch the screen connected to the first head. This will link the keyboard and touch screen to the first video head.

Step 1 of 3: (Calibrate Screen Size)

In this step, touch the screen and drag your finger around the outermost edges of the screen.

Keep dragging your finger around the edges of the screen until the "Min" and "Max" value on the screen stop changing.

Step 2 of 3: (Align Touch Points)

This step fine-tunes the touch screen. Touch the red square as it appears in each of the 9 key points on the screen.

Step 3 of 3: (Verify Calibration)

This step verifies the current calibration. Touch the screen and drag your finger to confirm that the pointer follows your finger.

Press Y on your keyboard to accept current calibration, or
Press N if the cursor does not follow your finger.

Horizontal (X-axis) Test (Optional)

Drag your finger horizontally across the screen.

Press Y on your keyboard if the pointer follows your finger, or
Press N to flip the X-axis.

Vertical (Y-axis) Test (Optional)

Drag your finger vertically up and down the screen.

Press Y on your keyboard if the pointer follows your finger, or
Press N to flip the Y-axis.

This concludes the touch-screen calibration process. If you wish to recalibrate the touch screens at a later date, you may do so by deleting the /etc/X11/userful.Mxorg.conf file.

Licensing Userful Multiplier

To enable the full version of Userful Multiplier, you need to purchase a valid license for the desired number of stations on each computer that you wish to use the software on. This may be done through an automated registration process by clicking the Userful menu choice (typically located in the Applications > System Tools menu tree) and following the instructions, or by contacting your Userful Authorized Partner who can assist you with your purchase and optionally send you an Activation Code or License Key via email.

FAQs On License Keys & Activation Codes

Q: What if I want to increase the number of stations in my license key?

A: The Licensing System keeps a record of the number of stations assigned/allowed for your hardware. Should you need to add an extra station simply contact your Userful Authorized Partner who will increase the number of stations available to you on the Licensing System for this hardware. Provided the initial key you have was purchased and was issued by an Authorized Partner, you can increase the number of stations simply by paying the difference between your initial purchase price and the current price for the full number of seats. After this you simply re-download the license key and it will then have the correct number of stations.

Q: How do I get a new license key?

A: If Userful support tells you to re-download the license key, you can do this at any time.

Once you receive your emailed license, you must then manually copy the purchased license file ##:##:##:##:##:##.1box.info or just 1box.info into the /etc/X11 folder on your Linux system and restart the computer.

Note: This license file is typically unique to the specific system it is deployed on and will not work on any other system. For other licensing scenarios and options please contact your Userful Authorized Partner or a Userful representative.

Using Userful Multiplier

Special Key Combinations

Two useful key combinations are available to users:

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace

This key combination resets the current station, returning it to the login screen.

Ctrl-Alt-Break

Pressing this key combination on a keyboard unlinks the keyboard (and any connected mice) from the station to which it was assigned. Once the link is broken, the station to which it was formerly assigned will prompt for the assignment of a keyboard.

Toggling Between Regular X and Multi-Station X

You can toggle between the regular X and multi-station X. This is useful if you for example want to have a single user with multiple monitors during the day, then multiple users each with thier own monitor at night. You can do this graphically by toggling the checkbox in the Control Panel or by using the terminal command userful multistation -{enable|disable} or manually by updating /etc/sysconfig/xtype, Set the “XTYPE” to “MULTI” or “SINGLE” to enable multi-station X, or regular X, respectively. The change will take effect from the next reboot.

For multi-station X:
```
XTYPE=MULTI
```
For regular X:
```
XTYPE=SINGLE
```

Blacklist for Input Devices

You can make unwanted input devices stop working with Userful Multiplier by adding them to the blacklist file input-blacklist. Any devices listed in this file will be ignored by Userful Multiplier.

File Path: /etc/userful/input-blacklist
Entry Format: Vendor_ID Product_ID Device_type "Description"

Example: You might add a line that looks like this:

05D5  6782  2  "Super Gate Technology, built-in mouse"

Comments: A line starting with # is treated as a comment. For example:
```
# This is a comment
```

Multimedia and Storage Devices Support

Note: You need extra packages to support multimedia and storage devices with Userful Multiplier. Please contact your Userful account representative to get the extra packages.

