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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Dual Monitor Setup: How does it work?
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 01/07/2006 11:22:25 AM · #1
Ive been contemplating getting a small LCD for photoshop palletes and keeping my 19" crt for just the photo itself. My question is how do you use 2 monitors? Two mice? Dou you have to hold down a key to switch between the two monitors or just scroll over? Also, Hwat are the advantages and disadvantages of a dual setup?

dustin
 01/07/2006 11:33:24 AM · #2
Dual monitors are really easy to set up and work with, as long as you have the right hardware. You'll need a video card that supports it (usually they have both a VGA (15-pin D-sub) and a DVI connector. You need to make sure that the LCD uses a DVI connection, so that you can connect your CRT to the VGA output and the LCD to the DVI.
Once you've got the hardware connected, just right-click on the desktop and choose "Properties" to bring up the display properties dialog. In the settings tab, configure each display, drag them to position as they are in "real life" and on the second monitor, check the "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor." Click OK.
The two monitors will now act as one, and the mouse will move between them seamlessly. You may have to tweak the position of the monitors in the Display Properties dialog again to refine the position and make the mouse appear to move in a straight line when scrolling across the "gap."
If you are not using hardware calibration, you'll definitely want to use one for editing, and the other for toolbars, other apps, etcetera, otherwise the calibration differences will drive you nuts.

Message edited by author 2006-01-07 11:34:45.
 01/07/2006 11:33:52 AM · #3
I ran a dual set up for a short time, and liked it a lot. I may go back to it in the near future, if I can engineer a bit more desk.

To answer your question, it depends first off on your video card. If it has only a single output, you need to replace it with a different one, with dual VGA output. The new video card will come with software to allow you to set up the monitors a couple of ways, but any will basically let you scroll from one to the other monitor. I had mine set up as two separate desk tops, using one keyboard/trackball.

Hope that helps.
 01/07/2006 11:37:58 AM · #4
Wonderful! Quick responses. I love it. I have a radeon 9800 pro that I believe will allow me to run dual monitors. But, if i go dual i may just add it on to my system rebuild. Dual core..here I come!(possibly dual dual cores...opteron baby!)
 01/07/2006 11:40:31 AM · #5
I have a laptop and an additional monitor. I love having the screen space. In PS I put the pallets on the extra monitor and the picture on the laptop monitor. It is also great when you have two programs open and you can view one on each monitor. I'm spoiled now so it is frustrating when I do things at school on a single small monitor.

I don't know how it works on a Mac, but on a PC under display properties, choose multiple monitors. You can set the resolution for each monitor. I can't remember where, but somewhere there is a choice for extended monitor and then the two work together as one big screen. It was kind of funny getting used to the mouse moving between the monitors, but now it seems very natural.


01/07/2006 11:40:48 AM · #6
Originally posted by dustinwilson:
Ive been contemplating getting a small LCD for photoshop palletes and keeping my 19" crt for just the photo itself. My question is how do you use 2 monitors? Two mice? Dou you have to hold down a key to switch between the two monitors or just scroll over? Also, Hwat are the advantages and disadvantages of a dual setup?

dustin


It just came operational automatic here nothing to it :)
 01/07/2006 11:44:14 AM · #7
VGA-DVI adaptors are about $25, so get a vid card with one output of each and if you don't have one of each monitor, get an adaptor to make it work.
 01/07/2006 12:02:59 PM · #8
I run two monitors on one system and three on another. All have separate vid cards. Depending on your system, you may need to change the BIOS settings to make sure it sees one as the primary video.

If you do it all in one card this may not need to be done. But if you use more than one card, make sure the one in the AGV slot is primary and any PCI adaptors are secondary.
 01/07/2006 09:32:27 PM · #9
I was going to get one, but I cant be arsed with using the extra resources for my geforce 9800. Plus one you get used to using dual it will annoy you when you go to work/uni and they dont have it.
 01/07/2006 09:41:19 PM · #10
How does it work?

It works fine.
 01/07/2006 09:58:52 PM · #11
I VERY quickly got used to having two monitors and can barely imagine now how someone manages with only one *g*
It is easy to get spoiled, isn't it, but it makes so many jobs WAY easier when you have all that extra room.
 01/07/2006 10:00:16 PM · #12
i am in reverse, i have one small monitor between four machines. You people are rich.

Originally posted by Beetle:
I VERY quickly got used to having two monitors and can barely imagine now how someone manages with only one *g*
It is easy to get spoiled, isn't it, but it makes so many jobs WAY easier when you have all that extra room.
01/07/2006 10:26:07 PM · #13
So which monitor are you going to profile? If you're running your dual monitor setup on just one video card you can only profile one monitor and the other will be off. In order to be able to profile both you will need to run each monitor on a seperate video card.
 01/08/2006 09:03:07 AM · #14
Originally posted by Olyuzi:
So which monitor are you going to profile? If you're running your dual monitor setup on just one video card you can only profile one monitor and the other will be off. In order to be able to profile both you will need to run each monitor on a seperate video card.

Not necessarily true Olyuzi. I tried hooking up my 17" Dell PC monitor to my laptop. Now it runs as a dual monitor setup (taking a little getting used to). I can make the monitor my primary, put it 'on top, left or right of my laptop. I can also set the properties for each monitor INDIVIDUALLY. Including size, brightness, gamma, etc. As far as I know, this laptop (bought it for myself for Xmas) only has 1 video card.
Well, back to getting the settings the way I want it.
01/08/2006 10:45:18 AM · #15
Originally posted by zxaar:
i am in reverse, i have one small monitor between four


Last time i checked entire machines cost a lot more than little 15" crts :P

Mind you, i'm a very poor student and i have around 14 machines running in my flat at any one time, and only one of them has any monitors (it has 7 though).
01/08/2006 11:06:50 AM · #16
Originally posted by MrEd:
Originally posted by Olyuzi:
So which monitor are you going to profile? If you're running your dual monitor setup on just one video card you can only profile one monitor and the other will be off. In order to be able to profile both you will need to run each monitor on a seperate video card.

