When buying a new monitor, many users consider which size
to choose. With coming Windows 2000 and special graphic
cards with two outputs, enabling to extend the desktop
onto several monitors, some users think rather about
buying two or more monitors (Windows XP supports up to 10
monitors). So you will gain a larger display area for a
lower price.
In Windows 98 you can also connect several graphic cards
to the computer (the support of several monitors is not
only the privilege of Windows 2000 and higher!)
After extending the display area you can drag and drop
icons and programs from one to another monitor (maximized
programs cannot be moved to the other monitor).
Requirements
AGP, PCI graphic cards and particular drivers supporting
displaying on several monitors. ISA, EISA, VLB and MCA
cards are not supported.
Sometimes it is possible to use a graphic card that is
not supported, but only for the primary monitor, for
other monitors the card must meet the requirements for
100%.
Setup
Settings for graphic cards you will find in Control
Panels - Display, or you can click the right mouse button
on the desktop and choose Properties.
For each monitor/TV you can set up individual features
(number of colors, frequency, resolution).
Arrange the monitor icons by dragging: If you are
using just one monitor, you will get settings just for
this one monitor. If you are using several monitors,
there appear several square icons (monitor icons). In
this case there are 3. You can click on each monitor
image and then configure the particular display device.
Clicking the right mouse button you will get the local
menu for fast setup. Clicking the left mouse button you
can switch between the monitor images. Clicking and
holding the left mouse button you can change the position
of the squares. Placing them correctly you define the
crossing areas. Most often mistakes: 1. When
dragging to the left, everything appears on the right
monitor (instead of physical moving of the monitor just
move the square). 2. It sometimes happens that you
move the cursor onto another monitor by mistake - it
is advisable to move the square up or down and so reduce
the cursor area. 3. Moving
the cursor from one monitor to the other is too long - I
recommend that you find better combination of settings.
Monitor - here you can choose the graphics card
and the monitor which you want to set up.
Colors - here you can configure the color depth.
The more colors, the better.
Screen area - here you can change the resolution.
The higher, the better (more information will be
displayed). On smaller monitor with high resolution, the
data can be unreadable.
Use this device as the primary monitor - the
monitor you choose becomes the primary monitor on which
the main menus and information are displayed. The biggest
monitor is usually designated as the primary monitor. To
see the changes as dragged taskbar
or icons you have to restart the computer.
Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor -
activates or deactivates the
monitor used for extending the desktop.
Identify - displays a number
on each monitor image.
Advanced - this option specifies the monitor´s
and the graphics card´s properties. You can change font
size, refresh frequency,
drivers, hardware acceleration and other. The optimal
setup of the refresh frquency and the resolution will make your work on the
computer more pleasant and you will save your eyes from
harm!
Problems?
Check if the graphics card is
functioning and check its driver in the Device Manager.
Try to change the order of the
adapters (primary for secondary) - Init Display First in
BIOS (AGP or PCI).
Use another type of graphics card -
some types cannot be used. It is recommended that you
only use cards listed in HCL on the Microsoft Internet
sites (I have a good experience with ATI Rage
Pro, ATI Rage IIC and Matrox Mystique, many problems I
had to face with VGA, and S3 Virge and S3 Trio chips).
Change the configuration. E. g..:
1. change the PCI slot, 2. use another motherboard
(another type or made by another manufacturer). 3. Change
the driver. 4. Change the configuration order (it is
advisable to add the graphics adapters after the system
installation, sometimes it is necessary to change the
order).
To find the right graphics card and
to run multiple monitors need not always be successful at
the first time, sometimes it takes longer, or you can
also completely fail.
Notes
¨
If you want to make a screen copy
using the Print Screen button, you will not get a single
image of one single screen, but a combined image of all
being used screens. In this case 3 screens.
After extending the desktop, you
can drag and drop icons, taskbar and programs to another
monitor (programs only if opened in a window, maximized
windows cannot be moved to another monitor).
To maximaze a window on other than
the primary monitor, you have to move the window to the
other monitor and here to choose the maximize button. Playing
movies, playing games and running the DirectX application
is usually not possible on other than the primary
monitor.
If you want to use the command
prompt in full-screen mode, you have to use the monitor
of the first initialized graphics card, it is: the
primary monitor of the computer - it can but need not be
the same monitor as the primary monitor of Windows!
Dualview - Microsoft
describes the Dualview feature as multiple monitors
support of Windows XP Professional for portable computers
or VGA cards with two monitor outputs. This feature is
similar to multiple monitors, but does not require to
have several graphics cards. You usually cannot choose an
adapter to be the primary one - it is always the primary
port or the NTB´s LCD screen. According to the
manufacturer and the drivers, you can do much more - e.
g. cloning. In the documentation by nVidia there is the Dualview
feature described as a feature for making the particular
outputs independent - one card pretends to be two and so
allows to set different parameters for each monitor.
nView (TwinView) - Technology
developed by nVidia. It allows the graphics card to
display the image on several display devices (CRT, LCD or
TV).
Clone - there is the same
image on both outputs. Its disadvantage is that you
usually have to use the same parameters for both devices
(resolution, frequency, number of colors). Very useful
for NTBs with connected second monitor or dataprojector.
DualHead, TripleHead - this
is name of cards made by Matrox that enable you to
connect two or three display devices. According to
drivers, you can use the clone feature or you can extend
the desktop. You can also play a DVD on the secondary
monitor, and, at the same time, you can work on the
primary one.
Multiple monitor support is not
only the priviledge of Windows 2000/XP; it also works in
Windows 98, but it is a bit limited.
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