Multimedia and storage devices can be assigned to a station and operated independently with Userful Multiplier by installing extra packages provided by Userful. Storage devices can optionally be shared by all stations.

Supported multimedia devices currently include audio devices, and supported storage devices include floppy, optical drives and flash memory.

Distro [ edit ]	Multimedia Devices	Storage Devices
Ubuntu 6.06, 6.10	Yes	--
Fedora 4	Yes	--
Fedora 6	Yes	Yes
openSuSE 10.1	Yes	Yes
SLED 10	Yes	Yes

Uninstall Procedure

To uninstall the Userful Multiplier software, cd into the folder where the installation package is unzipped, and run the uninstall script as "root"

$ ./uninstaller.sh

Optionally, you can uninstall the Userful Multiplier software manually. To manually uninstall Userful Multiplier, run the following commands as "root".

For RPM based systems:

$ rpm -e 1box-utils-k26
$ rpm -e mx11r7

For DEB package based systems:

$ dpkg -r 1box-utils-k26
$ dpkg -r mx11r7

For UMx version >= 320

Instead of removing 1box-utils-k26, you have to remove umx-utils

For UMx version >= 323

Instead of removing mx11r7, you have to remove umx-server

After uninstalling Userful Multiplier, you will need to reboot the computer to return to the previous single-user Linux system configuration.

Known Limitations

(Inherent to simultaneous multi-station systems.)

Blank screen saver recommended

Some graphical screen savers can consume 99% of CPU resources. Since Userful Multiplier software is a multi-user system and other users may be working, we highly recommend using only a blank screen or a very simple screen saver.

Homogeneous graphics chipsets recommended

While it is possible to support a heterogeneous mix of video chipsets within a single computer box, for example by mixing ATI, NVIDIA and Matrox cards, such a configuration is not recommended as it is not possible for us to directly test and support all possible combinations. Using multiple video cards and monitors that do not share all the same characteristics and X drivers creates additional and unnecessary complexity. Therefore, we recommend keeping your evaluation and production environments as simple as possible and using a single graphics chipset for all video cards within the Useful Multiplier computer.

3D Acceleration not supported on multiple video cards

Using multiple and/or dual-headed video cards in Linux prevents software such as video games from using 3D acceleration properly. This is not a Userful Multiplier specific issue, but a limitation of the Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI) within the current X-server system. XFree86 does not support DRI acceleration on multiple video cards. XFree86 extensions not dependent on DRI should work, for example 2D acceleration is supported.

VT switching

Switching between virtual terminals in X (pressing Ctrl-Alt-F1) is disabled by default in Userful's Userful Multiplier multi-station system. This limitation prevents a user interfering with users working on other stations.

Reboot and shutdown permissions

Users should typically not have permission to shutdown or reboot a shared computer as this could interrupt other users. The display of "shutdown" and "reboot" options to the user and their functionality are controlled by the specific desktop environment's logout dialog and greeter. Examples follow:

Logout dialog: Gnome offers only the "logout" option, however KDE presents reboot and shutdown options. However, in KDE, reboot or shutdown only takes effect after all users have logged out.

Greeter: Both KDM and GDM offer shutdown and reboot options. With Userful Multiplier, GDM will ignore the shutdown request, KDM behaves as above (shuts down after everyone has logged out).

RADEON 7000 with SMP kernel

Certain combinations of Linux distributions and motherboards have known issues with multiple RADEON 7000 cards using the 2.6 SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) Linux Kernel. If you are using SMP with RADEON 7000 and encounter problems, we recommend switching to a non SMP kernel. This is a bug with the RADEON driver and is not specific to Userful's software.

