I'm going to trample on well-travelled jargon here, so please don't get too hung up on the exact words.
I have a desktop that I use in a multiseat configuration. Two graphics cards, two monitors, two sets of peripherals and two seats. This allows me to do work on my side, and the kids and better half can slum it on the other screen. This actually works really well, up to the point where there is contention over the other seat.
We need to find a better way to switch users on their seat. The following options don't work well.
- The "Switch User" feature works but it's not automatic and it leaves everything active in the background. Not great when it's minecraft that's using 400% CPU.
- Logouts can be automated but they close everything and destroy state. You can restore running applications but it's up to them to preserve their state.
- Session sharing (ie one login to rule them all) has caused physical fights and doesn't guarantee that what you were doing before, won't have had a toddler smashing her mucky little hands over by the time you return.
I want to sleep or hibernate sessions so that they use no CPU while they're away and when they came back, it was like they'd never left. The main system has to stay on. My seat has to stay on.
I am open to alternatives away from traditional desktop paradigms. The only way I can even dream of hacking this up is via a series of VMs that spin up and hibernate as required. Aside all the glue required to make this work, it also means a performance penalty and me maintaining multiple installs.
There are so many questions around these words that have nothing to do with what I actually want, but I also can't imagine that this isn't a desirable feature in a network of roaming profiles (no we don't have this - yet). Everything I find is either about system-wide hibernation, or biology.
