Multi-, different- monitors is multi-hopeless?

I have a laptop with an LCD w/ 1280x800 resolution, and an external CRT 
that's either at 1024x768, 1280x960, or unavailable (depending on whether 
I'm at work, home, or somewhere else, respectively).


Here's what I've settled on in Enlightenment (E17): I have four "desktops" 
on each monitor. Alt+F1 through Alt+F4 jump to their respective desktops. 
Alt+F? on the LCD doesn't change the desktop on the CRT. Alt+F? on the CRT 
doesn't change the desktop on the LCD. They're independent. The 'xrandr' 
command allows me to switch the CRT to one of the three modes I need 
(work/home/off).

But, really, the only reason I've stayed with E17 so long is that it's the 
only window manager that handles multi-monitors the way I want it done. A 
lot of the choices behind Ion jive really well with what I actually want 
in a WM. (keyboard über alles, window manager that actually *manages*, and 
Lua(yay!))


Based mostly on the latest "Shit-or-rama [Was: mod_xinerama]" thread [1], 
I'm not optimistic about Ion emulating this setup. But is it an accurate 
statement that there is no nice way to use ion3 such that I get:

1. per-monitor workspaces

2. ability to move windows between monitors

3. ability to switch CRT resolution/presence w/out restarting X

(...part of the difficulty being that my monitor heights don't match up)


If it's true that there's no "nice" way: does anyone have convoluted 
workarounds or horrible hacks that might require lots of setup (but 
minimal effort thereafter) that manage to achieve these goals?

As an example of "horrible/convoluted": several months ago, when I last 
went through a "This window manager sucks; I should try some new ones that 
support my monitors" phase, I was optimistic about "XMOVE: A pseudoserver 
for X window movement" [2]. Or maybe running a couple or several X VNC 
servers would work.  E.g. "left half" (LCD) = frame with Xvnc :0 and Xvnc 
:1, "right half" (CRT) = frame with Xvnc :2. Then "moving windows" 
becomes: "close vncviewer :1 on LCD, open it on CRT".


And, if it's true that there's not even a horrible way to get all three, 
what are the various X settings that I need to enable/disable to get 2/3 
of the desired properties (Looks easiest to sacrifice "ability to move 
windows between monitors")?

Obviously: disable XRandR and Xinerama. (Problem there: I can't seem to 
find the correct incantation to disable Xinerama. I'm planning to just 
recompile X without it.
...Though another workaround (rename Xiner SHIToR /usr/lib/libXiner* ) is 
slightly more amusing.)

and in xorg.conf, I'd need:

three "Monitor" sections: 1 for LCD, 1 for home CRT, 1 for work CRT
three "Screen" sections: 1 for 1280x800, 1 for 1280x960, 1 for 1024x768
three "ServerLayout" sections: 1 for LCD+home, 1 for LCD+work, 1 for LCD-only

Sound right?

Thanks for any help. I really like everything I've seen in Ion so far, 
except for this multi-monitor business. (And I realize it's not Ion that's 
to blame.)

Best,
Ben



[1] "Shit-or-rama [Was: mod_xinerama]"
https://lists.berlios.de/pipermail/ion-general/2008-September/002190.html

[2] "XMOVE: A pseudoserver for X Window movement"
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.30.589