Boot messages only display on the primary video display

BIOS and Linux boot messages will only display on the primary video adapter. On some dual head cards this is two monitors, but for the most part it will only display on a single monitor. It is important to connect a monitor to this primary head to display these messages. On motherboards with on-board video (video hardware built into the motherboard), typically the BIOS will be set to use the on-board video head by default. We generally recommend that motherboard/main-board/on-board video be disabled in the BIOS for Userful Multiplier systems.

CPU architecture support

This binary distribution only supports the x86 architecture. Contact us if you need support for additional architectures.

Multimedia keys on keyboards are not supported

Utilities that enable multimedia keys in Linux may not be reliable when multiple keyboards are connected to the system.

Additional keyboard map support

The kernel layout map for individual keyboards is ignored by Userful Multiplier. Hence the X configuration and/or keyboard mappings created by hardware detection and configuration tools such as Kudzu are ignored. At the greeter screen, all keyboards are mapped to the default system language which is usually the language you selected when installing Linux. Most greeters allow login language selection and most desktop sessions (Gnome, KDE, etc) have tools to change keyboard layouts. Using a greeter to change language and keyboard layout selections behaves as expected.

XVidMode extension support

Single-chip dual-head ATI video cards are not compatible with the XVidMode extension. XVidMode extension is disabled on ATI video cards by default when using Userful Multiplier.

Unstable USB 2 support in Linux Kernel

We recommend disabling USB 2 support (sometimes referred to as “Enhanced USB” or “High Speed USB”) in the BIOS since the current USB 2 Kernel module is unstable under some circumstances. USB 2 devices may be used in Userful Multiplier, but only at USB 1 speeds.

Monitors should remain connected to dual head NVIDIA cards (can lead to X crash or dropped output from 2nd head)

Ensure a monitor is connected to each video head before turning on the computer, and optionally that the monitors are turned on. Some NVIDIA cards will not display to the second head if there is no monitor connected at boot time. Sometimes, disconnecting the 2nd monitor can even cause X to crash.

System instability with NVIDIA driver

There is a known issue regarding system instability using NVIDIA video drivers with kernel 2.6.11-rc3 or lower. If you experience random reboot or kernel panics using the NVIDIA driver, please ensure that your kernel version is 2.6.11-rc3 or higher.

Kernel virtual address space exhaustion on the X86 platform with multiple NVIDIA cards

On X86 systems and AMD64/EM64T systems using X86 kernels, only 4GB of virtual address space are available, which the Linux kernel typically partitions such that user processes are allocated 3GB, the kernel itself 1GB. Part of the kernel's share is used to create a direct mapping of system memory (RAM). Depending on how much system memory is installed, the kernel virtual address space remaining for other uses varies in size and may be as small as 128MB, if 1GB of system memory (or more) are installed. By default, the kernel reserves a minimum of 128MB.

The kernel virtual address space still available after the creation of the direct system memory mapping is used by both the kernel and by drivers to map I/O resources, and for some memory allocations. Depending on the number of consumers and their respective requirements, the Linux kernel's virtual address space may be exhausted. Newer Linux kernels print an error message of the form shown below when this happens:

allocation failed: out of vmalloc space - use vmalloc=<size> to increase size.

The NVIDIA kernel module requires portions of the kernel's virtual address space for each GPU and for certain memory allocations. If no more than 128MB are available to the kernel and device drivers at boot time, the NVIDIA kernel module may be unable to initialize all GPUs, or fail memory allocations. This is not usually a problem with only 1 or 2 GPUs, however depending on the number of other drivers and their usage patterns, it can be; it is likely to be a problem with 3 or more GPUs.

