As of IGEL Universal Desktop Linux version 4.14.100 and version 5.06.100, Shared Workplace allows user-specific screen resolutions and configurations. Resolution, layout, refresh rate, rotation, number of screens, monitor connectors (DVI, VGA, ...) can be set per user, but color depth cannot.

There are technical limitations to user-specific settings: For VIA graphics drivers/hardware, the maximum desktop size is set in the Screen section of the X configuration file. The name and location of the X configuration file depend on the firmware version:
  • IGEL Linux version 10: /config/Xserver/xorg.conf-0
  • IGEL Linux version 5: /config/Xserver/xorg.conf-0 or /etc/X11/xorg.conf (this is a symbolic link that points to /config/Xserver/xorg.conf-0)

    In the Screen section of the above-mentioned configuration file, you can find a line such as Virtual 1920 1200. The size defined here cannot be changed dynamically; it is a hard limit for the overall desktop size.

Best Practice

It is recommended to set the initial desktop configuration to the maximum number of screens and the resolutions to Autodetect. This way, the user-specific resolutions will not be restricted.

Debugging

If the total framebuffer size of the user-specific resolutions exceeds the limits of the Virtual [width] [height] setting from /config/Xserver/xorg.conf-0 (or /etc/X11/xorg.conf), the user-specific resolutions cannot be activated and the screen configurations are not changed dynamically.

There is no warning dialog or anything else to alert the user to this restriction. But you can find related log messages via journalctl or in /var/log/messages:

XRANDR: ERROR: CANNOT APPLY CHANGES ->

XRANDR: ERROR: -> Selected modes ([width]x[height]) would exceed the maximum framebuffer size ([width]x[height])