Al Simonds 2005-01-25 12:37
I'm running Windows XP with an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro card. I want to add a second monitor and have a single desktop across the two monitors (I want Photoshop to span across both monitors).
What card should I buy (for a PCI slot)?
Thank you so much!
-Al
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Tantalus 2005-01-25 13:05
>>a single desktop across the two monitors
in a word...you can't. it is not possible to run a spanned desktop (single desktop across multiple screens) if you are using two separate to drive the displays.
all you really need to do is to swap out your present card with a dual-output one.
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Walt Jordan 2005-01-25 16:32
Tantalus, I'm not so sure that you're correct.
I just searched this site's database, and found 15 people who run dual monitors with the ATI Radeon 9800 as "Card 1" and another ATI Radeon as "Card 2." (They say they are using Catalyst drivers).
Of the 15 people who have ATI's Radeon 9800 as Card 1:
6 have Radeon 9200 as Card 2.
3 have Radeon 7500 as Card 2.
3 have Radeon 7000 as Card 2.
1 has Radeon 9000 as Card 2.
1 has Radeon 9800 as Card 2.
1 has Radeon 9600 as Card 2.
Why wouldn't their dual monitors be able to span a single desktop across both monitors?
If you go to "Control Panel > Display > Settings" there is a check box for "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor." Wouldn't this work?
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khariv 2005-01-25 18:45
well,
technically speaking, when you're using two cards, you are not "Spanning" the desktop between two monitors. Instead, you have the system set up to have two separate displays. Each can have its own resolution and color depth.
In theory, the only way to "Span" two displays is to have a dual output video card and a driver that supports this. However, unless there's a really good reason you need to span instead of having just two displays, this is just semantics.
My work machine has a 9800 and a PCI 9200 and it works more or less fine (see details in other posts).
khariV
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Tantalus 2005-01-26 00:18
>>Why wouldn't their dual monitors be able to span a single desktop across both monitors?
>>If you go to "Control Panel > Display > Settings" there is a check box for "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor." Wouldn't this work?
extending your desktop to a second monitor is not the same as running a *spanned* desktop. the common definition of a 'spanned desktop' is a desktop that stretches across all the displays with a the taskbar that also covers multiple displays. IOW, the start button is all the way at the far left (on #1 assuming #1-2 is left-right orientation). note: that i am talking about the windows taskbar and not the ultramon enabled one which is an add-on.
i personally don't like spanned desktops...IMO, it negates much of the advantage to running multi-display, esp in cases when the # of displays goes above 2, but there apparently are those (the original poster is one) who look for this particular feature.
if there is someone here who is able to run a *spanned* desktop using 2 separate video cards, i have yet to hear of it nor have i ever encountered it in my own personal experience.
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Tantalus 2005-01-26 00:21
not able to edit my original post...below is the revised version...
IOW, the start button is all the way at the far left (on #1 assuming #1-2 is left-right orientation) and the system clock is on the far right. note: that i am talking about the windows taskbar and not the ultramon enabled one which is an add-on.
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Al Simonds 2005-01-26 16:18
Thanks for your input. Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology.
Here's what I want to do:
I run Photoshop Elements 3, and I want to compare two high res photos...I want to put one photo on each monitor.
Can I do that with two cards?
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Mark 2005-01-27 03:40
I'm using an ATI 9250 (actually it's an Xtasy brand) as my 2nd card and it works perfectly. You will need to change your bios settings to use the PCI slot as your default video to get this config to work. Three monitors is amazing, much better than two because you don't have to look at the bezel all day long.
Mark
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Tantalus 2005-01-27 07:56
>>I run Photoshop Elements 3, and I want to compare two high res photos...I want to put one photo on each monitor.
>>Can I do that with two cards?
if you already have a Radeon 9800 Pro, it should have dual outputs ( 1 vga, 1 dvi) on the card unless you are using their all-in-wonder version.
if so, then you don't need a second card for display #2. this will allow you the greater flexibility of running a spanned desktop or separate 'independent' desktops.
a) spanned desktop: 2 screens, both at same resolution where maximizing any single window means it fills across both displays
b) independent desktops: in which case you cannot maximize a single window across both displays unless you purchase an add-on like ultramon. the other workaround if you don't want to buy ultramon would be to run a window non-maximized but you can click and drag it across both displays.
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ECarlson 2005-01-27 14:33
Or, in situation 2 (extended desktop, as opposed to spanned desktop), you could open 2 instances, and maximize, or enlarge one on each monitor.
- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Slackmaster K 2005-02-06 03:17
Absolutely you can do that. Set your photoshop document to the combined resolutions of both monitors (i.e., two 1600x1200's = 3200x1200). Set your wallpaper to tile and hope you're in a #1-2 config. Otherwise, check my reply to 'span single image across dual monitors' dated 2005-02-05 08:49, which is much more wordy and explainatory. In a #2-1 config, you'll need to photoshop it a bit... but then again if you're using two seperate pics you should just need to paste them side by side. Ensure you account for blank space if you have different resolutions.
Kevin Connolly - kevin@idxt.biz
President, IDXT Computing
www.idxt.biz
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