Possible solutions for this problem include:

If available, the 'vmalloc' kernel parameter can be used to increase the size of the kernel virtual address space reserved by the Linux kernel (the default is 128MB). It is recommended to raise this value in increments to find the best balance between the size of the kernel virtual address space made available and the size of the direct system memory mapping. You can achieve this by passing 'vmalloc=192M', 'vmalloc=256MB', ..., to the kernel and checking if the above error message continues to be printed.
```
   title     Kernel Title
   uppermem  524288
   kernel    (hdX,Y)/boot/vmlinuz...
```

Please also note that the 'vmalloc' kernel parameter only exists on Linux 2.6.9 and later kernels. On older kernels, the amount of system memory used by the kernel can be reduced with the 'mem' kernel parameter, which also reduces the size of the direct mapping and thus increases the size of the kernel virtual address space available. For example, 'mem=512M' instructs the kernel to ignore all but the first 512MB of system memory. Although it is undesirable to reduce the amount of usable system memory, this approach can be used to check if initialization problems are caused by kernel virtual address space exhaustion.

In some cases, disabling frame buffer drivers such as vesafb can help, as such drivers may attempt to map all or a large part of the installed graphics cards' video memory into the kernel's virtual address space, which rapidly consumes this resource. You can disable the vesafb frame buffer driver by passing these parameters to the kernel: 'video=vesa:off vga=normal'.

Some Linux kernels can be configured with alternate address space layouts (e.g. 2.8GB:1.2GB, 2GB:2GB, etc.). This option can be used to avoid exhaustion of the kernel virtual address space without reducing the size of the direct system memory mapping. Some Linux distributors also provide kernels that use seperate 4GB address spaces for user processes and the kernel. Such Linux kernels provide sufficient kernel virtual address space on typical systems.

If your system is equipped with an X86-64 (AMD64/EM64T) processor, it is recommended that you switch to a 64-bit Linux kernel/distribution. Due to the significantly larger address space provided by the X86-64 processors' addressing capabilities, X86-64 kernels will not run out of kernel virtual address space in the foreseeable future.

Known Issues (to be addressed in future releases)

Both keyboard and mouse are required for station assignment

Currently it is not possible to link just a mouse to a screen. Hence, currently a keyboard is required even for touch-screen or mouse-only kiosks. Mouse-only assignment will be supported in a future release. Keyboard-only stations are currently possible, as the mouse can be unplugged after a station has been assigned without unlinking the keyboard (e.g., without the "press F1" overlay re-appearing).

No support for third-party X configuration file editing tools

Userful Multiplier software uses a default screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels at a standard color depth of 16 bits for all stations. Lower resolutions are automatically used for monitors that do not support this level of resolution. This default configuration may be changed by manually editing the Userful Multiplier X config file(/etc/X11/userful.Mxorg.conf for both X.Org and XFree86 based systems). Only edit config files if you fully understand what you are doing. Userful does not provide support related to user-edited X config files. This config file is automatically re-generated whenever changes are made to the graphics cards, hence if you add or remove graphics cards, you will need to re-apply your customizations.

Note: Some dual-head video cards do not support using different resolutions on each head. It is recommended to use the same resolution and color depth settings for all stations on your Userful Multiplier system.

DVI Support

The default Userful Multiplier configuration will set all outputs of a video card to VGA. A DVI-to-VGA adapter will be required for using DVI ports with the default configuration. DVI connections are also supported if you are using either ATI Radeon cards or NVIDIA cards by changing the /etc/X11/userful.Mxorg.conf manually.

To use DVI connections in your ATI Radeon cards, follow the instructions below:
1. Open /etc/X11/userful.Mxorg.conf with a text editor.
2. In every "Device" section of the file, change
```
Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT, CRT"
```
  to
```
Option "MonitorLayout" "TMDS, TMDS"
```
3. Save and close the file.
4. On the next reboot, both DVI and VGA ports will be enabled.

To use dual-head and DVI connections on your NVIDIA card, NVIDIA's proprietary driver should be installed first. See the information about installing NVIDIA drivers in Appendix C of this document. Follow the instructions below to enable DVI connection(s):
1. Open /etc/X11/userful.Mxorg.conf with a text editor.
2. In every "Device" section of the file, change
```
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT,CRT"
```
  to
```
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT,DFP"
```
3. Save and close the file.
4. On the next reboot, both DVI and VGA ports will be enabled.

Monitors on Dual View stations must be connected to the same video card

Both monitors that form a Dual View station must be connected to ports on the same video card. This is a limitation with some chipsets which may be addressed with workarounds in drivers in a future release.

