What's the simplest way of setting up a dual monitor?

[MikeyPutsOut]

Reason I ask is that I have two non-matching monitors and two non-matching vid cards. If it is at all possible, I think I would like to set-up dual monitors. Any help?

PS. I'll get the specs of the vid cards and the monitors tomorrow or something

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

It's possible if one of your cards is AGP and one is PCI... or both are PCI would work too, right? I haven't done this myself, but you can run 2 vid cards and hook one monitor up to each and it should work. I'm not sure how drivers go for this though...

Or, obviously if one of the cards has dual monitor support, but I'm guessing probably not heh.

 

[vshah]

you can do a pci+agp, or 2 pci cars. install drivers for both, hook up the monitors, and everything will show up in windows display properties. easest way though is to get an agp card that supports dual monitors. (pretty much every one out now)

 

[MikeyPutsOut]

I don't plan on getting a new vid card because this would just be something I would do because I have an extra one laying around. BUT, for vid cards with dual monitor support, do they have outputs for two monitors? How does that work?

I actually think both of my cards are AGP....

 

[Lonyo]

My 9800Pro has output for 2 monitors.
One is VGA and one is DVI, but it came with a DVI -> VGA adapter, so you hook up the second monitor to the second port.

You plug in both monitors, tell the drivers you want 2 monitors, and that's about it

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you want to do this, it wouldn't cost that much. If you don't plan on doing any gaming on the second monitor, you can just get any pci videocard you can find. Maybe you can get something for like $10 over at FS/FT forum.

 

[ZobarStyl]

Duallies are remarkably easy to set up, pretty much any decent AGP card out there has a DVI and a VGA output, just stick an DVI->VGA converter on it and bam, you have dual monitors, enable them from the Windows options (right click desktop, properties, furthest tab over) or use a program like UltraMon if you want two different backgrounds. Using 2 cards for dual monitors is silly and would likely prove more difficult than just using a regular card. Speaking from experience, my old Ti4200 ran dual 19"s at 1024x768 each with not a problem to speak of.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What cards do you have MikeyPutsOut?

 

[MikeyPutsOut]

Well, after I pulled my vid card from my old PC, I found that it was an AGP card, so that's a no go. But I did take a look at my current vid card, and it has an output that is really awkward looking, could this be a DVI output? It's a Raedon 9800 series (can't specify right now)... it actually looks like this:

http://www.hifi-writer.com/blog/graphics/dvi-d-out.jpg

so I guess that's a yes. So what do I do from this point?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yeah, you're good to go with that card. If it didn't come with one of these you need to get one (doesn't have to be by ATI, but I know the ones they make work well) and it will change the DVI into a regular VGA monitor connection.

You can then hook up the second monitor to it. Get the latest drivers from ATI and run the wizard in the catalyst control center. There's options there for extending the desktop or cloning the display etc.

 

[MikeyPutsOut]

And as I flip through all of my old computer stuff, I FIND AN ADAPTER!! Glad I'm a pack rat!

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Awesome! enjoy the dual monitor goodness

 

[MikeyPutsOut]

Qucik question (well, maybe not), though. Is there any cool stuff about dual monitors you can lead me to?

Such as screen savers? Or separate wallpapers? Or extended task bar? or anything in general that is cool?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I have my second "monitor" (Infocus Screenplay 4805 projector) set up as a switch amongst displays so I have one on or the other but not both, so I don't have any goodies for you

Maybe you could look through some "show off you desktop" pics in off topic and take a look at some people that have dual monitors... if you like what you see, send them a pm and see where they got their stuff.

You can probably find some stuff seaching for "widescreen" too.

 

[MikeyPutsOut]

I've got a problem now. When I try to play a video, it'll work in the primary screen. But when I move it over to the secondary screen, it doesn't work out. Even if I put WM Player in the middle, it'll play in the primary screen but it is black in the secondary screen.

HELP!

 

[MikeyPutsOut]

bump

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: MikeyPutsOut
I've got a problem now. When I try to play a video, it'll work in the primary screen. But when I move it over to the secondary screen, it doesn't work out. Even if I put WM Player in the middle, it'll play in the primary screen but it is black in the secondary screen.
HELP!

This is on an ATI card using ATI drivers, right? At least on their non-CCC drivers, just go to the "Overlay" tab under the advanced properties, and then select "same on all" for the overlay display mode. The default is only to display on the primary display. "Theater mode" is nifty too, if you're using the TV-out (if your card has one). Anything at all that you view on the primary display using overlay mode, even if only in a window, will be shown full-screen on the secondary display output. Note that this will only work if the secondary display is not enabled for normal Windows usage (not showing the desktop), but is enabled as a display under the ATI properties (meaning that the output is enabled).

 

[mdnblaster]

Dual Monitors on XP Pro here and I cannot get the taskbar to stretch across the two monitors. Is there a non-third party way of doing this?