Run Another X Window as Another User?

[Todd Zullinger]

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Mark Sargent wrote:
> Tim wrote:
>>I thought it was more than just "console issues", as you don't get
>>sound, either.  And what about when you plug in hotplugable items
>>(flash drives, etc.), which user gets to own them?
> Hi All,
> 
> so this sound issue hasn't been resolved yet? That's pretty ordinary
> for such a mature distro(or is it more to do with the Desktop
> developers?). 

I have sound working fine on a multi-user system with fast user
switching enabled.  I had to rebuild the gnome-screensaver rpm with
the patch removing user switching, build an rpm for the fast user
switching applet, and adjust the console permissions in
/etc/security/console.perms.  I spent more time reading up to find out
why this feature was removed than I spent to add it back after
deciding the reasons for removing it didn't apply in my situation.

> How am I to convince others to leave Windows when this kind of stuff
> still lags behind? Cheers.

As Tim pointed out (far more succinctly than I'll manage to), I'd
point them at the many ways that Linux has surpassed Windows.

For example, I've yet to see a linux box that was brought to a crawl
upon startup due to adware, malware, virii, etc.  This happens all the
time to the windows computers I get stuck helping people fix.

Perhaps windows has a few features that it would be nice to have in
linux, but it's clear that the windows developers spend more time on
the little graphical features than they do on core security.  For
$DEITY's sake, they're just now looking to roll out vista with the
concept of not running with admin privileges. [1]

I understand where the Fedora/Redhat folks are coming from regarding
the permissions issues for device ownership and I'm glad that they
aren't implementing this feature before resolving them in a sane way
that can apply to many types of use scenarios.

I'm also glad that I have enough freedom to tinker with my Fedora
system so that I can change this on the particular systems I setup
where the users will benefit more from the feature of fast user
switching than they will be hindered or compromised by the device
permissions issues.  That's a freedom you will not find in any version
of windows, even at an outrageous price.

In short, if others value bells and whistles over a system that
actually runs reliably without security nightmares and expensive addon
antivirus and firewall software, then let them stay with windows.  I'm
certainly happy I switched a long time ago and the friends I've setup
linux boxes for have no complaints.

[1] http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/

- -- 
Todd        OpenPGP -> KeyID: 0xD654075A | URL: www.pobox.com/~tmz/pgp
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The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong
to be broken
    -- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

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