No support for XineramaInfo in NVIDIA Dual View

XineramaInfo is not supported in the NVIDIA Dual View configuration. Without this support, X will treat two screens as a single big screen, which may cause some unintended results, such as:

Showing login messages at the center of display (half on the left screen and the other half on the right screen).
Maximizing a window over two screens.

Virtualization

Some X Server operations have not yet been fully "virtualized". This means not all aspects of X's functionality work the same in a multi-user environment as they would in a single user environment. The X Resize and Rotate extension (RandR) which allows users to change monitor resolutions has been disabled. Display power management system (DPMS) is not currently supported. And the Gnome screen magnifier does not yet work.

Mandrake's display manager, MDKDM, does not work

Userful Multiplier is currently not compatible with MDKDM (the default display manager in Mandrake Linux). The Userful Multiplier installer will disable MDKDM, and enable another supported Display Manager (e.g. GDM, KDM or XDM).

Linspire/Freespire's display manager, ldm, does not work

Userful Multiplier is currently not compatible with ldm (the default display manager in Linspire/Freespire Linux). The Userful Multiplier installer will disable ldm, and enable another supported Display Manager (GDM).

Debian-based systems only support keyboards with English-language layouts

Keyboards layouts for other languages are not supported by Userful Multiplier under Debian at this time.

X stability issues using multiple Dual View configurations

If you are using more than two graphics cards and configure them as Dual View, the X server may crash at the end of the startup procedure. This is caused by incorrect probing of the RAM size for the graphics cards. In this case, you will need to manually specify the correct RAM size of your graphics card by adding a “VideoRam” line to the device section of the /etc/X11/userful.Mxorg.conf file.

For example, if the RAM size of the graphics card is 16 Megabytes, add following line into the device section in /etc/X11/userful.Mxog.conf:

VideoRam  16384

KDM login screen doesn't appear on the center of display in Kubuntu 6.06 and 7.04

This is not a functional problem. The KDM login screen appears a little to the right, below center, when a user logs out of a session.

Mouse problem with VNC connection

The mouse doesn't work with VNC and Userful Multiplier at this time.

Administrative tasks don't work on Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10

PolicyKit/Consolekit has been integrated into the administrative user interfaces on Ubuntu 8.04. Although PolicyKit/Consolekit allows fine-grained control over user permissions and enhances security, it is in the early stages of development and doesn't work well in a multi-seat environment. For example, users-admin, Users Administration Tool, doesn't work with its default policy. To give the administrator the authorization for administrative tasks, the following policy setting for the administrator needs be added into /etc/PolicyKit/PolicyKit.conf:

 <match user="name_of_admin_user">
 <return result="yes"/>
 </match>

name_of_admin_user should be the login name of the administrator. Please refer to http://hal.freedesktop.org/docs/PolicyKit/PolicyKit.conf.5.html for more information on PolicyKit.conf.

Technical Support

Reporting a Bug Via the Control Panel

There is a Report Bug button at the bottom of the Control Panel. This is the best way to send this information to Userful support staff.

If you have any questions or problems please contact us:

http://userful.com/support/issue
Voice: (403) 289-2177 ext. 2
Fax: (403) 206-7010
e-mail: support@userful.com

To get help quickly, it is important to be as specific as possible about your problem.

Be sure to include the following information:

Operating system: (ex: Fedora Core 2)
Version numbers of 1box-utils-k26 and 1box-server-xorg packages installed
Video card: The make and model of your VGA video card(s), along with the total number of video ports installed on your system.
Detailed description of your problem or question
Computer information: CPU type/speed, motherboard make/model, and installed memory
Any kernel or X, or X.Org/XFree86 configuration file changes you have made

Reporting a Bug Via the Command Line

Sometimes the GUI (Graphical User Interface) is not available for some reason. In this case, debug info can also be submitted by opening a terminal, switching to root, and running the command line version of the program like this:

$ userful debug -submit

Copyrights, Licenses and Trademarks

Userful Multiplier is commercial software and contains proprietary, patent-pending intellectual property. See the Userful-EULA.txt file for full terms of the license agreement.

