Dual Displays
 

I have a G4/733 at work (pre-QuickSilver) with a Geforce2 MX. The card itself has a VGA connector and an ADC connector. Before I try to find an ADC to VGA adapter somewhere in a radius of 50 miles, does anybody know if this card supports dual monitors?

I'm running at 1600x200 on a 21" monitor and still running out of room :D

hey!

ati says "...with the flexibility of the TwinView™ dual-display architecture."

http://nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=geforce2mx

So you're saying that it's guaranteed I'll get dual monitors (i.e., an extended desktop, not just mirroring the display) if I have one monitor plugged into the VGA port and another plugged in via an ADC to VGA adapter (suggestions on that, BTW)?

as far as i can tell, you should be able to mirror your displays and to work in a dual monitor environment (e.g. larger desktop).
i've got a gforce4mx in a quicksilver machine (the built in video) with a standard vga connector and an adc2vga adaptor running with a display connected to each of these at work.
don't nail me on this, but this should apply to a gforxe2mx as well...
somebody else out there, running a gforce2mx as built in video in a mac with two displays?

about an adaptor: i bought a no-name adaptor in a local store over here for 19 euros...

I just noticed that this is a 32 MB card. From what I've read it seems that only the 64 MB version has TwinView. Is that correct?

check this pdf @ ati's website... they say, this TwinView thing works with 32MB and up with their GEFORCE2MX, GEFORCE2MX200 and GEFORCE2MX400...

again, just to be sure: someone else out there running one of those as onboard with two displays?

greetz
basti

The Geforce series of cards is made by nVidia, not by ATI.

ooops, sorry, just woke up from a nap as i wrote that... but the link is correct ;-)

greetz
basti

So, anybody with personal experience (or have more direct information)?

Sure you do not want an ATI 9000
 

Sure you do not want an ATI 9000 for Like $149 it puts the old Geforce 2 Card to Shame..... And comes with Adapters in the Box for NON ADC/DVI Displays

The card in Question supports Dual Monitors on all Systems but Ibook (not counting hacks) and Imacs.

Good Luck

Very few G4's actually shipped with the Twin View.

Last year I purchased a RADEON 8500 to run my 19" and 21" monitors. It replaced my two RAGE 128's. I know what you mean by running out of space with only a 1600x1200 screen. I dont think i will ever be able to move to a single monitor setup.

As for the RADEON 9000 it will only push dual displays if one is an digital. Since it has DVI and ADC connectors you need to buy an expensive adapter that i think Geffen makes that will allow you to hook up a analog VGA monitor. The 9000 is actually an 8500 with some of the advanced features removed and ADC added.

The 8500 has DVI, VGA, and S-Video outputs and comes with a DVI to VGA adapter so out of the box it will do two analog monitors. I have been extremely happy with this card. As an added bonus since both screens are on an AGP card they both get the Quartz Extreme acceleration.

Hope this helps its early here at work, and my brain isnt at full functionality yet.

With a ati 9000 I am pushing two 21 Inch Sony Analog Trinitron
 

With a ati 9000 I am pushing two 21 Inch Sony Analog Trinitron

I am pushing two 21 Inch Sony Analog Trinitron Displays with Standard VGA connectors. The Adapters come in the box with the 9000.

The Card itself is DVI Natively and then the DVI to VGA is in the Box.

A DVI to VGA adapter isn't a problem, I have one at work somewhere and another at home that I'm not using.

However I can't justify $150 for an upgrade (this is for work and they probably won't spring for that). Now, assuming my card right now doesn't support dual monitors (which sounds true), is there a very cheap PCI card I can get to suppliment the included AGP card? All it has to do is drive at (about) 1280x1024x85hzx32bit; a bit lower resolution is fine but the refresh rate is critical. I get headaches if it goes below 85.

i beliieve your existing card will support two displays
 

I beliieve your existing card will support two displays.

