I have a second monitor just sitting here. I got to thinking that it might be handy to use the second monitor on my regular PC (NEC 450 1999ish).
Now, I’d like to have the two screens work independently of each other. Or so I’d like.
Basically, I have no clue how to do it or what to ask my friendly computer dealer for. Ideas? easy or hard?
Chris
Oh, and I’m running the current monitor off a Vodoo 32000 PCI card.
Well I am assuming that your card only has one video port on it, in which case you need to buy another card and install that. Then you hook your second monitor up to the second new card. Or, if you have only one PCI slot, then you can buy a card with 2 (two) monitor ports on it, though your preformance will probably deteriorate. After that, I am sorry but I do not know. I own a Mac with two monitors and that is how you do it. The rest is an adjustment in the monitor control panel. But on a PC I have no clue.
Good Luck though. Two monitors is DEFINETLY worth the trouble. I have two 21’ monitor next to each other and it is awesome for games with palettes, or programs like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc…
-N
If its a 1999 computer then I would guess it has an AGP slot, And if you are using a PCI video card with a AGP enabled computer, then an AGP card wouldn’t be a bad upgrade. so you might want to consider buying the Matrox g400. Its a good, reasonably priced, card with that can handle two video outputs. If you are trying to do it with no more expense, them I’m not to sure of the easiest way to do it, unless you are running linux.
Strider, you actually created a whole new question. Yes my card has only one video jack, but that has now left the orginal video jack open (The one mounted to the PC itself)
Hmmmm-- what do I do now?
I have two machines that I own running multiple monitors and I use multiple monitors at work as well. They’re great!
I’m not sure what you mean by having them run independently. Most multiple monitor setups with which I’m familiar are on Windows NT machines. Some people use two video cards (Matrox cards are popular for that application), while I have always used multiple monitor cards (I use an Appian Jeronimo and a couple of Colographics cards). These come in 2 and four port models. At work I use 3 21" monitors with a Colographics 4-port card - frankly, it’s great, but 4 monitors would entail too much neck swiveling and cursor hunting.
All of the above setups involve making the virtual desktop match the monitor configuration. So, with 3 in a row, for a desired single monitor resolution of 1600 x 1280 you set up your virtual desktop as 4800 x 1280. So the “operating independently” part is not really in effect there. The dedicated multiple port cards have drivers that allow you to set things such as having dialog boxes come up on one screen or the other instead of split screen in the middle, and having applications stay on one monitor only (might be part of what you’re looking for). There’s also a multi-screen utility called *Mover[i/i] out there on the 'net that does some of this stuff.
Good luck! I think you’ll find it worth it.
Wolfman, I saw your post as soon as I got over gnashing teeth about my typo. Have you used that Matrox card? The reason I ask is that some people in my field have reported having incurable aspect ratio problems with it. I have no direct knowledge - just second-hand reporting.
Strider – if you read this could you walk me through the benefits of two screen for Photoshop ? I’m currently trying (read: struggling) to get some kind of grasp of the Photoshop/Fireworks/Dreamweaver 3 combo, so any idea’s would be nice, cheers.
Ok, I have a custom Dell with two PCI slots running a Diamond Viper vid card on Win98. I want to hook up three monitors and be able to run different progs on each. My question is, how would you do the software config? I mean, I can easily get another vid card and plug it in, but how do I get my OS to RECOGNIZE all three monitors? Will my cursor automatically jump from one screen to another? Also, is there any way to use two monitors of differing resolution?
What Locke said, me too!!
I DO have the extra port to use, right?
O.K.
To set things straight–
I have two monitors. The current monitor is running off a Vodoo 3200 card on a NEC 450 PC running Win98.
The second monitor is sitting next to me, idle. I also have a second video port open.
I’d like to use both monitors on the PC and have them work independently. That is, stock market on one and a word processing program on the other.
Possible? How?
Thanks for your help
Chris
Beatle, I am running that card on one of my computers, and it works fine. It does get flakey on the second monitor occasionally(like it can’t match the refresh rate, and gets strange diagonals lines for the image, but a reboot usually clears the problem up. My friend also runs the card and neither of us have had aspect ratio problems, although we have a pair of matched monitors, and these problems might occur from trying two differnt monitors together. Judging from the OP my guess is his second monitor might not be the same as the first , so I guess I’ll have to caution my own recomendation on the g400 until I do a little research. Back to the OP I would suggest trying some computer specific sites such as, Anand’s, Tom’s hardware, and HarwareCentral(they have a great message board, even if it is mostly gamers) because they have a greater density of computer tweakers than SD.