Trademarks

Userful®, Desktop Multiplier®, and DiscoverStation® are a registered trademarks of Userful Corporation in the US and other countries.

Userful Multiplier™, Userful Manager™, Network Personalizer™, Usage Tracker™, DiscoverPrint™, DiscoverAssist™, Pre-Book™, Userful Desktop™, Desktop Server™, Turn 1 PC into Ten™, Manage & Multiply your Desktops™ 1-Box™, are trademarks of Userful Corporation.

Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. NVIDIA® is a trademark of NVIDIA Corporation. Intel® is a trademark of Intel Corporation. AMD® and ATI® are trademarks of AMD Inc. Matrox® is a trademark of Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd. X.Org is a trademark of X.Org Foundation. XFree86® is a trademark of The XFree86 Project, Inc. X Window System, and Xinerama are trademarks of the Open Group. Linspire® is a trademark of Linspire Inc. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Software Copyright and Permissions Notice

This software includes X Window System source code licensed under the MIT X Window System License, http://www.x.org/Downloads_terms.html

Disclaimer

Userful trial software comes without warranty or guarantee. By using this software, you acknowledge that Userful Corporation is not responsible for any damage resulting from its use.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR HOLDERS INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, OR ANY SPECIAL INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY. THE ENTIRE RISK IS ASSUMED BY YOU. WE HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CLAIMS BY A THIRD PARTY. OUR MAXIMUM LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR THE PRODUCT.

Appendices

Appendix A: Key config files updated during UMx installation and first bootup

During the installation and first bootup, Userful Multiplier creates it's own X config file and updates startup procedure and the config file of Display Manager.

Startup Procedure

Userful Multiplier updates /etc/inittab to start Userful's Multi-X in the end of the startup. For the Linux distros using Upstart instead of inittab like Ubuntu, DM adds a new task, dm-start, into /etc/event.d directory.

dm.conf

dm.conf is the main configuration of Userful Multiplier located at /etc/userful directory. Please see the file for more information.

X config file for UMx

Userful Multiplier starts Userful's Multi-X instead of normal Xorg for it's X server. Multi-X uses /etc/X11/userful.Mxorg.conf as the config file.

gdm.conf for GDM

Userful Multiplier updates gdm.conf to support multiple stations from a single Multi-X server. Instead of handling the real X server, Userful Multiplier updates gdm.conf so that GDM uses Login Server for each station. The Login Server is a dummy X server that Userful developed for Userful Multiplier.

Appendix B: Installing Matrox's proprietary driver

Support for the second head on Matrox cards requires Matrox's proprietary driver. Please follow the instructions below to install the driver with Userful Multiplier:

Install Userful Multiplier if you have not already done so.
Download Matrox's proprietary driver for your card from http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/drivers/
Open a terminal program.
Extract the downloaded file:
```
$ tar xvfz <file name>
```
Change directory to the newly created directory:
```
$ cd <directory name>
```
Run Userful's install script:
```
$ userful driver -install matrox
```
Reboot the system.

Appendix C: Installing NVIDIA's proprietary driver

To support dual-head properly on NVIDIA cards, NVIDIA's proprietary driver should be used instead of the built-in nv driver. The correct NVIDIA driver for each GPU chipset can be found at http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/100.14.11/README/appendix-a.html .

There are two methods to install the NVIDIA driver and kernel module:

Easy Install with package manager (Recommended Approach)-- Major Linux vendors such as openSUSE, Fedora and Ubuntu provide pre-compiled packages and easy methods to install the NVIDIA driver and kernel module on their distros. (Please see the below links)
Recompiling the NVIDIA kernel module -- download the NVIDIA INSTALLER and follow the instructions at http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html .

Fedora Core 6

http://www.fedoraguide.info/index.php?title=Fedora6#How_to_install_Graphics_Driver_.28NVIDIA.29

Fedora 8

Please run following commands to setup Livna repository and install NVIDIA driver. Refer to http://www.fedoraguide.info/index.php?title=Fedora8#Nvidia for more information.