The idea for the new card came more from having to buy adapters and such with come with newer even spiffier cards.

Just in case, anybody know of a cheap PCI card that I could throw in?

dual displays, LCD and VGA CRT
 

I run a dual 533 MHz G4 with a single video board that has a ADC connector for my Apple 15" LCD, and a normal VGA connector into which I plug an old VGA 17" CRT. This works fine as an extended desktop, two monitor system. I never do mirroring with it, as I can't understand why anyone would want to do that even when doing a presentation. I love dual monitors. It is so good, that I would love to have three or four monitors on my system, but Apple does not support this. :)

Apple Supports As Many monitors as you have cards
 

Apple Supports As Many monitors as you have cards...

I have Only personally used two cards and three monitors...

I am not aware of any particular limitations.... except having enough free slots.

dual displays, LCD and VGA CRT
 

Well, that sounds good. I will go for another board and try a third display.

I ran three monitors on my old 7100 for a long time. The third monitor was a spur-of-the-moment lark when someone had an old NuBus 8*24 card they were getting rid of and I happened to have an extra monitor gathering dust in the closet.

I figured a second monitor is at least as important as a functioning right eye, but that adding a third would not really add much functionality.

I was addicted on short notice. I can only run two on my PowerBook (because it's a WallStreet and doesn't even support two except in "mirrored" mode without a CardBus card) but when I upgrade (to the dual-G5 PowerBook that I'm sure Apple will be offering in January :D) I'm going to run three again.

All these threads are interesting and pertinent, but filburt1 never got his question answered. No. Your card will not support dual displays. I have a Quicksilver 733 with the same GPU and it does not work, I've tried it. The only 733's with dual display support were custom order. The GForce 2 with twinview also had 64mb VRAM instead of 32, as was noted earlier.

Okay, thanks.

So, any PCI card suggestions? My need isn't as dire right now, but it would still be cool ;)

dual displays on GeForce2 MX 32 Mb
 

Maybe it is not exactly the same board, but I have a GeForce 2 MX, 32 Mb, running on a dual 533 MHz G4, which has both connectors and I run dual monitors with no problem.

That may be true of aftermarket cards and cards used on older Digital Audio G4's, but as far as I know the 32mb GForce 2's Apple installed on Quicksilvers are only single monitor capable. As far as PCI cards go, I'd look at an ATI Rage 32MB Theater PCI Video Card (you can find them for around $25/used on www.macofalltrades.com) or a ATI Radeon 7000 Mac Edition PCI 32MB (about $110-120 new off any major parts site).

GeForce2 MX
 

Mine is not an aftermarket card. It came with my machine.

Thanks :)

rgmichael:

If you're running a Dual 533, you have a custom order machine. I'm not all that familiar with those, they may have had dual display support on a 32mb card. I've already edited my previous post. Please excuse my lack of clarification.

filburt1:

You're Welcome.

GeForce4MX
 

I have a GeForce4MX 32MB that supports two monitors (ADC and DVI, DVI to VGA adapter included) that I am trying to get rid of in order to get an GeForce4Ti or Radeon 9800. Anyone here interested? (I know I shouldn't be hocking wares here, but its a mutual thing here. I need a new video card, you need one that is verified to work with more than one monitor in both 9 and X.) It'd be a lot cheaper than a Radeon 7000. Also, it is an AGP card, so it will work with Quartz Extreme out of the box with no .plist hacks.

Beware of lonestarmac on eBay. He sells ATI PC cards that are flashed with Mac ROMS, so if your video card goes kaputz, don't bother asking ATI or Apple for help.

Email me at avu@shaw.ca if you are interested.

Otherwise back to the discussion.

How do you guys run out of room with 2 monitors at 1600 x 1200? Must be a lot of palettes!!! I use 1024 x 768 on my LCD monitor, and that is plenty large for me. Someone take a screenshot of their monitors and let me look on in awe.

