Dual Displays
 

http://d.gaveup.org/images/computers/dual-displays.jpg

That's my home setup on my Power Mac. Dual 20" Apple Cinema Displays. My PowerBook makes an appearance too, along side my new 30GB iPod (new as in "I bought it a month and a half ago, when it came out").

I have to say, I'm becoming addicted to dual displays. I'm already a high-resolution nut, and being able to double that resolution - and have more work space - is almost invaluable to me.

At work, I also run dual displays, though it's not nearly as sexy (or expensive).

http://dave.gaveup.org/images/office/P0001351.jpg

(VeeDub represent!)

If'n I got one o' those motherboards like we got Syc, it would have an additional free monitor interface on it... how much work would it be to tell the system that the ti4200 is the second monitor and the motherboard one is the second?

I haven't tested with that motherboard, but it would be minimal work. The nView software is built in to the nVidia drivers, if I recall correctly. Basically, you just hook up the second monitor and configure it via the Display Properties. To be honest, I haven't really thought about it since December, when I set this up. Though I set it up with a PCI card in addition to the AGP in my workstation (on the PC, that is - on the Mac, it all goes through one video card).

The only problem I can see you running in to is that the onboard video on T-$'s motherboard is AGP, as is your GF4Ti4200, and there may be a conflict there.

A cheaper and fool-proof route is probably this one:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...on=geforce+pci (I got the Chaintech one with 64MB of RAM)

By the way, dual displays don't have to be the same type of monitor running at the same resolution. I convinced Giles to hook up dual displays on his PC and his iBook (though he uses the same monitor and toggles between the two computers), and he was running a 17" and a 19" for a while there, both at different resolutions. Windows does a pretty good job with it, and nVidia's software makes it a snap.

I was running dual 19" CRTs at 1600x1200 for a while at home, and it was heaven, I don't know how I ever did without it. I had to surrender one of my monitors for my fiancée's system though. D'oh!

Windows' multimonitor implementation is still pretty buggy, particularly if you launch something full-screen, like a 3D game. On mine, I always had to go into display properties and shut off the second monitor before I could do anything full-screen. And DVDs would only play on the primary monitor, they wouldn't show up if I dragged the player window to the secondary.

That's pretty sucky. I haven't tried Q3 on the Mac since I hooked up the second display, so I'll have to see how it handles it.

If that's true about full-screen games (at least in ATi's implementation), I'll probably not do it then. Q3 is an addiction. :)

I had the full-scren problem in Windows games with both a Radeon 7500 and an nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200. I think it's a Windows issue, not a shortcoming of the video cards' drivers.

Some full-screen games sort of worked, but had some serious mouse issues. Others wouls just panic and freeze up. Pretty annoying.

OK, there goes that idea. Christ.

...of course I could just go into display properties and uncheck the little "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor" box, and the game would run fine on the remaining monitor, it was just a nuisance.

Giles says most games worked fine for him; the ones that didn't seemed to just automatically shut off the second monitor. ?

Well, the games I specifically remember having problems with were GTA3, Medal of Honor, and Battlefield 1942. I think there were acouple others, but I forget what they were.

I dunno, maybe it was something in the way I configured the system. In both cases, I was using a single video card with dual heads, not separate video cards. And it was running Windows XP Pro.

Ah. That may be it, because he was definitely using two video cards. I'll have to experiment.

2 APPLE moniters? NICE!

At work at the moment i have 4 17" (2 to 1 computer and 2 other boxen) arranged in a rough semi-circle, kinda fun but you really need a KVM for the keyboards/mice.

I think this actually has to do with the way DVD decoders use video overlays to display the image instead of the Windows rendering system. It has to do with CSS licensing issues or something, to prevent video-capture programs from being able to make digital copies.

I believe some DVD software can let you choose which monitor to display on, but I think dragging from one screen to the other on Windows will always be impossible.

FPS Games
 

Isn't it a pain to play a FPS game on dual monitors? Your target is bisected by the monitor borders. It seems that for an FPS game, you'd need three monitors.

You just play the game on one monitor. :) Three monitors can also work, and I've seen it done. (Actually, up to five.) It was pretty impressive.