$ rpm -i http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-8.rpm
$ yum update
$ yum install kmod-nvidia

On your Ubuntu Desktop, open System >> Administration >> Hardware Drivers

Select NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (version 173) and press Activate button.

Appendix D: The Userful Command Line Tool

There are a lot of commands related to Userful Multipler. Since each command has a different name and usage, it may be hard to find the right command for a task. Here is some brief documentation for the Userful Command Line tool which combines all commands into a single interface. The command will be updated and extended as needed and the documentation will also be available as a Linux man page. (The man page for this tool is not yet available.)

NAME

     userful - Userful command line tool


SYNOPSIS

     userful command [command_opts] [command_args]


DESCRIPTION

     Userful Multiplier is a set of software that extend the X Window System
     to support up to 10 fully independent and concurrent workstations using
     a single computer box.

     The userful program is a command line tool to use the various Userful
     Multiplier commands from the shell.  It can be used for:
      
      - Creation of X config
      - Controlling of Video cards and input devices 
      - Handling of debug information
      - Getting/displaying license
      - Handling of general settings


COMMAND SUMMARY

     The userful program provides a variety of commands, each of which has
     different options and arguments.

     xconfig - Handling X config file

        SYNOPSIS
               userful xconfig [OPTION]
               
                OPTIONS:
                        -h       - Print help message
                        -gen     - Generate an X config file for Userful
                                   Multiplier
                        -show    - Display the X config file
                        -remove  - Remove the X config file

     video   - Video cards control

        SYNOPSIS
               userful video [OPTION]
                
                OPTIONS:
                        -h       - Print help message
                        -show    - Probe and display all video cards
                        -blacklist  [opt] [arg]  - Maniplate blacklist
                        -whitelist  [opt] [arg]  - Maniplate whitelist 
 
     input   - Input devices control

        SYNOPSIS
              userful input [OPTION]

               OPTIONS:
                       -h        - Print help message
                       -reset    - Unlink the assignment of all input
                                   devices
                       -static   - Enable/disable static config type

     debug   - Creating/submitting debug info

        SYNOPSIS
              userful debug [OPTION]
    
               OPTIONS:
                       -h       - Print help message
                       -submit  - Submit debug information to Userful
                                  Support

     license - Getting/displaying license
 
        SYNOPSIS
              Not implemented yet

     driver - Handling video drivers (Only one fuction for now: Installing
              Matrox driver)
  
        SYNOPSIS
              userful driver [OPTION]
               
               OPTIONS:
                       -h               - Print help message
                       -install matrox  - Install Matrox driver 

     multistation - Toggling between multistation and singlestation

        SYNOPSIS
              userful multistation [OPTION]
  
               OPTIONS:
                       -h        - Print help message
                       -enable   - Enable multistation
                       -disable  - Disable multistation (Enable
                                   singlestation)

    ctrlaltbreak - Enable/disable Ctrl-Alt-Break functionality. (Default: 
                   Enabled)

        SYNOPSIS
              userful ctrlaltbreak [OPTION]

               OPTIONS:
                       -h        - Print this help message
                       -enable   - Enable Ctrl-Alt-Break functionality
                       -disable  - Disable Ctrl-Alt-Break functionality

Appendix E: PAM configuration

Due to security reasons, Userful Multiplier updates the permission and ownership of X sockets. When a session starts, the ownership of current X socket needs to be assigned to the current login user. This can be achieved by adding a new required line into the end of the PAM configuration of current Display Manager as follow:

session    required     pam_xconsole.so

Userful wrote pam_xconsole PAM module for this purpose and the PAM configuration of current Display Manager can be found in /etc/pam.d/ directory like gdm and kdm, for GdM and KDM, respectively.

Retrieved from "http://support.userful.com/wiki/index.php/Manuals/UMx/User_Guide"

Categories: Userful Multiplier | Manuals