<font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Here is a summary of the selected hardware:</font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">ASUS M4A79 Mainboard with Quad x8 PCI slots</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">AMD Phenom X4 955 Quad Core CPU</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">8GB of OCZ DDR2 1066 Memory</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">2x OCZ 30 GB Solid State Disks with Linux RAID</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">4x </font><span style="font-size: 13px; color: rgb(58, 58, 58); line-height: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Radeon HD 3450 HDMI video cards</font></span></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">4x 24" widescreen HD monitors with HDMI</font></span></font></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">4x USB hubs</font></span></font></div><div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">4x Logitech USB Keyboard/Mice sets</font></span></font></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></font></div><div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, this hardware is way overkill for a student lab. But since it services 4 students at once, I wanted to build something beefy. Besides, building fast computers is fun.</font></span></font></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></font></div><div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Here is a summary of the configuration:</font></span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3A3A3A"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3A3A3A"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 12px;"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Ubuntu 9.04 64bit</font></span></font></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(58, 58, 58); line-height: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">xorg.conf configured with statically-assigned keyboards and mice (so that the same seat has a consistent set)</font></span></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">gdm.conf configured to start 4 XServers, tied to the correct video cards</font></span></font></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">sound is piped through the HDMI cable to the monitor, which has a headphone jack</font></span></font></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></font></div><div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
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</span></font></div><div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">At first, we struggled with the video card on the first seat (which hosts the INT10 interrupt) with "interfering" with the other seats. Once we added the "dummy" seat per the community documentation, things were better. Seat-to-seat interference is the major gotcha with this technique, and takes patience to iron out.</font></span></font></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></font></div><div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Sound is another issue, with getting it to the correct seat. However, a kid in Australia has figured it out (we have not yet implemented, but plan to): </font></span></font></div>
<div><font color="#3A3A3A"><span style="line-height:12px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></font></div><div><a href="http://jeremy.visser.name/2009/08/03/multiseat-tips/"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">http://jeremy.visser.name/2009/08/03/multiseat-tips/</font></a></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">So, the technique is not perfect, and not for the feint of heart. But rewarding in the end.</font></div>