[gosub]

If any mainstream unix-like OS kept the promise that "everything is a file" (like Plan9), adding a secondary monitor from another pc could be easy like:

    mount /dev/screen2 user@remotehost:/dev/screen1

[barumi]

Honest question: what stops any unix to achieve the same thing through a similar interface?

[rektide]

it's conceivable one could build a Direct Rendering Manager kernel device that is a virtual software display, that stores buffers & makes them accessible over the network. It might expose a vnc connection that the other laptop can log in to.

Mount in Linux is only for filesystems though, so it'd never look & join with the same kind of pervasive, ubiquitous any-interface slickness that plan9 had.

[rangibaby]

That is so easy it makes me want to cry

[copperx]

There are absolutely no security considerations there, though.