Any Way To Get Multiple Monitors To Be Seen as "Full Screen" Desktop?

[CHANGE USERNAME TO westes]

I have several multi-monitor setups in Windows 2000, and on each of these I
extend the desktop so that I can drag applications across monitors easily.
On each of these setups, however, when I specify to any application do enter
a "full screen" mode, it fills only the display marked "1". Is there any
way to configure a multi-monitor system - maybe with a third party
application - so that full screen modes are mapped to more than one monitor?
I'm clear that one way to do this is to have the hardware "lie" to the OS
and report that two contiguous monitors represent a single hardware display.
But most multi-monitor video cards do not support such features at that
level of abstraction.

The reason I am interested in doing this is I wanted to try creating a
Windows Media High Definition display by mating two LCDs together, side by
side.

 

[DL]

Nvidea dual cards, and their software, certainly has the ability to open an
app on a specific monitor.
From recollection so do ATI.

 

[CHANGE USERNAME TO westes]

Nvidea dual cards, and their software, certainly has the ability to open an
app on a specific monitor.
From recollection so do ATI.

That's not the functionality I am asking for. I am looking for a way to
have the two desktops appear to windows to be a single larger desktop. The
combining of desktops would be within the video hardware or video driver,
not the Windows OS software.

 

[DL]

In that case I dont understand the Q
I have nvidea with dual monitors on extended desktop, the video driver
allows for an app to be opened on a specific monitor. - amongst other
settings
This is nothing to do with win* o/s software

 

[DL]

Sorry just realised what you meant - I'm a little slow, an age thing!
http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/
may help

 

[Guest]

Actually, the application will usually fill the display that contains the
largest part of the window when it is not full screen (try moving the
window so that it is split between the two monitors and then maximizing it
while more of the window is on monitor 2).

It seems that it is the application itself that chooses this - I have seen
some applications that do go fullscreen across both monitors (they usually
mention having "multiple monitor" support, which means that the programmer was
aware of this). For example, IrfanView can play AVI files like this -
although it sometimes gets it wrong if monitor 2 is on the left of monitor 1
instead of the right.

You can get a similar effect by dragging the edges of an application window
out until if fills both monitors (not maximized). This is not quite the same,
since the window "frame" still appears, for example.
In this case, "maximizing" the window can actually make it get smaller (by
about a factor of 2).

Also, if you look at Internet Explorer, it can be a window, or maximized, or
you can select "full screen" view (F11), which looks slightly different than
"maximized" - this demonstrates how an application can have it's own "full
screen" mode. Many game programs that use DirectX or OpenGL can do full
screen, controlling the resolution, etc. completely independently from the
Windows desktop itself.

|I have several multi-monitor setups in Windows 2000, and on each of these I
|extend the desktop so that I can drag applications across monitors easily.
|On each of these setups, however, when I specify to any application do enter
|a "full screen" mode, it fills only the display marked "1". Is there any
|way to configure a multi-monitor system - maybe with a third party
|application - so that full screen modes are mapped to more than one monitor?
|I'm clear that one way to do this is to have the hardware "lie" to the OS
|and report that two contiguous monitors represent a single hardware display.
|But most multi-monitor video cards do not support such features at that
|level of abstraction.
|
|The reason I am interested in doing this is I wanted to try creating a
|Windows Media High Definition display by mating two LCDs together, side by
|side.
|

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Need some expert help. I have a dell laptop on Win 2000, and I have one more
monitor. I have been trying to figure out how to have multiple screens
displayed in the two monitors (laptop monitor and the external monitor).

When i connect the external monitor, it shows the same display.

Would be great if you can give me some basics. Do i need a special driver/
s-w to do it? Why do'nt i see the 'Extend monitor' option in the Display -->
Settings?

Would be great if you can help me with this.

Thanks in advance

 

[Dave Patrick]

It's up to your graphics adapter driver. Whether it supports this or not.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Hi,
|
| Need some expert help. I have a dell laptop on Win 2000, and I have one
more
| monitor. I have been trying to figure out how to have multiple screens
| displayed in the two monitors (laptop monitor and the external monitor).
|
| When i connect the external monitor, it shows the same display.
|
| Would be great if you can give me some basics. Do i need a special driver/
| s-w to do it? Why do'nt i see the 'Extend monitor' option in the
Display -->
| Settings?
|
| Would be great if you can help me with this.
|
| Thanks in advance
|
|
| "DL" wrote:
|
| > Nvidea dual cards, and their software, certainly has the ability to open
an
| > app on a specific monitor.
| > From recollection so do ATI.
| >
| > message | > > I have several multi-monitor setups in Windows 2000, and on each of
these
| > I
| > > extend the desktop so that I can drag applications across monitors
easily.
| > > On each of these setups, however, when I specify to any application do
| > enter
| > > a "full screen" mode, it fills only the display marked "1". Is
there
| > any
| > > way to configure a multi-monitor system - maybe with a third party
| > > application - so that full screen modes are mapped to more than one
| > monitor?
| > > I'm clear that one way to do this is to have the hardware "lie" to the
OS
| > > and report that two contiguous monitors represent a single hardware
| > display.
| > > But most multi-monitor video cards do not support such features at
that
| > > level of abstraction.
| > >
| > > The reason I am interested in doing this is I wanted to try creating a
| > > Windows Media High Definition display by mating two LCDs together,
side by
| > > side.
| > >
| > > --
| > > Will
| > > westes AT earthbroadcast.com
| > >
| > >
| >
| >
| >

 

[Guest]

Can you provide more examples of software that supports this, like IrfanView:

It seems that it is the application itself that chooses this - I have seen
some applications that do go fullscreen across both monitors (they usually
mention having "multiple monitor" support, which means that the programmer was
aware of this). For example, IrfanView can play AVI files like this -
although it sometimes gets it wrong if monitor 2 is on the left of monitor 1
instead of the right.

Many thanks.