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Soft Logout in OSX Possible?

Kwyjibo

Kwyjibo

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 5, 2002
3,809
0
Hi~ I'm a former winxp user switched to an iBook. So far I love OSX but i have one feature that kind of bothers me. I like to log out of my account but in XP they had a feature that allowed you to "soft log out" of an account so that all your programs were still active and work was still saved but the account was secure. I would love to do this OSx so that my programs are still running and that i still had some of my website still open. Is this possible?
 
Re: Soft Logout in OSX Possible?

i'm not familiar w/ this feature. does it allow anyone else to work on the machine? if not, what's the difference between this and locking the screen?
 
YES, fast user switching i think. Yes you can logout, the account is still active and other users can login/logout as the please. It also cool for downloading stuff because i can leave my username running something and my family can use the peecee. So is it possible on the mac?
 
Mac OS X doesn't support it

As far as i can tell, thats the only one advantage/innovation XP have which Mac OS X doesn't have. all other feature in XP are ripoff of OS X. I heard that the next version of MS OS - Longhorn have a dock which u can place left or right :)

Anyways, back to ur question. Its a cool feature in XP so that u can burn a CD or run any applcation logged in as one user and it runs in background, and ucan switch user id to do something else. XP scores on this one, imho
 
Originally posted by Kwyjibo
YES, fast user switching i think. Yes you can logout, the account is still active and other users can login/logout as the please. It also cool for downloading stuff because i can leave my username running something and my family can use the peecee. So is it possible on the mac?
Click to expand...

i'm not familiar w/ that term either, but since osx is built on unix, you have available all the unix resources to run things w/o having to be logged in.

e.g. you can run a daemon or execute a cgi script from a webpage request.
 
Re: Mac OS X doesn't support it

Originally posted by jaykk
Its a cool feature in XP so that u can burn a CD or run any applcation logged in as one user and it runs in background, and ucan switch user id to do something else.
Click to expand...

oh, in that case...

unix is multi-user from the get-go. though only one account at a time can own the desktop, you're free to log in to the machine remotely or locally (using command line) as another user.

then you can run whatever you want.
 
since i'm running an ibook I was more interested in being able to secure my machine without shutting off all the programs and reopening everything I was working on. I wish OSX had this but it doesn't seem like it. On my PC i usually switch off my account while it is downlaodign stuff on Kazaa or whatever its a conveinent but not integral feature.
 
Well, if you just want to secure your machine, and don't need to let others log in, just enable the screen effects password.
 
Originally posted by szark
Well, if you just want to secure your machine, and don't need to let others log in, just enable the screen effects password.
Click to expand...

right on.

an anecdote:

some years ago, i had to work on OS/2 (ugh). when you locked the screen, you got a message something like this:


To unlock your keyboard and mouse, type in your passcode and press return. If you've forgotten your passcode, turn the computer off, then on.


:rolleyes:
 
Re: Mac OS X doesn't support it

Originally posted by jaykk
As far as i can tell, thats the only one advantage/innovation XP have which Mac OS X doesn't have. all other feature in XP are ripoff of OS X. I heard that the next version of MS OS - Longhorn have a dock which u can place left or right :)

Anyways, back to ur question. Its a cool feature in XP so that u can burn a CD or run any applcation logged in as one user and it runs in background, and ucan switch user id to do something else. XP scores on this one, imho
Click to expand...

i wont be surprised if some such feature was implemented in future versions of mac os as multiple desktops is a very useful feature in linux.. and wouldnt bee very complex to implement..

its not quite the same as the xp feature, but it is similar.. and is very useful.
 
Re: Re: Mac OS X doesn't support it

Originally posted by zimv20

unix is multi-user from the get-go. though only one account at a time can own the desktop, you're free to log in to the machine remotely or locally (using command line) as another user.
Click to expand...
zimv is correct. it is possible to have multiple users logged in at the same time, but not graphically. just open up your process viewer as an admin and you'll see both admin and root processes running. it should not be hard at all to impliment this feature in osx, the only drawback would be the performance hit if you have a logged-out user rendering in maya or fcp, but i would assume that if you are using a computer for heavy media editing, you are the only user.
 
Re: Re: Re: Mac OS X doesn't support it

Originally posted by FattyMembrane

zimv is correct. it is possible to have multiple users logged in at the same time, but not graphically.
Click to expand...

actually, while logged in as me i su'ed to root and launched iCal.app from the command line. up came iCal, w/ no data (since root doesn't have any).

i still have to experiment w/ multiple machines, seeing how/where ui apps run and display. isn't it the case in X11 you could run apps on one machine, but have the ui display on another? and now it's available on osx.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Mac OS X doesn't support it

Originally posted by zimv20


actually, while logged in as me i su'ed to root and launched iCal.app from the command line. up came iCal, w/ no data (since root doesn't have any).

i still have to experiment w/ multiple machines, seeing how/where ui apps run and display. isn't it the case in X11 you could run apps on one machine, but have the ui display on another? and now it's available on osx.
Click to expand...

You are correct about X11. Since OSX is UNIX based, an OSX machine acting as a server would allow multiple user to conencte remotely and run X Windows applications on the server and have the display/UI show up on their machines. It would be nice though if you somehow could do something similar in OSX.
 
Re: Re: Mac OS X doesn't support it

Originally posted by edesignuk

heh, funny, I always thought it was completely pointless, but each to their own :)
Click to expand...

This feature is soooooo important to me. I use it CONSTANTLY on
my PC. Well me and my sister switch acounts constantly. So I can
leave up an away message on AIM while she chats, and I can
download music while she surfs the web. I don't know what I
would do without this feature.
 
Re: Re: Re: Mac OS X doesn't support it

Originally posted by scem0
I can
leave up an away message on AIM while she chats, and I can
download music while she surfs the web. I don't know what I
would do without this feature.
Click to expand...

you could:

1. buy another machine, or

2. run a parentless background process doing what you want before you log out, or

3. after she logs in, su to your id and run your process, or

4. write a script that runs your process as you and have your sister run it (i forget how this is done, but i _think_ it's possible -- anyone?)
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mac OS X doesn't support it

Originally posted by iShater

run X Windows applications on the server and have the display/UI show up on their machines. It would be nice though if you somehow could do something similar in OSX.
Click to expand...

that would rock. when i record bands in my house, they're upstairs and i'm downstairs manning a protools session on my g4.

if i could be upstairs w/ my ibook, running protools as described (over airport, no less), i can't tell you how much that would rock.

of course, it's moot 'til i can get my hands on the osx protools LE, which is shipping soon, i believe.
 
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