Number 219 - August 2001
Hooking Up Two Monitors
Ask Leo Access Magazine, 05/27/01
www.accessmagazine.com
    Q I want to hook up two monitors, one running at 1024x768 resolution, the other at 800x600 resolution. How can I do that?
    Patrick Tibbetts
    ADDRESS WITHHELD

    A If you're running short of screen space, adding a second monitor is a cost-effective way to expand. Macs have been able to support multiple monitors for years. Microsoft started supporting multiple monitors with Windows 98. In both cases, the displays can be set to different resolutions.

    In theory, getting two displays working on Windows is as easy as installing a second video card and monitor, opening the Display control panel and clicking the Settings tab. In practice, getting the two video cards to work together can be tricky. Microsoft has an introductory article online (www. microsoft. com/ insider/ articles/ multimon.htm) that includes reasons why someone would set up multiple monitors and a link to a list of compatible hardware.
    I also recommend a visit to Multi-Monitor Resources (www.realtime soft.com/ multimon) for a discussion of multiple monitor issues.

    The easiest way to add support for two monitors is to use a dual-head video card: a single card that supports two displays. Companies like Matrox, Appian Graphics, ATI Technologies and ELSA make dual-head cards.

TOGGLE Editor's Note:
    The opposite of this is the requirement to control several machines from a single work station. The reason for this may be lack of desk space for several Keyboards, Video monitors and Mice (pointing devices), or a desire to keep electrical/air conditioning loads low.

    In this approach several machines are connected to one side of a KVM Switch and the single Keyboard, Video and Mouse are hooked into the other side. Thus, the activities and displays of the several machines are selected by switching from one to the other by using a single keyboard, video display and mouse to view and control them one at a time.
  Number 219 - August 2001