Switching from 1 to 2 monitors.

Switching from 1 to 2 monitors.

Why 2 monitors?

Switching from 1 to 2 monitors is an absolute no brainer, and may be cheaper than buying a new bigger monitor, for example a large 9 (say 30") wide screen monitor may cost £150 but, if you have a 15" already why not buy another 15" and run them side by side, a small monitor like that may only cost £50.

What graphics hardware have you got?

When I made the move I was lucky I had a graphics card with two outlets, and it also supports dual monitors. There are three type of graphics out put on the back of most cards. The picture below shows the ones you need to worry about DVI at the top (female) and vga at the bottom (male).

So on my graphics card originally I had one of each of the above, and two vga monitors but you can buy a lead that goes from dvi (top) to vga (bottom) and that worked fine.

Another option is to use you on board (mother board) graphics, and a single head secoundary graphics card.


And as with any graphics card it must be suited to intended use, enough memory for the tasks you have in mind.

Configuring 2 monitors

Once you have the drivers installed (if needed) and everything is plugged in, you need to configure the monitors. In ubuntu based systems this is a nightmare, and involve editing rather scarey system files, and I failed miserably at this.



Right click on the desktop top and go to the resolution settings (xp or win 7) and there (hopefully) you will see numbered screens, tinker with these settings until things look ok. There are 3 monitors being used here but yoiu get the gist, the top drop down box should display all of you display adapters when dropped down.

Working with 2 monitors

You need to buy ultramon, a piece of software that helps you use two screens, I have tried the free alternative called . . . . . multimon its ok but, ultramon is cheap enough.

Adding a third monitor.

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