I have a Compaq with onboard X200 graphics chip. I've been told that
all newer ATI graphics chips support dual-displays, but can't find any
official documentation about it. I get CRT/LCD or LCD/TV info, but
nothing about two plain, ordinary, old-fashioned CRTs.

If I want to have dual-display CRTs like I had with my old Matrox 550,
do I just need to get a VGA "Y" cable? I would believe it if it had
DVI, but with a plain VGA, the best I would expect is a cloned desktop.
Has anyone tried this? Can I have two independent CRT displays (I'll
run both at 1280x1024 though) without purchasing a new card?

I'm not a gamer so I don't need 3D graphics. The old Matrox still works
fine, but it is AGP and the new mobo has PCI-E only. Replacement cards
in big box stores all seem designed for gamers and run $200+, and I
suspect that if I plugged one in, it would disable the X200 anyway.

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a Compaq with onboard X200 graphics chip. I've been told that
> all newer ATI graphics chips support dual-displays, but can't find any
> official documentation about it. I get CRT/LCD or LCD/TV info, but
> nothing about two plain, ordinary, old-fashioned CRTs.
>
> If I want to have dual-display CRTs like I had with my old Matrox 550,
> do I just need to get a VGA "Y" cable? I would believe it if it had
> DVI, but with a plain VGA, the best I would expect is a cloned desktop.
> Has anyone tried this? Can I have two independent CRT displays (I'll
> run both at 1280x1024 though) without purchasing a new card?
>
> I'm not a gamer so I don't need 3D graphics. The old Matrox still works
> fine, but it is AGP and the new mobo has PCI-E only. Replacement cards
> in big box stores all seem designed for gamers and run $200+, and I
> suspect that if I plugged one in, it would disable the X200 anyway.
>

Your laptop likely supports two monitors, but one of the monitors MUST be
the laptop display. It will use the monitor connected to the VGA port as
the second monitor. A splitter would not help as it would just clone the
output of the VGA port.

It isn't a laptop. It's a desktop, so there is no built-in display.

Sorry I didn't mention it, but I thought it was obvious when I talked
about AGP and PCI-E slots and replacement cards. Also, the OS is XP
MCE, if that makes a difference.

-Chris

"Chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> It isn't a laptop. It's a desktop, so there is no built-in display.
>
> Sorry I didn't mention it, but I thought it was obvious when I talked
> about AGP and PCI-E slots and replacement cards. Also, the OS is XP
> MCE, if that makes a difference.
>
> -Chris
>

Sorry, my mistake -- don't know why I assumed that. Does the machine have
both a DVI and a VGA port? If so, I would think one of each could be used.

Tom

No. It just has a VGA connection. If it had even just one DVI-D port I
would have tried a DVI-to-VGA splitter - we use them at work. But I
don't see how I'm going to get two separate VGA signals out of one DB15
connection.

This is the first PC I've ever bought - I usually build them myself.
The documentation that came with it really sucks. It was written for
idiots who would never *think* of opening up the case to perform an
upgrade. I had mine open the day I got it. That's how I learned it
didn't take AGP cards. The model is Compaq Presario SR1650NX.

-Chris