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More screen area is better than less screen area.  How you achieve that is up to you.  Try dual monitors the cheapest way to test the waters.  You'll want to dive in when you experience the benefits.

I started using dualies when I started working in translation. I can keep the english file to be translated on the left and the actual translated manuscript on the right. Copy/paste is a dream. Expose is totally inefficient in this kind of flopping back and forth work.

Marc wrote:

yeah expose isnt that useful with a dual set up but when one screen gets cluttered its still nice.

You kidding?  I use it all the time on my dual-screen setup.  I've got "Hide everything" mapped to one mouse button, and "show all programs" to the other (4 button mouse, that is).  Couldn't be more useful.

My school has a B+W G3.5 tower with three 17" CRT's on it. It's pretty bloody impressive, in fact it's overwhelming! It's got the original Rage 128 in it and a Radeon 7000. I'd put dualies on my G3, but I'm too cheap to buy a second video card, and I don't have the room for an extra monitor. On the other hand my PII 350 and my Celery 2.8 both have dual monitor support, but this is more a brag point than anything else, as I really have no use for it on a PeeCee.

Last edited by SchmoBurger (2005-05-28 5:44 am)

A while back while looking for a dual display option for a mac mini I ran across a software package that allows running two or more computers with integration so that you could have two macs or even a mac an linux etc. running applications on both processors. Now Ihave lost it, or dreamt it. Is anyone familiar with this product?

Marc wrote:

ehn. I only use "expose all" and rarely use all "hide all" and never "this app only"

I never use "this app only" but I do like "hide all" to get to my desktop.

You can press tab while exposé is going to switch between apps

[cough]z0mb13[/cough]

tF

Send more paramedics

Is there an LCD I can put on my desk next to my 20" iMac that won't make it look like ass? I mean one that matches the Apple color scheme.

I have been running dual monitors for about 10 years now. Started out with two 15 inchers went thru various combos and occasionally 3 screens and my current setup is a 22 inch Mitsubishi paired with a 17 inch Samsung.
Once you really get used to 2 (or more) screens working on just one is very uncomfortable..

VegasACF wrote:

DudetheCreator wrote:

Thrica wrote:

I guess this would have to be one of those things you have to use before you can appreciate it. Right now all I can think of is the bezel getting in my way between the two monitors.

Which is why I don't bother with it.  The rim of the screen in the middle of my halo game, safari window, or whatever, would piss me off.

I don't know of many people who are using a multiple monitor configuration that are looking at a single image/window across the multiple screens.  Rather, I think the monitors are used for separate windows within an application.

In my case I put dual monitors to best use when I'm running Pro Tools or Digital Performer.  One monitor centers on the mix window and whatever sub-windows are associated with it, the other has the edit window and whatever sub-windows are associated with it.

And I can't think of a game that would allow you to split the visual across multiple monitors, except for some flight sims (not saying that there positively isn't one, but I've never heard of it, and having used multiple monitors for about ten years now I think I would have noticed).  I've never heard of such a thing with Halo, UT2K4, etc.  You could use some sort of external signal splitter (like they have at Studio 54 to put a single screen's worth of images across an array of 50 or so monitors), I guess, but I don't think you'd get twice the width of view.  I think you'd get the regular resolution splayed across the screens (which would really mess with the vertical field of view.

Thats right, like the way I use my duals with Photoshop. I keep the image in my big main screen and all the pallets on my second screen. It is sweet to have the entire 22" inch screen just for the image with nothing getting in the way at all.
The second screen is a good place for download managers, timers, burning software, batch windows, messaging clients, alerts and vids.
Pretty much any secondary task you'd like to kinda keep an eye on.
Right now I have my Usenet clients download queue and a timer so I dont forget about the pizza I am cooking in the second screen

Last edited by Pariah (2006-07-09 9:34 pm)

resedit wrote:

A lot of dual monitor needs can be solved with virtual desktops.

virtual desktops are kinder on the environment because there is only manufacture and disposal needs for one monitor, not two.

Granted, for some lines of work you really do need more than one, but remember - luxury has a price that we often do not see. If you really do not need it, try using virtual desktops instead. It saves you money, saves power, and saves the manufacture (and future disposal) ecological damage.

Not in my case - back before UPS broke them, I used two screens on my Mac and PC. Normally I would have them both on the mac for productivity, and I would open a VNC / RDC window on one of them if I needed to use the pc for something. When playing a game on the PC, or using some other APP that VNC / RDC wouldn't be fast enough t handle, I would physically swap the cable of my second screen.

2 computers - 2 screens like normal, but whenever possible in a dual monitor setup.

MAN I miss that - vnc'ing from an 800x600 display on a g3 powerbook for EVERYTHING bites ass.