When will we inbrace multi monitors??

I

iNsAnE_crAzY

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 12, 2003
Messages
306
About a 6 monthes ago I had a spare 17 in. monitor and after having installed a dual head vid card I decided to test out dual monitors. From there the addiction came so i got another for a total of 3. But, the more i use my system the more i am disappointed in the lack of dual or multi-moitor support in software. Now im not only reffering to games but i think all games should atleast support it or is this a hard feature to add? Now some software, seems to hate multi-monitor systems. Off the top off my head i can name a few: winamp(video can only play back on primary,video window goes black if dragged to any other)Star Wars KOTOR isnt even playable unless all other monitors are diabled b/c the cursor wont stay on primary display it then goes to a secondary display and has the same affect as an alt + tab. Starcraft has a similar problem. There are more examples but i can't think of them right now. I know not many peoplehave multi-monitor systems so maybes thats why yuo can't stretch most games over all 2 or 3 displays but i think software should atleast be able to be run correctly on one. Also, i truely don't understand why more people dont use multiple monitors why pay 500 for a 19 in. when you can get (3) 17's for the same and in my opinion all that matters on a moniotr is refreash rate and resolution so spending alot on a 20 in top of the line where you can buy a 17 in refurbished for 40$ at 1280x1024. I think everyone can agree the most important thing is the resolution so Im just i guess posting my rant.
-=Crazy=-
 
i think not as many people use multi-monitors because they had the same situation you have? you are complaining about lack of support but at the same time wondering why more people dont use dual monitors :confused:
 
At work I've been using dual monitors since Win98 first came out. At best it was just functional, at worst applications failed to start or crashed. For example early OpenGL apps would not start with dual displays enabled because the MS provided OGL dll does not support dual accelerated displays.

Current multi display support is only marginally better, and is still very much a pain to program for when trying to extract maximum performance. Writing an accelerated DirectX application for multiple displays can be difficult; not all systems are multi headed, some use multiple adapters. Due to the variety of configurations and the complexity involved in modern graphics engines, supporting multiple simultaneous output adapters is a risky requirement that has questionable benefit.

Standard GDI/GDI+ applications have no reason not to handle multiple displays correctly. GDI/GDI+ are easy in comparison to DirectX. Most problems I've seen are due to saving and restoring window positions and dealing with edge cases, e.g. last run there were 2 displays now there is 1. In all cases this is trivial to handle correctly if you plan your development accordingly.

The only application that truly pisses me off, with regard to multi display, is DevStudio .Net 2002 & 2003. Specifically when restoring I get a drawn window across both displays that really isn't available. This is what I've termed a rendering turd: an artefact left on the display that should not exist. Occasionally it really is a valid window. Sometimes, very rare, the environment will crash. What makes me even more pissed is that it wasn't fixed in Net 2003.
 
I agree with PliotronX - most people don't have enough desk space for multiple monitors. Perhaps that will change somewhat when as LCDs continue to grow in popularity.
 
Deskspace is definately an issue with most people. My first dual montior setup was with a 21" and 17" CRT monitors. The 21" was an absolute monster, one of the biggest monitor's i've ever seen (not screen size, but the whole things togheter, the whole assembly was rediculously huge) and then adding a 17" crt used up more space. They took up the whole desk that i use to have them on before i got my new furnature. Now my new desks houses them extremely well, although, they were replaces with 2 17" LCD's, so my desk seems even bigger now :D
 
I've been using a dual-display setup (2 * 17") for over a year now, and I must say that your comment about multi-display setups being addictive is not true at all. It's far worse than that ;)

Anyway, as kmeson pointed out, making applications work nice with a multi-display setup is not as easy as it may appear. I do think, however, that as more people start using a multi-display setup (and why not: it's far more cost-effective than buying a larger monitor), gradually more OSs and applications will be written with such an environment in mind.
 
