virtual dual monitors on a wide screen?

I just bought a 24" Dell widescreen monitor and have an ATI
X300 card. Problem is it's a major PITA trying to get two
apps to run side by side. I have to start them up, then
adjust the window size of each and then drag them next to
each other. I was wondering if there was software that
would effectively set up virtual dual monitors so
the right half of the display would be "Monitor 2"
and by default apps would be assigned to Monitor
1 or 2 and maximize to only fill half the screen.

Thanks for any ideas. Thought widescreen would
be cool, but it's turning out to be sort of a pain.

RobR wrote:

I just bought a 24" Dell widescreen monitor and have an ATI
X300 card. Problem is it's a major PITA trying to get two
apps to run side by side. I have to start them up, then
adjust the window size of each and then drag them next to
each other. I was wondering if there was software that
would effectively set up virtual dual monitors so
the right half of the display would be "Monitor 2"
and by default apps would be assigned to Monitor
1 or 2 and maximize to only fill half the screen.

Those applications should only need to be setup like that once. They
should remember where they were the next time you open them.

Bob

RobR wrote:
I just bought a 24" Dell widescreen monitor and have an ATI
X300 card. Problem is it's a major PITA trying to get two
apps to run side by side. I have to start them up, then
adjust the window size of each and then drag them next to
each other. I was wondering if there was software that
would effectively set up virtual dual monitors so
the right half of the display would be "Monitor 2"
and by default apps would be assigned to Monitor
1 or 2 and maximize to only fill half the screen.

Thanks for any ideas. Thought widescreen would
be cool, but it's turning out to be sort of a pain.


What OS are you running? This is actually rather simple to set up in Linux.

"RobR" wrote in message newsGRff.1313$RI5.189@trndny09...
I just bought a 24" Dell widescreen monitor and have an ATI X300 card.
Problem is it's a major PITA trying to get two apps to run side by side.
I have to start them up, then adjust the window size of each and then drag
them next to each other. I was wondering if there was software that
would effectively set up virtual dual monitors []

I don't know whether there are any current solutions for running two
virtual monitors or two virtual desktops side by side on one physical
monitor. If you continue to come up empty, you might inquire within
a multiple monitor forum.

FWIW, there are free and commercial apps that have the ability to
manipulate windows in an automatic and/or scripted way. Perhaps
you've seen some... utils geared towards pushing buttons when
certain dialog boxes popup, utils geared towards forcing the initial
size of windows to be what the user wants, utils for automating admin
functions, etc. I know I've seen literally dozens over the years, but I've
never needed one and can't recall any of them except one I just recently
saw mentioned... www.autoitscript.com . Which appears to be a free
and popular general purpose automation tool that could be used to
open and rearrange your windows.

If your 24" widescreen is 1920 horizontal, at best you would have just
960 on each virtual monitor or desktop, which might be adequate for
some side by side app work, but would be too narrow for other apps
and websites. Only you know what you want, but I wonder if your best
bet wouldn't be to keep the width that you have and just automatically
manipulate specific windows as necessary.

Thanks for any ideas. Thought widescreen would be cool, but it's
turning out to be sort of a pain.

At least you opted for the 24", which has some height to it.

RobR wrote:

While I run linux for various things (CVS, Postgre SQL, JBoss,
Apache, etc) I don't use it for my every day desktop. So in
this instance I'm running XP Pro.



Have you given any thought to adding a second monitor. I've got the 24"
with the same card in a 9100 and I'm just waiting for another good sale
to pick up either a 17" or 19" to go along with it.

Bob

"User N" wrote in message . ..

FWIW, there are free and commercial apps that have the ability to
manipulate windows in an automatic and/or scripted way. []
www.autoitscript.com . Which appears to be a free
and popular general purpose automation tool that could be used to
open and rearrange your windows.

; --------------------------------------------------------------------
;
; Quick & dirty AutoIt script which runs two apps and positions the
; windows side by side
;
; --------------------------------------------------------------------

$app1 = "C:\Windows\system32\notepad.exe";
$title1 = "Untitled - Notepad";

$app2 = "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe";
$title2 = "Document - WordPad";

Run($app2);
WinWaitActive($title2);
$handle2 = WinGetHandle($title2)
WinSetState($handle2, "", @SW_MAXIMIZE);
$size = WinGetPos($handle2);
$targetWidth = ($size[2] / 2) - 4;
$targetHeight = .75 * $size[3];
WinSetState($handle2, "", @SW_RESTORE);
WinMove($handle2, "", $targetWidth, 0, $targetWidth, $targetHeight);

Run($app1);
WinWaitActive($title1);
$handle1 = WinGetHandle($title1);
WinMove($handle1, "", 0, 0, $targetWidth, $targetHeight);

"Bob Levine" wrote in message
news:dh6gf.4232$Ze6.1395@trndny04...
RobR wrote:

While I run linux for various things (CVS, Postgre SQL, JBoss,
Apache, etc) I don't use it for my every day desktop. So in
this instance I'm running XP Pro.



Have you given any thought to adding a second monitor. I've got the 24"
with the same card in a 9100 and I'm just waiting for another good sale to
pick up either a 17" or 19" to go along with it.

Bob

Actually I am running dual monitors, the 24" is plugged into
a laptop with a 17" widescreen. I just didn't want to confuse
the issue by mentioning it.

"User N" wrote in message
...

"User N" wrote in message
. ..

FWIW, there are free and commercial apps that have the ability to
manipulate windows in an automatic and/or scripted way. []
www.autoitscript.com . Which appears to be a free
and popular general purpose automation tool that could be used to
open and rearrange your windows.

; --------------------------------------------------------------------
;
; Quick & dirty AutoIt script which runs two apps and positions the
; windows side by side
;
; --------------------------------------------------------------------

$app1 = "C:\Windows\system32\notepad.exe";
$title1 = "Untitled - Notepad";

$app2 = "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe";
$title2 = "Document - WordPad";

Run($app2);
WinWaitActive($title2);
$handle2 = WinGetHandle($title2)
WinSetState($handle2, "", @SW_MAXIMIZE);
$size = WinGetPos($handle2);
$targetWidth = ($size[2] / 2) - 4;
$targetHeight = .75 * $size[3];
WinSetState($handle2, "", @SW_RESTORE);
WinMove($handle2, "", $targetWidth, 0, $targetWidth, $targetHeight);

Run($app1);
WinWaitActive($title1);
$handle1 = WinGetHandle($title1);
WinMove($handle1, "", 0, 0, $targetWidth, $targetHeight);

Thanks for the the ideas and the script. It's a little bit less elegant
than I was hoping, but if the whole 'tile windows' concept doesn't
work out, I may play around with this idea.

"RobR" wrote in message news:7Mmgf.5045$%Z5.1715@trndny07...

Thanks for the the ideas and the script. It's a little bit less elegant
than I was hoping, but if the whole 'tile windows' concept doesn't
work out, I may play around with this idea.

FWIW, a Windows Script approach dawned on me. Again, this
may not be what you would prefer, but it is a primitive example of
what could be done with the software you have.

WScript.CreateObject("Shell.Application").Minimize All
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "notepad"
WshShell.Run "notepad"
WScript.Sleep 200
WScript.CreateObject("Shell.Application").TileVert ically

Paste it into a test.vbs file and run that.