dual screen monitor?

Question

I'm in high school and we just got new computers, they have two monitors each, its really cool you can open a load of windows at the same time... My question is: how can I get one? do I have to buy two special monitors? or just the cable? (obviously if I already have two monitors)

Answer 1

Two monitors are better than one
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/twomonitors.mspx

Expand Your Workspace with Multiple Monitors and Dualview
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/multimonitor.mspx

Double/Triple Vision
http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm

Two Screens Are Better Than One
http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=433

Multi-Monitor Resources
http://realtimesoft.com/multimon/faq.asp

Setting up dual monitors using Windows XP Home
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;397764216;fp;2;fpid;1277378924

Dual monitor calibration on Windows XP PCs
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/dual_monitor_calibration.html

Turn on dual monitor support: Powerpoint
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HP030832971033.aspx

Video Editing & Your Monitor
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/dunn_03august11_monitors.mspx

Run a presentation on two monitors
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HP030893941033.aspx

Dual Monitor Video Cards
http://www.superwarehouse.com/Dual_Monitor_Video_Cards/c3/1884

VGA to DVI or a DVI to VGA adapter to attch your monitors.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=dvi+vga+adapter&image1.x=0&image1.y=0
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There are several ways to get multiple monitors with a laptop:
http://realtimesoft.com/multimon/faq.asp
* using the second VGA output of the laptop
* adding a PCMCIA video card
* using a docking station with video card
* using a PCI video card in a PCMCIA-to-PCI expansion system
* adding an external video card
* using a second laptop or other PC as an additional monitor


Multi-monitor solutions for laptops
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/products.asp#MultiMonLaptops
Digital Tigers
The SideCar is a little box with a built-in video card which gets connected to a laptop using a PCMCIA card. Several models are available with support for 1-4 monitors.

Magma
PCI expansion systems allow you to connect one or more PCI video cards to your laptop via a PCMCIA card.

Matrox
The DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go take the output of the laptop's external monitor port and split it between 2 or 3 monitors. Please note that Windows sees the monitors connected to the 2Go cards as a single wide monitor, which causes problems for multi-monitor software such as UltraMon.

Village Tronic
The VTBook is a PCMCIA video card with a Trident chipset and 32 MB RAM (Review).

Dual Monitor Mode and Display Management on the Dell Notebooks
http://it.scu.edu/howto/Dual_Monitor_Mode.shtml

Answer 2

First you need a video card that supports dual screen monitors, somthing that says like DVI x2 or Dual Screen Monitor support. All of todays modern graphics cards have this future. What you do is plug in your main monitor first, test it and see if all the color is correct. Shut off your computer and plug in your second one. Right click on an empty space on your desktop and go to 'properties' and go to settings to make sure thats your video card and doesn't say like "Default Monitor" If it doesn't say the name of the video card, unplug your second monitor (of course turn off your computer first) then turn it back on with one monitor and install the driver for your video card, or your video card could overheat/cause trouble. Then after installation put the second monitor and do the same process.

Two monitors may seem akward at first, but it's worth the learning curve, because it's so much more convinient.

Answer 3

Here is what you need:

1) A graphics card with dual output capability, or two graphics cards.

2) Software to support two monitors, which usually comes with the graphics card, but Windows may also support it by default if it is packaged with their distro.

3) Two monitors.

The monitors do not have to be special. In fact most software can handle different resolution sizes, if the monitors are not the same. I have personally hooked a samsung and dell monitor together with an ati graphics card, and they worked great.

Answer 4

If you are running windows XP and your mother board supports it, you can simply run a second video card for the second monitor. You can also buy special video cards that will run 2 monitors.

You may also want to check the specs on your motherboard if you are running the monitor from an onboard vidoe card. In some cases you can keep that video enabled when you add another video card through either the bios or sometimes a jumper setting on the board, This would also allow you to run double monitors. I've attached a link on how to set up DualView in Windows XP

Answer 5

You need two video cards installed in a standard desktop PC to accomplish this, unless you have a video card with dual connectors designed for two monitors.

Most laptops/notebooks have an external monitor connector, so you can run both the notebook's monitor and the external at the same time.

Answer 6

One computer + 2 video cards (or 1 video card with 2 video outputs) + 2 monitors = 1 dual screen computer.

HTH

Answer 7

You just need a graphics card that support dual monitors, which most cards of today will, the cable are normally supplied with the monitors.

Answer 8

you would need an additional video card installed in your computer so that each monitor works off a different video card. some video cards are set up for two monitors and have two video ports. if not, you can get an additional video card and plug one monitor into it and the other into the built-in video card that came with the computer. most of the operating software (windows xp, etc.) already come with software to recognize your two monitors automatically and configure them according to your desires.

Answer 9

Go to the computer outlet and tell them what yu have and they will tell you what to get. Most likely a new video card that will handle two moniters or another card to go with what you have. The cables and the software.

Here is is not very much money at all but where you re ai can't say.

I have a friend that does this because of customers and he can use one while showing the customer on the other.

Answer 10

Look at the following links and select the preferred setup.

http://www.maxivista.com/ : No need for extra hardware other than a second monitor. Dual headed cable is necessary.

http://lifehacker.com/software/dual-monitor/dual-monitors-increase-productivity-168488.php : You need a second video card or a upgraded card with two outputs.

http://www.extramon.com/

How to setup?
http://freepctech.com/pc/001/guide_dual_monitors.shtml

Have a great day!!!

Answer 11

ray 8128, you rock dude, excellent answer! Followed your source/s list, now I have my Gateway FPD 1950 Lcd 19inch flat screen, and a Dell Trinitron crt 21 inch hooked up. My video card is a Ati Radeon X600 XT with the usual hook-up's, DVI-2 and VGA. I just put an adapter,(Dvi to Vga), to hook up the crt screen to the vid card, and left the Lcd flat screen hooked to the Vga port on the card. I'm buying a Dvi cable to hook directly to the Lcd monitor, for actual digital signal to the digital Lcd monitor. WindowsXP has 1000's of driver's, and supports dual monitor's, and many, many graphic's,(video), card's.