Difference between DVI and Dual Link DVI (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave,

Based on your first photo with your 15"MBP and 17"CRT...

Have an idea...

You talk about doing this with no continuity.

I have an older 19" Dell LCD Monitor that has been sitting around
collecting dust.

What *IF" I took that 19" Dell and placed it next to my 30" Dell
and used them as dual screens?

They would probably look awkward together, which is my main
concern, but would I get a huge benefit from the added real estate?

Look forward to your reply.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave?

If you find this, I would love your thoughts on the above.

Thanks

 

[DaveF]

I'm distracted by an overhaul of my home electronics. This new TV is causing acute upgraditis

First: I say hook it up and give it a try (unless it requires a major overhaul of your desk setup). This is free and, like many things, dual monitor has to be used to really be understood.

Even a mismatched monitor setup can be helpful. My uses are:
* practicing Keynote presentations. My MBP shows the presenter view and the 2nd display is the "projector" showing the slides as my audience will see them
* I use Parallels & Remote Desktop to connect to work, fullscreen. On my 2nd monitor is my local Firefox so I can be online while I run lengthy macros on my office machine
* My wife does finances on my computer with Parallels & MS Money on the MBP and OS X Excel on the 2nd monitor. This lets her easily toggle between financial data.

Mismatched has annoyances: the resolutions and sizes aren't the same, so you have an oddball region where you can drag a window from the bigger to small monitor. And then windows change apparent size as they move from screen to screen. You have a particularly strange setup with a 30" and 19" combo.

If you find this setup at all useful, then consider moving immediately to a matched monitor setup. (budget permitting)

 

[ErichH]

I had dual monitors for a few years - CRT and LCD. Loved it. You get used to the extra space for progress screens or other windows you'd like to have open or viewable more often. I have many friends in audio. None of them can live with less that 2 & the larger the better.
Gloss is not accepted by any of my people yet. Most of them calibrate with a spyder/software combo of some sort and use what ever brightness they prefer in their rooms. Accurate gamma is the ticket around here

If you do combine your 19, you'll need a second card. The OS chooses the highest rez common to both monitors from a single card. Been there done that..

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Oh no!

Only one video card (with dual DVD-D output).

I suppose I can't run both the 30" and 19" at full resolution?

 

[DaveF]

A coworker was the optical engineer working on the Spyder circa 2002. Small world and all that

Ron - I don't know how that will work. Easiest thing is to connect it and try it.

 

[ErichH]

The 19 yes, but the 30 will switch to match it - yuk
A cheapo used card will push the 19 and net you the extra screen space. Might be a nice solution for now.

 

[ErichH]

Small world indeed.
The last one I used was an EyeOne. It was a mid-range device, but fantastic results. The profiles in OSX are a guestimate.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Eric,

However...

If I dump the 30" and buy two 24" monitors I should be able
to drive them both off of the single video card with the dual DVI
output?

 

[Christian Behrens]

With all due respect, but that is nonsense. Two different monitors can very well be driven with separate resolutions. Even my wife's MBP does that without any issues. Heck, the MBP is one of the few laptops that can actually drive a 30" display.

Of course, after connecting the second monitor it might start in mirror mode, where both displays show they same screen, but you just go to the preferences and change it.

Ron, just connect your second monitor and play around with it. You can determine in the preferences which display is the main display and which is left and which is right. That should get you started.

-Christian

 

[ErichH]

Didn't work for me in the past, so I'll stand corrected if it works now.
The system was a first gen MacPro with a Dell 30 & HK 23. The card was ati radeon X1900 dual link DVI.
The highest i could get was 1920 with both connected to the same card.
Ron can clue us in when he tests his pair.

 

[DaveF]

This all depends on the cards memory and refresh rate. It takes so much "horsepower" to drive higher resolutions. A single card is limited to some total output resolution and color depth, so while it might drive two monitors at 1920x1200x32bit, it might not drive them at 2560x1600 and 1600x1200. The video card specs should give the range of output resolutions.

Or plug in the 19" and play in System Preferences. It's a 30 sec test

 

[ErichH]

There is something called dual GPU in certain cards (basically 2 cards on 1 board) I didn't have such a card.
If a single GPU can sync a dual link 2560 & a single link 1600 or 1920 at the same time,
I get to lean something new.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Okay, I'm baaaaaack!

Had some time today to fiddle with this.

I hooked up my old 19" Dell Monitor to the second DVDI port on
my Mac Pro.

Lo' and Behold I now have two working monitors, a 30" and a 19"
displaying FULL resolution.

So far this looks like this might be incredibly cool but I need to work
a kink or two out and that is where I can use your help.

The 30" monitor retains the dock.

The 19" monitor retains the same wallpaper as the 30". I can slide
programs and desktop stuff over from the 30" to the 19" simply by
sliding it off the screen.

Here is the problem...

Any widget or folder I slide over to the 19" opens in the 30". How can
I keep certain programs opening up in the monitor they are located on?

Also not certain how the display aligner works in SYSTEM PREFS. It
seems you have the option of aligning the two up and down and that
it is. Not sure what it does at all.

So far, it is working well, but with the problems mentioned above.

 

[DaveF]

Go to system preferences->desktop & screen saver. You'll have a desktop option for each monitor. I have different slideshows on my two monitors.

Go to preferences->displays->arrangment to set the virtual position of the 19" to the 30". You can slide the secondary monitor all around the primary to set the adjacent edge. I adjust mine so that moving windows between them feels the most "right".

Applications typically re-open on the screen where they were last quit / closed.

OS X and WinXP aren't especially setup for multiple displays, so there's lots of minor details that aren't ideal. Like the traditional Mac menu bar isn't the best idea for dual displays. On Windows there are 3rd party window management tools for multi displays that are of some use. Maybe there's something similar for OSX if you need more control or options.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave, I was depending on you to reply.

That was what I eventually figured out and you confirmed. Problem solved.

Trying to figure out how to put two separate wallpapers on each
monitor. Will look at the instructions you provided as well as google
"Multiple display management OS X"

Thanks as always, Dave.

 

[ErichH]

Glad it worked out Ron. My prediction was wrong and I Stand Corrected. What video card are you using?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Eric,

Have no idea what card is in my Mac Pro. Bought it two years ago and it was their top-of-the-line Quad core. The 8-core had not come out yet.

The card has dual DVI ports on the back.

I am now running a 30" and a 19" in full resolution. It's awesome!
They are not next to each other, but diagonal. All my email, iChat and
widgets are on the 19" while I use my browser on the 30"

The fact that the Mac menu bar only resides on the 30" is a nominal
inconvenience. Other than that, this is the coolest thing I have done
with my Mac to date.

Thanks everyone for their help.

 

[Sam Posten]

Give the ACD past history I think you could be in for a long wait on even a $200 price drop on the new 24" LCDs. Remember that they are a 'prestige' item for Apple right now, something few other manufacturers have a similar category for.

I think it's pretty crazy that there is no way for a new Mac Pro user to attach these (easily anyway) and I've been shocked Apple hasn't remedied that yet. I suspect we will see a repeat of Last Year's new hardware every week or two frenzy but when it will actually start is anyones guess. I've given up trying to predict when Apple will deliver the stuff I actually want and just decide whether each new thing they actually DO deliver meets a need/want of mine. On that note I think I'm going to have to go to a third party vendor to get BD burning capability and you all will thank me cause Apple will surely deliver that as soon as my return window is clear on that purchase =p

 

[DaveF]

Always glad to help