Dual Displays

In article AfBPa.36155$H17.11015@sccrnsc02,
says...
Chris Barber wrote:
I'm about to set up a complete new PC workstation and I'm looking at
buying a 128Mb Asus Ge4 Ti4800 8x vivo.

I'd be interested in hearing from people who have used this card in a
dual display environment. I need to run a single desktop across 2
monitors so that I can use one as a workspace (mainly Photoshop) and
the other monitor to hold all my tool palettes. They will not be the
same monitor model, one a decent 19" monitor and the other will be
something like a cheap 14" for the palettes.
Has anyone had any problems with it? Will it do what I want it to
with the right drivers? I've checked both the Asus and nVidia web
sites but want to hear it from someone with experience with the card
and without a financial interest ;-)

Sort of off topic, I'd also be interested in any comments about the
Mitsubishi 1998FD 19" monitor.


You'll be quite pleased with the functionality of DualView in the new
detonators. You shouldn't have much trouble running two different kinds of
monitiors because DualView supports seperate monitors running at different
resolutions and refresh rates. You will probably find that you'll be more
comfortable with two moonitors of the same size and type, but the drivers
support what you are planning to do.

I'm not sure about you, but I DON'T find that Windows or DualView doing
a good job. In fact, I think it's pretty terrible. For what the OP
wanted, it might be OK though.

I had a two monitor setup, and ideally I wanted to be able to treat each
monitor as a virtual desktop, each with it's own set of Desktop icons
and each being able to run it's own set of programs without interfering
with the other. I just wanted to use some hotkey to switch between which
monitor gets inputs from the mouse/keyboard.

What happened however, even when I enabled "treat display devices as
seperate", Windows/DualView simply give me another monitor where I could
move an application or part of it over (manually by dragging it with the
mouse). (Again, this might do want the OP wants).

Stupidly, the way DualView/Windows works, the application you are
working on has the focus, which means applications on each monitor
contend for *focus*...that's not really seperate. It's basically like
you have more window space on the 2nd monitor, not a virtualized
environment.

I also had the option of always having an application launch on the 2nd
monitor(via DualView), but still it was pretty stupid since the
launching of all programs was controlled by the one that had the Start
Bar and desktop shortcuts, the 1st monitor.

I do engineering work, and the ideal situation would be having a PDF up
on the 2nd monitor and running engineering programs on the 1st. Being
able to switch between desktops aka "monitors" would ahve been perfect.

With DualView/Windows it was Alt-Tabbing over to the application that
happened to be on the 2nd monitor, again, no virtualization, the 2nd
monitor is treated as an extension of the first.

I did copy over some of my desktop icons to the 2nd monitor space, but
it still didn't get a Start Bar and the whole non-virtualization really
turned me off.

I've been told there is software for Windows that does a better job of
virtualization and handles multiple monitors better, but I haven't
really seen any good reviews...anyone aware of any?

That monitor is OK. You'll enjoy the flat tube for working with images
because there is no distortion near the corners. However, if it were me,
I'd look for a 23 or 22 mm dot pitch. 25 is OK, but for professional image
work, you'll notice a difference between a 25 mm and a 23 mm dot pitch.

My primary monitor is a Mitsubishi DiamondPro 900u, and the 2nd monitor
was a Mitsubishi DiamondPro 87TXM.

The 900u was the first "flat-tube" 19"(its DiamondTron too, which is
better than Trinitron) and it's still fantastic. I've used the newer
fixed-grille pitch 19"s (ones from Mitsubishi and Sony) and I still feel
like my 900u gives them a VERY good run for the money.

My only complaint about it, as I have about most large CRTs, is that
it's very tough to get the image to be square, adjusting all of it so it
looks right is a genuine pain.

Oh, and some people, esp. those who do graphics work, have an issue
running the 19"s at 1280x1024 since that's an aspect ratio of 5:4 and
all the other standard resolutions are 4:3 and the monitor's dimensions
are 4:3 too . I guess you could run at 1280x960(4:3) if that
bothered/affects you...

Thanks,
TR.

Chris Barber wrote:
I'm about to set up a complete new PC workstation and I'm looking at
buying a 128Mb Asus Ge4 Ti4800 8x vivo.

I'd be interested in hearing from people who have used this card in a
dual display environment. I need to run a single desktop across 2
monitors so that I can use one as a workspace (mainly Photoshop) and
the other monitor to hold all my tool palettes. They will not be the
same monitor model, one a decent 19" monitor and the other will be
something like a cheap 14" for the palettes.
Has anyone had any problems with it? Will it do what I want it to
with the right drivers? I've checked both the Asus and nVidia web
sites but want to hear it from someone with experience with the card
and without a financial interest ;-)

Sort of off topic, I'd also be interested in any comments about the
Mitsubishi 1998FD 19" monitor.


You'll be quite pleased with the functionality of DualView in the new
detonators. You shouldn't have much trouble running two different kinds of
monitiors because DualView supports seperate monitors running at different
resolutions and refresh rates. You will probably find that you'll be more
comfortable with two moonitors of the same size and type, but the drivers
support what you are planning to do.

That monitor is OK. You'll enjoy the flat tube for working with images
because there is no distortion near the corners. However, if it were me,
I'd look for a 23 or 22 mm dot pitch. 25 is OK, but for professional image
work, you'll notice a difference between a 25 mm and a 23 mm dot pitch.