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Using two monitors with one computer »
I was reading Sebastian Fiedler’s Sebloggin and he wrote about using a dual monitor setup.
I am working that way for more than 3 years now, it is one of the better investments I have made in hardware, my productivity has really increased along with my screen real state.
I use a video card from ATI, I can’t remember the exact model but there are many cards with dual monitor support in the market.
My current setup uses a 17″ display as the main one, using 1024x768, and an older 14″ for secondary stuff at 800x600. I work with Windows XP and Red Hat Linux (I have not even tried to test dual monitors under Linux yet) and I would love to get a Mac!
Since I started working with two monitors I was very satisfied, but I did not realize how useful was until I moved to another house. I was a few days working with one monitor, I could not get used to opening and closing some many windows so many times, it was really annoying.
As a web developer sometimes I program, sometimes I design.
Using Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator in a 17″ 1024x768 screen is the least you can ask for, and nothing beats just grabbing some files from your second monitor and dropping them in the first one.
I always have what I call “regular use apps” opened in my second monitor: File explorer, email client and MP3 player.
The main monitor is used for graphics applications, Dreamweaver when I am doing CSS, XHTML or some client/server side programming and web browsing.
If you design web sites is great to drag windows and see how your creations look in different resolutions.
I strongly suggest you try a two monitor setup, once you do, I assure you there is no way back.
Sebastian writes about using a dual monitor setup with a laptop, I use a desktop but maybe someday I would try with a laptop, I’ve got to get one first 
April 2006 Update: I got two monitors working with Fedora Linux. Take a look.
En: Technology | Por: Alexis | @ 9:33 am
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I have been using 2 monitors for about 4 years now.
Matrox g400 card with 2 17″ Viewsonic G90fb monitors.
Definitely spoils you. I can’t even stand using Photoshop on my 15″ Laptop monitor anymore. Too many panels and no second monitor to put them on.
Comment by Jeremy Flint — 7/17/2004 @ 9:24 am
It’s true, dual monitor setups are incredibly handy dandy.
I’ve been using a 17″ LCD on 1280x1024 and a 15″ on 1024x768 for quite a while now, here at work, and it’s absolutely superb. I particularly like having my Putty window open in the right (smaller) monitor, which holds my IRC/MSN/AIM/ICQ but also shell logins on the webservers and databases I work on.
Or when I have Photoshop open, all palettes are in the right monitor as well, giving me a very nice, large workspace on the 1280x1024 display without any form of clutter. Lovely!
Additionally, I do my main browsing in a Mozilla on the main screen, but I also do my coding on the main screen, so I have second mozilla open in the smaller screen where I test my code.
My productivity really went up with this, all things considered. “Ready in the flashiest of the flashy”
Comment by Faruk Ates — 7/21/2004 @ 5:28 am
*laughs*
Jeremy: I know exactly what you mean.
I have difficulty using Photoshop at home now, where I have only one monitor (1280x960).
I actually spend time at work in my free time (ie. after hours) working on my own projects here, rather than at home. It’s just so much nicer here. I wish I had the room for a dual-monitor setup at home…
Comment by Faruk Ates — 7/21/2004 @ 5:30 am
Welcome Faruk, could you believe I did not use Photoshop palettes in my second display?, stupid me!, I have begun doing it, thanks to this post comments, and it’s really helpful, now I can really focus in my creation without having to move things around.
Comment by Alexis Bellido — 7/21/2004 @ 9:42 am
Thank you Alexis
And hey, what a major improvement it is to have the palettes there, huh? I’m so happy with it!
Sorry about the late response, I kinda lost track of this entry
Comment by Faruk Ates — 7/29/2004 @ 8:59 am
You definitley can’t beat a 2 monitor set-up. I’ve been using it on Photoshop and don’t think I could go back to single one ever again.
Comment by James @ How to overclock CPU — 2/2/2008 @ 9:54 am