I eat my words, I apologize. Apple did install 32mb GForce 2's that support dual displays on Quicksilvers. Most of the TwinView cards had 64mb, but there were a few with 32mb. These were the same cards used on the 533x2 Digital Audio model which would explain rgmichael's machine. However, this card was not standard on 733 or 867 models, it was a build to order option only. Sorry for giving false info earlier. If filburt1's G4 is a production (not custom order) model it won't support dual displays, mine doesn't. The cheapest solution would probably to add that ATI card off www.macofalltrades.com, but it won't support Quartz eXtreme out of the box, nor will any PCI GPU. Also keep in mind if you use a 32mb card for dual displays, it only delivers 16mb per display. In order to get 32mb to each display you need a 64mb dual-capable GPU, or 2 32's.

I find that its easy to expand to however much space you have. Once you get 2 monitors its hard to go back. I usually put iTunes, ichat, and a terminal window with my email on one screen. Then the other gets web pages or whatever im working on.

Wow tncook you own a lot of Macs. Steve Jobs thanks you. Hehehe.

could you send some pics? I'd like to see how this is all setup... man I wish I had the $$$ to get that setup... I'd be using it all the time (meaning I'd forget I even own 2 PCs) :D

I run two iiyama monitors (17" and 19") of a 4MX and use the 17" for various logs, Net Monitor, iPulse (and the like) and the 19" for whatever I'm browsing, writing etc (there's a screen grab of my 17" here). When it's most useful to have two monitors, obviously, is when you're switching backwards and forwards between two apps. For example, when I'm coding a webpage I have BBEdit on one screen and Safari on the other.

wtf? what kind of desktop is this? I am really confused now... how do you setup your system like that?

Which bit of it don't you get?

why does it look like that? I dont see anything like what a standard desktop looks like...

There's no menubar because it's my secondary monitor and there are six visible Konfabulator widgets, Net Monitor, iPulse, Desktop Console (tailing the system, access and error logs) and Aquamon running. Basically it's just a series of applications running on top of a particular desktop background.

tahts cool I didnt know you could do that with OSX... ah the little things I learn every day... so you coded them into your wallpaper is that how you did it? I am more familiar with windows so I havent messed that much with tweaking different stuff in OSX.... oh and also... your menu bar only goes on one screen when you do dual display? is it possible to have it on both?

No, not exactly. They run at the level of the desktop but aren't coded into it. And I'm afraid, as far as I know, you can only have one menubar.

very interesting... is there a place to learn about setting that stuff up?

can I do the same effect as putting a vga monitor hooked up at the same time as usingmy iBook screen?

The best way to learn is to download them and play around with them. Here's some links:

Aquamon
Desktop Console
iPulse
Net Monitor
Konfabulator

And if you get into Konfabulator you might want to check out the Widget Gallery (there's currently about 350 widgets available to download).

As for running a second monitor on your iBook I suspect that it doesn't support dual monitors (i.e. it will mirror your internal display), but it might do - I'm happy to be corrected.

Here is what my screen at work looks like. the monitors are at different resolutions because they are different sizes ( 17" and 21")

http://www.emunix.emich.edu/~tncook/screen.jpg

tsugaru: a lot of the computers listed there are in the lab I run.

Neato.

These are the Macs that I own.

Quicksilver 867
iMac 233 - Dead
Power Mac 6500/225 - Dead
Powerbook 180
Mac Plus

Wheeee.... I have too many dead Macs. If they all worked I would have a great Beowulf cluster to run. Hehehehe.

you got working RAM for the PPC? I need some ram for my Mac clone sitting here... its on old mac clone server that has pimp options but I dont have any ram for it

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tncook
Here is what my screen at work looks like. the monitors are at different resolutions because they are different sizes ( 17" and 21")

Awesome! I can't imagine what it's like to have that much desktop space. I want another monitor. I'm used to 1280x960. :)