t0m 2003-03-19 00:55
ok first off until an hour ago i didnt even know multi monitor was possible without a video card taht had 2 outputs so consider me a rookie =) i did read that faq and guide tho but i am just wondering if any one has tried this out with a projector yet. i have an infocus dlp projector and its a hassle to climb behind my electronics to unhook the pc from the projector and reconnect it to the regular pc monitor. plus its a waste of presious lamp time to use the giant screen to check my mail or whatever. also the native res is only 800x600 on the projector, can i stil have my monitor set at 1024x768?
plus one last real lame question...how do you actually access the second monitor? does your mouse pointer just go off one side of monitor 1 and appear on the appropriate side of mon 2?
sorry if these are dumb questions, if i need more research just point me to a good site and flame me im wearing my asbestos shorts =)
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Christian Studer 2003-03-19 02:06
You can use different resolutions for the monitor and projector (see Dualhead cards and true multi-monitor support on Windows 2000 for some exceptions).
With Windows 2000 and XP, you'll also be able to change the primary monitor. This can be important because some applications (mostly when using fullscreen mode) will only run on the primary monitor. The secondary monitor can be disabled when you don't need it.
The two monitors will form a single large desktop, you can move the mouse and applications between the two monitors, and stretch a single application across both. The monitors can be arranged in Display Properties to match the physical arrangement, if monitor 2 is to the right of monitor 1, the mouse will move to monitor 2 when you drag it over the right edge of monitor 1. See this screenshot of Display Properties for a 3-monitor system as an example.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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t0m 2003-03-19 10:34
excellent thanks =) ill let you guys know how this works out once i find another video card...
one last thing tho to make sure i have it all straight...i can get any video card for my secondary and my primary (which will be a 64 meg gf2 mx) will do all the work right? so if i get some crappy old 4 meg with no 3d acceleration, for 10 bucks both displays will still be powered by the gf2? from what i understand from reading so far is the secondary video card is basically just an extra monitor port and it does nothing beyond letting you hook up that second monitor.
thanks again for your help =)
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Christian Studer 2003-03-19 11:51
Old video cards will need to be set as primary in BIOS in order to work with Windows 2000/XP. For some suggestions for PCI video cards, see the shopping guide.
There are some situations with 3D applications where the primary video card will do the rendering for the secondary monitors as well (will be much slower on the secondary monitors though), but generally the video cards operate independently, meaning that a fast primary card won't make the slow secondary card any faster.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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t0m 2003-03-19 14:01
oh ok..i clearly misunderstood that part .good thing i asked =) so ill have to research a bit more about my secondary card if i want it mainly for gaming on the projector, off to the shopping guide...
thanks for all your help im eager to get this hooked up now =)
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Christian Studer 2003-03-20 04:03
You don't necessarily need two fast cards. For example you could have a fast AGP card for the projector (for gaming), and a slower PCI card for the monitor (business, Internet, ...).
Before playing a game you could then enable the projector and set it as primary, when you're finished you would set the monitor as primary and disable the projector. This will only work with Windows 2000/XP though.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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t0m 2003-04-16 00:15
ok i have been pretty broke but still half loking for a secondary video card and my friend said hes going to upgrade and will want to sell his old all in wonder (not sure if its a rage or radeon or what...) and i have come up with a new question..if i plug the projector into my gf2 for games and plug my pc monitor into the all in wonder will i still be able to watch the tv output from the aiw on my projector thru the gf2?
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t0m 2003-06-10 06:42
just wanted to say thanks. i picked up a temporary secondary card for free, its just an s3 32/64 1 meg but it does the trick for now. the install and setup went perfect i havnt run into any trouble yet and my setup is ideal. thanks again for all your help. this site is a great resource and has really made it possible for me to have this setup.
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