Is there a simpler way to switch between user's sessions

[Software Monkey]

We share our PCLOS box between the 5 members of our family, which has my 3 young boys frequently needing to change from one user account to the next.  With previous Linux distros, as well as Windows, this has always been a simple case of selecting the "Switch User" option, which returned us to the exact same login screen as that shown initially.  Then we would select the desired account and "login", which would either start a new session or resume an existing (singular) session if the user had already logged on.

While I appreciate the potential utility of PCLOS offering multiple sessions per user, is there any way to "dumb it down" a little in our case, since walking my wife and kids through how to resume a session separately from initiating a new one is something of a waste of effort and energy on everyone's part?

What I would prefer is that Switch User behave in the simpler manner outlined above.  It would be nice to have the option to start another session for an existing account, but I would gladly forgo that in favor of simplicity.

[Old-Polack]

We share our PCLOS box between the 5 members of our family, which has my 3 young boys frequently needing to change from one user account to the next.  With previous Linux distros, as well as Windows, this has always been a simple case of selecting the "Switch User" option, which returned us to the exact same login screen as that shown initially.  Then we would select the desired account and "login", which would either start a new session or resume an existing (singular) session if the user had already logged on.

While I appreciate the potential utility of PCLOS offering multiple sessions per user, is there any way to "dumb it down" a little in our case, since walking my wife and kids through how to resume a session separately from initiating a new one is something of a waste of effort and energy on everyone's part?

What I would prefer is that Switch User behave in the simpler manner outlined above.  It would be nice to have the option to start another session for an existing account, but I would gladly forgo that in favor of simplicity.

If you've started another session for another user, Ctrl+Alt+F7, Ctrl+Alt+F8, Ctrl+Alt+F9, etc will move you back and forth between the various users screens. You may have to enter a password, if the individual sessions are locked when shifting from one to the other.

[Software Monkey]

Old-Polack:

If you've started another session for another user, Ctrl+Alt+F7, Ctrl+Alt+F8, Ctrl+Alt+F9, etc will move you back and forth between the various users screens. You may have to enter a password, if the individual sessions are locked when shifting from one to the other.

Thanks for the response - it is appreciated.

However, I wasn't looking for a hot-key to switch between multiple sessions, but rather for a generally simpler way to switch between multiple sessions each for a different user - even if that means turning off multiple sessions for a single user.  My family a far from power users, and telling them to use "Switch User" to return to the login screen so their brother can take over, and having them use the identical method to resume a session as start one will avoid much hassle for us.

I understand that PCLOS may not permit this, but I was hoping there was a relatively simple way to make it so; after general googling and searching these forums, I wasn't able to find anything useful.

EDIT: I should probably add, I am using the Full Monty PCLOS.

[Old-Polack]

Old-Polack:

If you've started another session for another user, Ctrl+Alt+F7, Ctrl+Alt+F8, Ctrl+Alt+F9, etc will move you back and forth between the various users screens. You may have to enter a password, if the individual sessions are locked when shifting from one to the other.

Thanks for the response - it is appreciated.

However, I wasn't looking for a hot-key to switch between multiple sessions, but rather for a generally simpler way to switch between multiple sessions each for a different user - even if that means turning off multiple sessions for a single user.  My family a far from power users, and telling them to use "Switch User" to return to the login screen so their brother can take over, and having them use the identical method to resume a session as start one will avoid much hassle for us.

I understand that PCLOS may not permit this, but I was hoping there was a relatively simple way to make it so; after general googling and searching these forums, I wasn't able to find anything useful.

EDIT: I should probably add, I am using the Full Monty PCLOS.

You are not being very clear in stating what you desire.

The whole point of the Ctrl+Alt+F<whatever> session switching is to have individual sessions for different users running concurrently. Right now, on Ctrl+Alt+F8 I have my desktop, all my user documents are present, and quite a few applications are running. If I press Ctrl+Alt+F9 I am on fred's desktop, with his documents and folders present, and a completly different set of applications running, etc. Each time you use the Switch User option, you are not being "returned" to the login screen, you are initialing a totally new login session for the second user. If a third user  needs a short session, again Switch User will start a third session, at the login screen, so that user can log in. All three sessions, for three different users, will remain running, each on its own virtual screen, reachable by the Ctrl+Alt+F<whatever> toggling method, until such time as each user individually logs out, or the machine is shut down. When the third user logs out, after doing whatever he needed to do, the other two sessions still remain present, with each individual's open apps still on their desktop, just as they left them.

What I have just described, has been the way Linux Switch User has always worked, at least for the ~13 years I've been using it.

[Software Monkey]

Sorry for the confusion.

My users are not very technical - telling them to use CTRL-ALT-Fn to switch between active sessions if the other user's active, and "Switch User" to return to the login screen if the other user's not active is just going to confuse them - it's not very intuitive to them.  As it is, I am quite sure that they will often initiate a new session every time they use the computer, even if they already have one active.

With Windows, Linux Mint 9 through 12, and (I think) Ubuntu (version 9, maybe?), multiple users can share the computer very simply by selecting switch user, which returns them to the "login" screen, implicitly locking their session and walking away.  The next user can then select their user, enter the password and either (a) start a new session if none was previously active, or (b) resume their existing session if they have previously logged on and not logged off.  There is no distinction between starting a new session and resuming an existing one, and the user can only ever have one session at most.

I was hoping PCLOS could be configured to have this behavior (even if that means I can never have multiple sessions for a single user).

[djohnston]

With Windows, Linux Mint 9 through 12, and (I think) another distro (version 9, maybe?), multiple users can share the computer very simply by selecting switch user, which returns them to the "login" screen, implicitly locking their session and walking away.  The next user can then select their user, enter the password and either (a) start a new session if none was previously active, or (b) resume their existing session if they have previously logged on and not logged off.  There is no distinction between starting a new session and resuming an existing one, and the user can only ever have one session at most.

I was hoping PCLOS could be configured to have this behavior (even if that means I can never have multiple sessions for a single user).

I just checked, and that is the default behavior for PCLinuxOS. Try it yourself. With your user SoftwareMonkey logged in, start a logout session from a desktop, then select Switch User. At the login screen, select your user, SoftwareMonkey, (the same one that executed the action). See if you don't get a locked screen with the username SoftwareMonkey showing and a request for a password.

[Old-Polack]

Sorry for the confusion.

My users are not very technical - telling them to use CTRL-ALT-Fn to switch between active sessions if the other user's active, and "Switch User" to return to the login screen if the other user's not active is just going to confuse them - it's not very intuitive to them.  As it is, I am quite sure that they will often initiate a new session every time they use the computer, even if they already have one active.

With Windows, Linux Mint 9 through 12, and (I think) another distro (version 9, maybe?), multiple users can share the computer very simply by selecting switch user, which returns them to the "login" screen, implicitly locking their session and walking away.  The next user can then select their user, enter the password and either (a) start a new session if none was previously active, or (b) resume their existing session if they have previously logged on and not logged off.  There is no distinction between starting a new session and resuming an existing one, and the user can only ever have one session at most.

I was hoping PCLOS could be configured to have this behavior (even if that means I can never have multiple sessions for a single user).

What you are describing has nothing to do with the Switch User option. What you are describing is the normal behavior if you've set your session manager to Restore previous session, on login. They are two different things, but both can be at work at the same time.