Sorry, I’m not too knowledgable about voodoo cards, so I need a little more setting straight 
. What do you mean that you have a second video port open? Does your videocard have a second video output, and is it simultaneous or switchable. If it is simultaneous, then it should have software available to work it, check the website.
I know, it’s confusing now, per my last post.
To add to that post, I simply mean that I have a Video card in a PCI slot currently being used. That leaves the video port open that is built into the computer itself. You know, if I didn’t have a video card what I’d plug the video into, just the basic system.
We’re starting to understand what you mean by operating independently. From the brief description offered of your machine, I’ll guess your OS is W95 or W98. I don’t use W98, but I understand it has built-in dual monitor support. If you are on a Win machine, the virtual dektop paradigm of the common multi-screen setups allows you to do what you want to do. And, if you use any of the many programs (I use CorelDRAW and DesignCAD quite a bit) that have pop-up menus and toolbars, it will make your life so much easier if you can put Mr. Layer Manager and his friends over on one screen and see your work unobstructed.
I did run one machine for a bit with non-identical monitors - the key is that they must share a common resolution/refresh rate combo.
CnoteChris, I believe I’m running the setup you want to implement. Well, I’ve got a tnt2 and a savage4, but the concept is the same.
Windows98 or 2000 has multi-monitor support built in. All you have to do is install another card and plug the monitor into it. Then you can set the respective resolutions etc. in the control panel just like you did before. You can also set the relative positions and sizes of the two monitors there.
Is that open video port you’ve got on your system on the motherboard or on another card? I got the impression that it was on the motherboard, which means that it is most likely automatically disabled when the board detects another video card. You can try plugging the other monitor into it and seeing if you get any results, but I doubt it.
There are a few things to be aware of. If you run OpenGL applications (recent 3d games, some screensavers, modeling software) you might have to temporarily disable the second monitor to run the program. This is no big deal, but if it’s why you were going to get the second monitor on there, think twice. The other thing to be aware of is that the bios must pick one of the cards to be the primary card, which is the one that all the boot stuff shows up on. It’s also the “main” screen once windows is up. In my case (I’m running an Abit BP6 motherboard), I could choose whether to have the AGP or the PCI as primary. It defaulted to PCI, which is absolutely stupid, but I changed it.
As to the other questions: Yes, the mouse automatically moves between screens, and you can easily drag windows between them and even leave them partially on both.
I’ve never used the Matrox card that’s been mentioned, but I got the impression you wanted to keep your voodoo, so that may not be the best choice for you.
Does this answer your questions? If not, I’ll try again.
Oh, and I just happen to have a lot of video cards that I’d like to get rid of. Care to buy one?
Actually beatle, they don’t have to share the resolution. I was running one at 1024x768 and the other at 800x600 for a while just fine. They were both at 60hz, but I think that can be set independently too.
Qute:
We’re starting to understand what you mean by operating independently
-Lol- Sorry for the confusion. I keep forgetting that you need the think before you post…
The Nerd has it right. I have a video card with video port that I currently use and have an open video port off the motherboard that is currently not used.
I’d like to utilize the motherboard video port with the second monitor. I followed the Nerd’s idea only somewhat. The details elude me, however. If the motherboard port is disabled, how do I enable it? And where in Win98 does it allow you to enable the multi-monitor function? Is it self-explanatory how to move from screen to screen? Program to program?
Thanks for struggling through this for me, I hope others out there can glean some usefull info as well as me.
Chris
Unfortunately, the motherboard is probably hardwired to disable the onboard video when it detects a seperate card. There’s a small possibility that you can re-enable that, but I wouldn’t count on it.
If it can be done, it will be a BIOS setting. Most computers will tell you right after the memory check how to get into the BIOS (usually by pressing delete or f1). Just poke around in there until you find it or are sure it’s not there. BUT do not save any changes unless you are sure you want to make those changes. Just cancel your way out of menus to get back.
When you first start your computer up with the new video card added, windows will detect it and go through it’s routine to set up multiple monitors. It’s all really self-explanatory once you get it started.
My All in WOnder video card can run a vga monitor & a tv at the same time with no modifications…