Dual screens... getting started

[Bill]

I have a desktop machine with Office 2K SP3 on
Windows XP SP2. MS assistance on the subject
of dual-screen support only talks about laptops
and desktops with Windows 2000. Isn't dual
monitor supported on XP desktop machines?

First, I gather I need to upgrade to PowerPoint
2003 in order to have the facilities of dual monitor
support. True? (What happens, if anything, if I
install PowerPoint 2003 as a separate product
on top of Office 2000 Professional?)

Second, the primary monitor on the desktop is
driven by a standard "on-board" RGB D-Sub. I
assume that I would need to buy a PCI video
card for the desktop for the second monitor, which
in reality would be the projector itself. True? (No need
for a second monitor, as I can always see what's
on the screen.)

Thanks,
Bill

 

[Bill]

(PS)
Both the desktop "presenter" (Windows XP ) monitor
and the digital projector are XGA devices.

 

[Chirag]

Dual monitors are supported on XP too.
PowerPoint 2002 (XP) and PowerPoint 2003 have better support for dual
monitors than what PowerPoint 2000 has.
You will need to buy a PCI video card and connect your projector to it.

You can find more details at:
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00476.htm

- Chirag

PowerShow - View multiple PowerPoint slide shows simultaneously
http://officeone.mvps.org/powershow/powershow.html

 

[Bill]

Chirag,
Thanks for your reply, the sites you sent were very helpful.

I'm weary of trying to install PowerPoint 2003 on a system
that already has Office 2000 Professional. I know from my
experience with Access that it's not un-usual to have multiple
levels of Office in order to support varying field installations,
but I'm not sure about a single component. What are your
thoughts about that?

Bill

 

[Bill]

Hummmmm,
In reading about PowerShow 6.1 AddIn, the claim is that
one can install that in a PowerPoint 2000 environment and
make use of the multi-monitor hardware. If I understand
you correctly, I wouldn't even need PowerShow if I had
PowerPoint XP or 2003, is that correct?
Bill

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

First, I gather I need to upgrade to PowerPoint
2003 in order to have the facilities of dual monitor
support. True?

To use Presenter View, yes. It's not part of PPT 2000.

(What happens, if anything, if I
install PowerPoint 2003 as a separate product
on top of Office 2000 Professional?)

Things generally work, though not always optimally, as long as you install the
oldest first. But with multiple versions installed, you have to accept that
there'll be wonkiness. I'm fairly convinced that having 2000 and 2003 makes it
unlikely that Package for CD will work and there can be delays when you start
up one version after having used the other. If you use EPS, you'll no longer
be able to print graphics in this format from 2000 (though it'll work in 2003).

And you'll never be entirely sure whether a given problem is due to the dual
install or to ... well, whatever it's really due to.

If you have a moderately powerful machine, consider using something like
Virtual PC or VMWare ... virtual machines can totally isolate one Office
version from another.

If it were my only PC and I depended heavily on a working, pure PPT 2000
system, I'd be reluctant to add 2003. Otherwise, all in all it's not so bad.

 

[Chirag]

PowerPoint XP or 2003 offer very limited support for multi-monitor setups
than what PowerShow does. For instance, being able to see formatted notes on
one monitor while projecting the slide show is one of the things that
PowerPoint 2003 does not do. Being able to run multiple slide shows
simultaneously is another. Then there are multi-monitor setups offered by
video spliters like Matrox DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go, which PowerPoint
does not recognize as multi-monitor setups. These things are listed at
http://officeone.mvps.org/powershow/powershow.html. The Tips page offers a
good collection at http://officeone.mvps.org/powershow/powershow_tips.html.
If your requirement doesn't include any of these and are fulfilled by the
basic dual-monitor support offered by PowerPoint 2003, then you don't
require PowerShow.

- Chirag

OfficeOne Animations - Add over 50 animation effects to PowerPoint
http://officeone.mvps.org/anims/anims.html