Originally posted by Elledan
I've been using a dual-display setup (2 * 17") for over a year now, and I must say that your comment about multi-display setups being addictive is not true at all. It's far worse than that ;)

Anyway, as kmeson pointed out, making applications work nice with a multi-display setup is not as easy as it may appear. I do think, however, that as more people start using a multi-display setup (and why not: it's far more cost-effective than buying a larger monitor), gradually more OSs and applications will be written with such an environment in mind.
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Yes I figured it couldnt be to easy to add multi-monitor support, otherwise it would be more comon place and i do understand that it would be hard to deal with rendering stuff on multipile cards but, what im hopping to see and expect to see is that once we reach the zenith of rendering quality, which id say we are a few years away from, id hope to start seeing triple headed cards that can run at good framerates while being able to render across all 3 montiors with "toy story" like graphics
 
Originally posted by iNsAnE_crAzY
Yes I figured it couldnt be to easy to add multi-monitor support, otherwise it would be more comon place and i do understand that it would be hard to deal with rendering stuff on multipile cards but, what im hopping to see and expect to see is that once we reach the zenith of rendering quality, which id say we are a few years away from, id hope to start seeing triple headed cards that can run at good framerates while being able to render across all 3 montiors with "toy story" like graphics
Click to expand...

Exactly, the reason people don't add multi monitor support is because it isn't economical. They have to look at how much it will cost extra in developement to support and then how much extra money they will make because of it. Very very few people use dual monitors. I have access to two monitors and I still don't use it, because for me I don't have any need for it. I even share my fp2141 with 2 different pcs.

Now your comment on zenith of rendering quality is off. We will not hit any kind of end until it looks the same as the real world, and we are way more than a few years away from that. We are probably decades away. I would rather have something render 2x as fast or with 2x as much detail on 1 monitor than losing the extra performance/quality over 2.
 
ie been using two trinitron moniters each on its own vid card, (ati 9600pro agp, and pny pci card) win2k pro runs it fine.

one moiter for gaming, both moniters for other things (one is playing enterprise and the other the forum and aim right ow) i dont know what id do with out it (besides get pissed off alot

i think this will become a bigger thing when peope can aford flat pannles (takes up little room just costs a bunch) Im going to a lan so im sealig a friends lcd moniter for my pny card so i dont have to lug around 2 CRTs
 
I'm all for using dual monitors, but very few applications I use support it (only Photoshop), and games don't generally support multimonitor set ups either, so that's really not a reason for me to use it.

More screen desktop space is good, since I have so many windows open at one time, but like everyone else says, my desk space would drop to 0 (since I use CRTs).

When I can afford a 17 inch LCD, I'll go dual for kicks.
 
Here are the reason's and answers to why Dual or more monitors currently is a Luxury, and not standard within the Computer industry.

1. As has been noted above and in other posts, WindowsXP and 2003 aren't very good at handling multiple displays. This is set to change with the Next Windows (Longhorn).

2. Many applications aren't coded to use Multiple displays. There are of course programs to work around this (think Ultramon), but we wont really see this kind of support until the next Windows release (late 2005 or even 2006).

3. Video card support isn't there currently. With only 1 AGP slot, you really only need one monitor. Sure you can add PCI video cards, but isn't that going backwards? I would Imagine with PCI-Express, and new Video Cards from ATI and Nvidia, that Multiple Displays might start to show up. Currently Matrox is the only Video card maker with its Triple Display Tech. Hopefully this is something ATI and Nvidia will look into.

4. Monitor Expense and Size. Using CRT's for Multi-monitor setups are a pain (in the back) because of their Size, and LCD's are a pain in the Wallet (currently cost too much). LCD's are the way to go, and the current price trend is a step in the right direction, but I wouldn't expect LCD's to go down in price till the end of this year, or even next year (Im talking a price comparable to CRT's).

So with all of the above, there are still a few Fly's in the Ointment (so to speak).

-The first is the introduction of Huge LCD's (as seen in the CES show). Imagine a 42" LCD on your desktop. That's bigger than two 20' Dell 2001FP LCD displays, and it's all one unit. Expect to see more LCD's of greater than 42" (50", 60" and 65") to be released throughout the year. Currently they are for HDTV, but I could see these being adapted for computer use (and the 42" one is already.

-The second is the upcoming release of OLED displays. This should cause the price of LCD's to drop, depending upon how good they are in comparison, and there initial cost.


Basically what we all need is the OS to support multiple displays natively (Windows Longhorn will), video cards that support at least 3 displays (as nobody wants to stare at the line in the middle of 2 displays), and the price of LCD's (or even OLED's) to be low enough to make the end user consider this as an option.

Just my thoughts on the matter.:D
 
Despite poor OS support, I don't function properly when only using a single monitor. The extra space gained by running a dually setup is really useful.
 
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