Comment on Computer Configuration

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by a5519, Apr 4, 2003.

  1. Wow….5 monitors…. I can’t even get two working.

    I have been trying to get a dual monitor setup working to expand my desktop but so far have only managed to clone the original desktop in the second monitor.

    I am not sure if my graphics card will allow me to do this. So far I have spent about 2-3 hours trying with no success. I just want to run Medved Quote Tracker with lots of charts on this setup. (I have another computer that I run IB TWS stand alone version for trading and surfing)

    I have W2k on my Dell Inspiron 7000 and would like to use a 17" CTR as a desktop extension of my laptop monitor. I have ATI Rage Mobility-P AGP2X.
    I can clone my desktop but cannot get it to expand my desktop as I want.
    (I have been to many forums and the ATI site but can’t seem to get the answer)

    Can I do this with the setup that I have?
     
    #11     Apr 5, 2003
  2. vinigar

    vinigar

    A5519,

    The only thing that I can add is that you go with Windows Professional 2000...I have two different computers up and running...one with win 2k the other with XP...the XP is a brand new computer with plenty of "overkill"...however, the XP has proven to not be a stable reliable software system for me...moreover, XP wants everything to be registered with Microsoft and certified...if there are any problems with up to date driver certification or anything remotely related ....forget it....win 2k has proven to be a very good system....I can't crash it.
     
    #12     Apr 5, 2003
  3. Which software packages do you use?
     
    #13     Apr 5, 2003
  4. ryoubetteroff,

    I assume you have done the following, but just making sure:
    1) go to Windows Control Panel
    2) select Display
    3) then clicked on Settings tab

    Does it show 2 monitors in the top half of that screen?

    If so, select Display 2 from the dropdown list and check the box to "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor"
     
    #14     Apr 5, 2003
  5. CalTrader

    CalTrader Guest

    ... Buy last years model and put in at least 512 Mbyte and the fastest multiple monitor card you can afford:

    Our base trading stations run dual flatscreen monitors, 512MBytes of memory, and a fast dual monitor graphics card. Hard drives are soo cheap right now that you should use 80 gig ide grives as a minimum - they currently seem to be the best value.
     
    #15     Apr 5, 2003
  6. gnome

    gnome

    Likely not. Only a few of even the most recent laptops support extended desktop. Sony has one with a 16" LCD you can see at Best Buy.

    The feature you're describing might be used if you were making a presentation to a group. That way, you could have a 2nd monitor for the others to view while you all see them same thing without having to gather ear-to-ear in front of your laptop. All laptops for years have had this feature. It's not the same as extended desktop.
     
    #16     Apr 5, 2003
  7. a5519

    a5519

    spreadem,
    I am using mainly Matlab, and not only for research, even trading system I am runnig on Matlab. And if the expressions are not vectorized, it's quite slow. Therefore a trading system I will probably move top WLD. But for development Matlab is hard to beat.
     
    #17     Apr 5, 2003
  8. This is in response to my own post regarding setting up an extended desktop.

    Someone just directed me to this Dell forum post which I think says "it can't be done" Is that what the post is saying? (below this is the pasted info)



    Thank you so much for all the information.

    I do have win 98SE with my inspiron 7000 but I still cannot get the extended monitor selection under the control panels.

    I also have a toshiba laptop and it works fine and shows up with the "extended" options in monitors control panel under win 98SE.

    Under CP Displays/settings/advanced, both monitors show up but not with the extended option....

    Any help you could provide would be very much appreciated!





