Ken,

some (most?) nvidia video cards supports 2 independant 
monitors. With one HDMI connector and an adapter for 2 monitors (VGA 
or HDMI). Some dell desktop computers have natively these cards.

I use this configuration since some years. It's very comfortable to have 
shells in the 1st monitor and the acquisition/graphics on the 2nd.

regards
denis

Le 01/08/2006 à  14:46, Ken Teh a écrit :

| Chris,
| 
| My interest in the wide LCDs actually began with looking into running a
| desktop with dual monitors.  The wide screen was meant as an alternative to
| dual CRT heads.  The desktops are data acquisition monitoring and
| analysis stations so the goal was extra screen real estate.
| 
| Dual monitors seemed the way to go but I did not get a definitive recipe for
| this.  Some suggested 2 video cards; some, a video card with 2 ports. The
| video card with 2 ports was conceptually straightforward but expensive.  I'm
| confused by 2 video cards---not sure how the video space is consolidated.
| 
| Hence, a wide screen.  It's not as much screen real estate as 2 CRTs but the
| consensus around the lunch table is that the stations would look 21st
| century and, more importantly, "sexy". ;)
| 
| Now, I see you've done both.  Can you tell me something more about your
| setup?  I dont see any indication on the web that an X600 has 2 ports.
| Words of advice?  How you would do things differently?
| 
| Ken
| 
| 
| 
| 
| On Tue, 1 Aug 2006, Chris Payne wrote:
| 
| > Ken--
| > 
| > We have one Dell Optiplex here running SL42 with 2 of the Dell 2005FP Wide
| > Screen monitors as a single desktop. These are driven by an ATI Radeon X600
| > card, and both are running native at 1680x1050.
| > 
| > X was initially slightly unstable using the ATI provided driver (go figure),
| > sometimes locking up when the user was idle overnight. This has since
| > cleared
| > up after switching to the contrib driver, ie:
| > 
| > ati-fglrx-8.18.6.1-0.SL.1
| > kernel-module-fglrx-2.6.9-34.0.1.EL-8.18.6.1-0.SL.1
| > 
| > Brightness seems pretty good to me, I still run 19" CRT's on my desks which
| > I
| > am comparing to. I do find the aspect ratio slightly annoying since so many
| > of our applications/screens are designed around 4x3 monitors. I personally
| > prefer 3 or 4 19" LCD's which have approximately the same desktop space
| > (3 have slightly more at 1280x1024) but seem more natural in our
| > environment.
| > I think this option is also slightly cheaper per unit area of desktop
| > depending on the video cards you choose (we use a PNY card based on the
| > nVidia Quadro4 400 NVS series).
| > 
| > Good luck.
| > Chris
| > --
| > Chris Payne			ISAC Operations Controls System Manager
| > "Relax Snap, this is particle physics, not rocket science."
| > 
| > On Fri, Jul 28, 2006 at 07:32:29PM -0400, Christopher Juckins wrote:
| > > Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 19:32:29 -0400
| > > From: Christopher Juckins <[log in to unmask]>
| > > Subject: Re: SL4x wide LCD support
| > > In-reply-to: <[log in to unmask]>
| > > To: Ken Teh <[log in to unmask]>
| > > Cc: [log in to unmask]
| > > Precedence: list
| > > User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.5 (Windows/20060719)
| > > 
| > > Although I have not actually used a 1920x1200 screen resolution on
| > > SL4.x, that resolution is a standard option that can be chosen with
| > > system-config-display.
| > > 
| > > I find LCD panels to be far superior than clunky CRTs.  They are bright,
| > > crisp, and in their native resolution, much easier on the eyes than
| > > CRTs...which to me always seemed to have blurry edges and other optical
| > > distortions.  (Maybe the government just buys cheap monitors!)
| > > 
| > > I have a new Dell 2005FPW (under WinXP) and it's great...an excellent
| > > display for general all-purpose use.  I also have an HP LP2065 (standard
| > > 1600x1200 20" monitor) and it's also another very good flat panel.
| > > 
| > > -Christopher Juckins
| > > 
| > > 
| > > Ken Teh wrote:
| > > > Questions on wide-screen LCDs:
| > > > 
| > > > (1) How well are wide-screen LCDs supported under SL4x?  Like 1920x1200
| > > > screen
| > > >     resolutions?
| > > > 
| > > > (2) Any recommendations?  Specific manufacturers and models?
| > > > 
| > > > (3) Any recommendations on width versus resolution?  While LCDs are
| > > > bright
| > > >     and easy on the eyes, I hold, possibly mistaken, the notion that
| > > > LCDs do
| > > >     not have comparable pixel resolution to CRTs.
| > > > 
| > > > Thanks!
| > > > 
| > > 
| > 
|