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Mike
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Is it possible to split a single monitor into multiple virtual X11 outputs, so that I have 2 i3bars and can display 2 workspaces simultaneously side by side?

My use case is being able to keep one workspace (or set of windows) visible while I switch through another, while only have one monitor.

If it's not possible in the way I described, I can think of an approach that might work. I'd always stay in one workspace. Instead of switching between workspaces, I'll have 2 side-by-side containers, each in tabbed mode. In terms of layout, I think this perfectly represents my goal (other than wasting some vertical space for i3bar plus the top titlebars). But it feels like it would be very cumbersome to use, since I'd lose the convenience of hotkeys for "workspace 1" or "move container to workspace 1". If this is the closest approach, is there something I could script up to get similar functioning hotkeys?

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answered 2013-07-24 15:59:57 +0000

Michael
3081 ●13 ●28 ●50 http://i3wm.org/

An undocumented and not encouraged way to achieve what you want can be found at https://faq.i3wm.org/question/1659/fo...

That said, there is no better way, and it is such a niche-feature that there likely won’t be one in the future either.

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answered 2013-07-24 17:14:35 +0000

V0id
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updated 2013-07-24 17:16:12 +0000

Maybe not optimal, but once you have setup your left / right containers, you could:

create marks (with a specific pattern, eg w1_l and w1_r for workspace 1) on both left and right containers,
have some bindsyms like:

bindsym $mod+Shift+Left exec --no-startup-id i3focus.sh l

bindsym $mod+Shift+Right exec --no-startup-id i3focus.sh r

with i3focus.sh being something like (untested, incomplete, but you get the idea):

#!/bin/sh
# TODO parse
#    i3-msg -t get_workspaces
# to retrieve the focused workspace number
focused_workspace_num=1
i3-msg "[con_mark=w${focused_workspace_num}_$1] focus, focus child"

This would allow you to quickly switch between left and right containers.