Dual monitors

Harness · Postby **Harness** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:59 pm

My boss at work wants to setup a system of using one computer with 2 monitors set up for it. I know there are video cards available for this but are there any other options? Also, what would be the cheapest posible way to do this?

MaC · Postby **MaC** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 8:05 pm

spliter?

Jif · Postby **Jif** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:26 am

assuming the PC has onboard video and only 1 monitor output you have 2 options:
1-add a video card to have the 2nd, or both monitors. you could actually run 3 monitors with this setup. can be really cheap if the PC has a PCI-E slot. if it only has an AGP or a legacy PCI slot, you're better off ebaying a used one for cheap. i wouldnt spend over $35 for a used card. all it needs is 2 monitor outputs and be compatible with the PC.
2- http://www.evga.com/uvplus/ - adds 1 monitor output via USB. requires USB 2.0 so the PC can't be like 9 years old. relatively cheap, i priced them at amazon this past week at $55 and $65 respectively.

if you want help picking a gfx card out, lemme know. you will need the PC model # so we can determine what motherboard slots it has.

Harness · Postby **Harness** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 2:50 pm

Cool man thank you.

Now is there anyway to make it so you directly control what the 2nd monitor will display instead of simply having everything that the user is doing displayed on it?

Also, if you have a video card installed can you still use the jack built onto the MoBo?

Jif · Postby **Jif** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 7:28 pm

Harness · Postby **Harness** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:55 pm

Jif · Postby **Jif** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:08 pm

2 displays, extended desktop. just drag what you want them to see onto the 2nd monitor. they dont see anything on the primary display, only what you intentionally move onto it by dragging windows with your mouse

Harness · Postby **Harness** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 11:22 pm

Ohh so theres like some kind of icon you would drag the item to on your screen? I thought you meant you would somehow drag something directly off your screen and onto the other. That wouldnt really work if you can't see the other screen at all.

Jif · Postby **Jif** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 11:56 am

dun dun dun... chips · Postby **dun dun dun... chips** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 1:59 pm

@harness. you do drag things from one monitor to the other with what jif was talking about. what you could do, since one of the displays would be for the customers, is just have the <whatever you want played> play on the other monitor. usually there is an option in the software to display on the other monitor. if its a powerpoint, usually there is an option that you can do this. if its a movie, than there might be one there, but since i only run multiscreens on macs, im not quite sure the specifics.
what jif meant: im pretty sure that he thought that you wanted the two monitors to be working in the same place, and your boss to be actively using both.

Jif · Postby **Jif** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:34 pm

the 2 screens wouldnt be physically next to each other??

dun dun dun... chips · Postby **dun dun dun... chips** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:12 pm

Harness · Postby **Harness** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:32 pm

No you would NOT be able to see the second monitor. It would be facing the opposite direction as the one you personally interact with. Thats why I was saying that draging stuff off the screen woudn't really work all that well.

Jif · Postby **Jif** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:18 am

you can drag stuff onto the screen without being able to see it. all you do is click any window's title bar and drag it off the main screen and it'll go to the 2nd display. depending on the drivers and additional software you use you may be able to pin certain windows to always open on the 2nd screen. other than i dont see anything you could do. maybe mirror the displays so they show the same thing but minimize the stuff you dont want em to see. dont think thatd be very effective.

you seem to require specialized point of sale software for this.

Postby **Darkfoxx** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:47 am

If you just want to mirror the current monitor, get something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812232019
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6815275003

This allows you to add a second monitor w/o getting a video card. The second monitor will show up in the display options and then you just set it up from there.

Dual monitors

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