    DELL-Rance wrote:
    - recruiterjay:
    -
    - If you are using Windows98 this is possible. If you
    - are using Windows 2000 the following should answer
    - your question:
    -
    -
    - Extended Desktop Support in Windows 2000 on
    - Inspiron/Latitude Systems
    -
    - Extended Desktop is the ability to "stretch" your
    - Windows desktop across multiple monitors,
    - effectively using each monitor as a unique and
    - separate portion of the desktop display area. This
    - functionality was introduced in Windows 98 SE
    - (Second Edition) and was fully planned for Windows
    - 2000. Several pre-release versions of Windows 2000
    - did have full extended desktop support.
    - Unfortunately, as Windows 2000 was developed,
    - Microsoft decided to de-feature multi-monitor
    - support for single-adapter /dual-controller video
    - solutions as part of the Operating System.
    - Single-adapter /dual-controller video is often found
    - in portable computers, including Dell Inspiron and
    - Latitude systems with ATI-based video solutions,
    - including the ATI Mobility M/M1/P, Mobility 128 and
    - Mobility M4. This type of video solution uses a
    - single video adapter with multiple video controllers
    - emulated in driver software, rather than a single
    - adapter for each video controller (as commonly found
    - in desktop systems).
    -
    - Although Windows 98 SE and Me (Millennium Edition)
    - do support extended desktop with a single-adapter
    - /dual-controller video solution, this functionality
    - is not natively supported in Windows 2000. Microsoft
    - originally planned to add this support in a service
    - pack release for Windows 2000, but all Windows 2000
    - efforts have been dropped, focusing instead on
    - developing it for Windows XP Professional (NOTE: At
    - the time of this writing, Windows XP Home will *NOT*
    - have native support for extended desktop). It should
    - be noted that Windows 2000 does support extended
    - desktop using multiple video controllers with
    - single-adapter/single-controller solutions. This
    - type of hardware configuration is only possible on
    - desktop systems or portable computers with docking
    - stations that allow for PCI-based video solution
    - expansion. This functionality has not been tested
    - and is not supported on Dell Latitude products with
    - the C/Dock solution.
    -
    - Extended desktop is possible on a portable computer
    - with a single video adapter, but it must be
    - configured as a dual channel controller by the
    - manufacturer. The only other means to support
    - extended desktop with a
    - single-adapter/dual-controller configuration on
    - Windows 2000 is a separate program/applet that
    - ignores Windows 2000 operating system limitations
    - and emulates extended desktop itself. Neither of
    - these are available with Dell's current ATI-based
    - video solutions. There are no plans to support or
    - implement this functionality on any of Dell's
    - ATI-based video solutions. Future products from Dell
    - may support this functionality.
    -
    -
    - Reference from the Microsoft Resource Kit for
    - Windows 2000 Professional:
    -
    - Page 840: MULTIPLE MONITORS
    -
    - "Multi-Monitor allows you to configure up to nine
    - monitors so that the Windows 2000 Professional
    - Desktop can be spread out over their display areas.
    - For each display you can adjust the position,
    - resolution and color depth..."
    -
    - Page 843: USING MULTI-MONITORS WITH PORTABLE
    - COMPUTERS
    -
    - "You can use docked portable computers in a
    - multi-monitor configuration if the docking station
    - allows the use of PCI display devices. The onboard
    - display on the portable computer [i.e. LCD panel]
    - must be used as the VGA device..."
    -
    - This is not supported on any Dell Inspiron or
    - Latitude products.
    -
    -
    - In addition ShapiroJM has posted a possible PC card
    - solution:
    -
    - I have found only one option in all of my research,
    - and that is to use a PCMCIA video card. There are
    - two on the market, one from Appian and one from
    - Margi systems. For a review of these cards by a Dell
    - notebook user, go to - href="http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/faq.asp."
    - target=_blank>http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon
    - /faq.asp. Based on info. provided there, I will
    - be purchasing one of these cards for use on my C800.
    -
    - Hopefully, this info will save others the grief that
    - I had to go through to ultimately get to this
    - answer, and I hope that Dell's tech's read this so
    - that they can distribute accurate info to others who
    - call with this question.
     
    #18     Apr 5, 2003
  9. ryoubetteroff,

    Disregard my post above - after reading gnome's reply, I realized that I skimmed your PC specs too quickly.

    Your laptop does not support multiple monitors. You would need to have 2 video cards to do this. The only thing that might work is if you have a docking station, you may be able to add a second PCI video card into it. Then, hook up the monitor to the 2nd video card instead of to the standard lapstop video output.

    Jerry
     
    #19     Apr 5, 2003