Computer Hardware Forum

Hey, everyone...

I have a question, perhaps those who know more about laptops can offer
a bit of assistance here!

My question: I'd like to know how to add a monitor to my laptop, and
use both the laptop display and the external monitor as an extended
desktop.

I had it working on Windows XP, but I can't seem to get it going on
Windows 2000 professional.

I'm currently using a Toshiba Satellite 2100CDS laptop. In the display
menu, under settings, there's something that says "Display: (Multimple
Monitors) on S3 ViRGE MX" -- which gives me the idea that it can be
done.

So...can anyone suggest anything? Thank you very, very much!

-S

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StevieKay <steviekay@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey, everyone...
>
> I have a question, perhaps those who know more about laptops can offer
> a bit of assistance here!
>
> My question: I'd like to know how to add a monitor to my laptop, and
> use both the laptop display and the external monitor as an extended
> desktop.
>
> I had it working on Windows XP, but I can't seem to get it going on
> Windows 2000 professional.
>
> I'm currently using a Toshiba Satellite 2100CDS laptop. In the display
> menu, under settings, there's something that says "Display: (Multimple
> Monitors) on S3 ViRGE MX" -- which gives me the idea that it can be
> done.
>
> So...can anyone suggest anything? Thank you very, very much!

Not supported under W2K without a second video card installed.

Checkout: http://www.margi.com/products/prod_dtg.htm

--
Regards,

James

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JHEM wrote:

> StevieKay <steviekay@gmail.com> wrote: 
>
> Not supported under W2K without a second video card installed.
>
> Checkout: http://www.margi.com/products/prod_dtg.htm

That's funny, I have a number of 2K boxent that have no trouble with the
extended desktop with a single video board.  It just has to be a dual-head
board with dual DACs.  Of course the S3 Virge chip may not support that
capability.
>

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

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J. Clarke <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>
> That's funny, I have a number of 2K boxent that have no trouble with
> the extended desktop with a single video board.  It just has to be a
> dual-head board with dual DACs.  Of course the S3 Virge chip may not
> support that capability.

You're not going to find many laptops, which is what the question was about,
with dual-head video cards.

And a dual-head video card witrh dual DACs _IS_ two video cards, they just
take up one PCI slot.

--
Regards,

James

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"JHEM" <James@ESAD_SPAMMERS.thinkpads.com> wrote in
news:l_Rod.6677$0k1.2078@trnddc08:

> J. Clarke <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote: 
>
> You're not going to find many laptops, which is what the question was
> about, with dual-head video cards.
>
> And a dual-head video card witrh dual DACs _IS_ two video cards, they
> just take up one PCI slot.
>
Two video cards are seen by the system as two PCI devices.  There were
some desktop cards (I still have one with two huge S3 chips on it) that
implemented two chips on one card seen as two video cards.  Windows 2k
has no problems with such cards for extended desktop.

For single-chip cards with multiple DACs it is up to driver to do
virtualization and trick OS into seeing it as two devices.

Dual monitor support in W2k is a lot like in WinNT, while in WinXP it is
a lot like in Win98/ME.

So it's a matter of finding if the proper driver exists and obtaining it.
Or following the advice to buy a second card for laptop like Margi (there
are a couple more vendors making similar stuff).

BTW, S3 Virge in Satellite has only 2MB on board, which means you can
only have 16-bit color when running extended desktop.  And that almost
does not leave any spare video RAM on card.  I doubt S3 ever planned this
card to be used in that mode so don't expect to find the driver that
would do that.  You are getting away with it in WinXP because there OS
does it, not driver.

Alexei

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JHEM wrote:

> J. Clarke <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote: 
>
> You're not going to find many laptops, which is what the question was
> about, with dual-head video cards.

Actually you are.  Just not the bottom-feeder crap.

> And a dual-head video card witrh dual DACs _IS_ two video cards, they just
> take up one PCI slot.

Actually, in most modern machines the video does not take up any PCI slots,
it takes up the one AGP slot.  But on the latest generation it's a PCI
Express slot . . .

As for it being "two video cards", quite a trick to fit two cards into the
single chip that is on most dual-head boards these days.

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

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I really don't mind running in 16bit colour mode if using the extended
desktop, should it be doable that way -- the obly reason I really
require it is for work; so I can run my editing and word processing
software on one screen and have all IMs and whatever else from clients
and co-workers on another.

It's not for games. :-)

Alexei Boukirev <aboukirev@blah.ameritech.net> wrote in message news:<Xns95AAD3517DDB4abouki
revblahamerite@216.196.97.131>...
> "JHEM" <James@ESAD_SPAMMERS.thinkpads.com> wrote in
> news:l_Rod.6677$0k1.2078@trnddc08:
> 
> Two video cards are seen by the system as two PCI devices.  There were
> some desktop cards (I still have one with two huge S3 chips on it) that
> implemented two chips on one card seen as two video cards.  Windows 2k
> has no problems with such cards for extended desktop.
>
> For single-chip cards with multiple DACs it is up to driver to do
> virtualization and trick OS into seeing it as two devices.
>
> Dual monitor support in W2k is a lot like in WinNT, while in WinXP it is
> a lot like in Win98/ME.
>
> So it's a matter of finding if the proper driver exists and obtaining it.
> Or following the advice to buy a second card for laptop like Margi (there
> are a couple more vendors making similar stuff).
>
> BTW, S3 Virge in Satellite has only 2MB on board, which means you can
> only have 16-bit color when running extended desktop.  And that almost
> does not leave any spare video RAM on card.  I doubt S3 ever planned this
> card to be used in that mode so don't expect to find the driver that
> would do that.  You are getting away with it in WinXP because there OS
> does it, not driver.
>
> Alexei

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"JHEM" <James@ESAD_SPAMMERS.thinkpads.com> wrote in message
news:l_Rod.6677$0k1.2078@trnddc08...
> J. Clarke <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote: 
>
> You're not going to find many laptops, which is what the question was
about,
> with dual-head video cards.
>
> And a dual-head video card witrh dual DACs _IS_ two video cards, they just
> take up one PCI slot.
>

Dual head video is now quite common in laptops.

A dual head video card is *not* two video cards.  Some of the logic is
shared - for example, only monitor can show overlaid video.  There are other
limitations.

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"J. Clarke" <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:co110p02137@news3.newsguy.com...
> JHEM wrote:
>
... 
>
> Actually you are.  Just not the bottom-feeder crap.
>

Most of the laptops with dedicated video memory now support dual monitors.
If it has an ATI or nVidia video card with at least 64MB of dedicated VRAM,
they probably support dual monitors.  If it has integrated video and shared
memory, it probably doesn't.  This is not just a function of cost, but also
size-- the really small laptops use integrated video to save on space.   The
IBM T40 line and the Dell Latitude line also have a docking station that has
room for a half-length PCI card, so any laptop that can dock with those can
use an additional PCI video card.

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Electrik Fan Club <ian.shorrocks@baeyourclothessystems.com> wrote:
>
> Dual head video is now quite common in laptops.

The ability to extend a desktop to a second display on a laptop is not the
same as having dual head video, which requires having two VGA or DVI
outputs. Or am I being too literal?

> A dual head video card is *not* two video cards.  Some of the logic is
> shared - for example, only monitor can show overlaid video.  There
> are other limitations.

Under Windoze, the card is seen as having two separate and distinct devices
attached.

Sorry for my poorly worded response.

--
Regards,

James

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