Multiple Monitors on a 770Z

[Bookworm]

I just plugged a second monitor into my 770Z and enabled multiple monitors in easy setup. Both monitors are displaying the same thing. How do I get it to use the two monitors separately?

I also have the DEVA board. Is it possible to use the TV output as a third monitor?

[Neil]

Choose extended desktop, or something along that line, in your operating systems display properties. I've never really done this with a 770Z, but had such a set-up for a while with a T41.

IIRC, the DEVA cards TV out is 480i video for input to a TV only. Not RGB-HV that would drive a monitor. Plus, I think only the decoded MPEG video is available, not the desktop.

[pkiff]

IIRC, the DEVA cards TV out is 480i video for input to a TV only. Not RGB-HV that would drive a monitor. Plus, I think only the decoded MPEG video is available, not the desktop.

Neil is right that the output is standard 4:3 ratio TV output via S-video or RCA cables. I've never seen an option that would allow the TV out to function as an additional monitor: I've only ever been able to get it to mirror the screen. And even then, it will only mirror the screen if you're resolution is set low enough before connecting to the TV.

You can, however, get the desktop to display -- it will mirror whatever you have up there at 800x600 resolution. But I have found it very difficult to read the text that gets output to the TV, and so found it not worth using for things like browsing the web.

Then again, I haven't played with the BIOS settings around multiple monitor displays very much because all my machines need to be set to single monitor only in order to get them to work the way I want with video cards in docking stations. I have used a SelectaDock III docking station to output to a different monitor through a separate PCI video card. In the latter case, you cannot display the internal LCD monitor at the same time as you use a PCI video card to display an external VGA monitor. Some people have used a docking station with a PCI video card capable of dual displays and been able to use dual screens that way. I think there was a compatible Matrox card that offered dual head displays.

Regarding the use of extended desktop displays, I can't help you there.

Phil.

[Bookworm]

This is working fine in Windows ME. I can drag windows or move the mouse pointer from one monitor to the other as easily as if it was one wide screen. The trouble there is that the monitors are reversed. The built in LCD is the secondary and the external monitor is the primary, and the option to fix that is shaded out of the menu.

In Windows 2000, Control Pane/Display/Settings, it says I have "multiple monitors" where it usually tells what kind of monitor I'm using, but no pair of monitor icons.

> You can, however, get the desktop to display -- it will mirror whatever you have up there
> at 800x600 resolution.

I wouldn't set it any higher than 640X480. The multiple monitor option also allows each monitor to be a different resolution.

> But I have found it very difficult to read the text that gets output to the TV, and so
> found it not worth using for things like browsing the web.

I was only going to use it for games.

The 770Z's built in video board supports two monitors. I'm not using a separate video board. I don't even have a docking station yet. Windows 2000 help doesn't tell me how to get the second one to work, but it does say it supports up to ten monitors. Great, where am I going to put those?

[pkiff]

> You can, however, get the desktop to display -- it will mirror whatever you have up there
> at 800x600 resolution.

I wouldn't set it any higher than 640X480.

Good point. Maybe that's why the text looked so bad for me. I think the 800x600 may be the recommended resolution for watching DVDs, but the smaller resolution may work better for other things...

[...]Windows 2000 help doesn't tell me how to get the second one to work, but it does say it supports up to ten monitors. Great, where am I going to put those?

Now, that would be truly widescreen.

[Bookworm]

Back in the good old days when all computers had a built in video modulator, the usual resolutions were 256X192 to 320X200. Anything higher required an expensive monitor. IMHO it's kind of cool that my modern ThinkPad has an old fashioned TV output and "cassette" (audio I/O) interface.

The ten monitor thing reminds me of some science fiction characters I saw when I was a kid. They operated out of a secret room with super powerful computers and were surrounded by monitors.

The trouble is, if I remember right, they were the bad guys.

[Bookworm]

I have both monitors working in ME. But they are reversed, with the external monitor set to default, and the option to fix this is grayed out. How do I ungray it? The built in LCD is the default monitor. How do I tell windows that?