Not necessarily true Olyuzi. I tried hooking up my 17" Dell PC monitor to my laptop. Now it runs as a dual monitor setup (taking a little getting used to). I can make the monitor my primary, put it 'on top, left or right of my laptop. I can also set the properties for each monitor INDIVIDUALLY. Including size, brightness, gamma, etc. As far as I know, this laptop (bought it for myself for Xmas) only has 1 video card.
Well, back to getting the settings the way I want it.


I'm not questioning the possibilities of running dual monitors concurrently and calibrating them seperately, but I'm referring to the use of color management software in order to profile a monitor and set up a LUT (look up table) in the video drivers that work with the video card. From my understanding, if you run your setup from just one video card you can only profile one monitor. In order to have both profiled you would need to run your dual monitor setup on two different cards. At least that's how I think it works.
 01/08/2006 02:22:47 PM · #17
Originally posted by Olyuzi:
Originally posted by MrEd:
Originally posted by Olyuzi:
So which monitor are you going to profile? If you're running your dual monitor setup on just one video card you can only profile one monitor and the other will be off. In order to be able to profile both you will need to run each monitor on a seperate video card.

Not necessarily true Olyuzi. I tried hooking up my 17" Dell PC monitor to my laptop. Now it runs as a dual monitor setup (taking a little getting used to). I can make the monitor my primary, put it 'on top, left or right of my laptop. I can also set the properties for each monitor INDIVIDUALLY. Including size, brightness, gamma, etc. As far as I know, this laptop (bought it for myself for Xmas) only has 1 video card.
Well, back to getting the settings the way I want it.


I'm not questioning the possibilities of running dual monitors concurrently and calibrating them seperately, but I'm referring to the use of color management software in order to profile a monitor and set up a LUT (look up table) in the video drivers that work with the video card. From my understanding, if you run your setup from just one video card you can only profile one monitor. In order to have both profiled you would need to run your dual monitor setup on two different cards. At least that's how I think it works.


I just got the Spyder 2 Plus and you can only profile 1 monitor when using 1 video card. I read somewhere in the paperwork that a two monitor setup is supported with the spyder 2 pro. It's pretty pricey at about $299.
 01/08/2006 03:07:29 PM · #18
Originally posted by BADDBOYY21:
Originally posted by Olyuzi:
Originally posted by MrEd:
Originally posted by Olyuzi:
So which monitor are you going to profile? If you're running your dual monitor setup on just one video card you can only profile one monitor and the other will be off. In order to be able to profile both you will need to run each monitor on a seperate video card.

Not necessarily true Olyuzi. I tried hooking up my 17" Dell PC monitor to my laptop. Now it runs as a dual monitor setup (taking a little getting used to). I can make the monitor my primary, put it 'on top, left or right of my laptop. I can also set the properties for each monitor INDIVIDUALLY. Including size, brightness, gamma, etc. As far as I know, this laptop (bought it for myself for Xmas) only has 1 video card.
Well, back to getting the settings the way I want it.


I'm not questioning the possibilities of running dual monitors concurrently and calibrating them seperately, but I'm referring to the use of color management software in order to profile a monitor and set up a LUT (look up table) in the video drivers that work with the video card. From my understanding, if you run your setup from just one video card you can only profile one monitor. In order to have both profiled you would need to run your dual monitor setup on two different cards. At least that's how I think it works.


I just got the Spyder 2 Plus and you can only profile 1 monitor when using 1 video card. I read somewhere in the paperwork that a two monitor setup is supported with the spyder 2 pro. It's pretty pricey at about $299.


I hook my PowerBook up to very different external monitors at home and at work, each one individually calibrated, and images look nearly identical on all three. Obviously both external monitors are talking to the same video card, so either this video card has multiple LUTs or they are stored in the software driver. In any case, it's not a function of the calibration tool. I do have the Spyder Pro, but the three monitors were quite close back when I used the built-in Mac calibration tool (the monitors just weren't as well calibrated).
 01/08/2006 03:46:10 PM · #19
Here's my work area


How does it work?

I have two CRT monitors on the right hand PC using two video cards. The centre one is using an AGP card and the right hand one is using an old PCI slot video card. The monitor on the left is connected to my Photographic computer on which I hold all the ex-camera files, write to DVD and do the PaintShop Pro editing.

Why not two monitors on the left for the photographic work? Give it time give it time. The right-hand machine is used for software development and evaluation so needs all the monitors it can get to put Dialog and Property boxes all over.

My next upgrade will be for a "dual head" card as PCI slotted cards are now almost impossible to get, even on Ebay.

Brett

Message edited by author 2006-01-08 16:24:43.
 01/10/2006 08:21:26 AM · #20
14 machines what r u doing friend, i am sick with 5 machines (and 2 moniters).

Originally posted by riot:
Originally posted by zxaar:
i am in reverse, i have one small monitor between four


Last time i checked entire machines cost a lot more than little 15" crts :P

Mind you, i'm a very poor student and i have around 14 machines running in my flat at any one time, and only one of them has any monitors (it has 7 though).
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