Multi-monitor setups : Current reality an…

Survey Results

Question Answers Skips Do you use (or have used) a multi-monitor setup on your computer ? (Mandatory) 1,204 1 01 100% <1%

0% 46.5% 93% COUNT PERCENT

Yes 1,113 92%

No 91 8%

PAGE 2

Question Answers Skips Is that setup horizontal, or are some monitors stacked up vertically ? (Mandatory) 1,116 89 02 93% 7%

0% 46.5% 93% COUNT PERCENT

Horizontal setup 1,028 92%

Some vertical stacking too 88 8%

Question Answers Skips How did you acquire your monitors ? (Mandatory) 1,116 89 03 93% 7%

0% 33% 66% COUNT PERCENT

They were unrelated purchases which I put together 735 66% later on

All at once, specifically to make a multi-monitor 288 26% setup

Initially all at once, but isolated replacements have 93 8% occured

Question Answers Skips Do all of your monitors share a common dot density (DPI) ? (Mandatory) 1,116 89 04 93% 7%

0% 26.5% 53% COUNT PERCENT

No 589 53%

Yes 527 47%

Question Answers Skips Are the monitor edges touching each other roughly of the same size ? (Mandatory) 1,116 89 05 93% 7%

0% 26% 52% COUNT PERCENT Yes 578 52%

No 538 48%

PAGE 3

Question Answers Skips Would you make it horizontal or stack monitors vertically as well ? (Mandatory) 1,204 1 06 100% <1%

0% 38% 76% COUNT PERCENT

Purely horizontal setup 912 76%

Some vertical stacking too 292 24%

Question Answers Skips For a seamless experience, what OS-side restrictions on monitor choice would you consider fair ? (Mandatory) 1,204 1 07 100% <1%

0% 23% 46% COUNT PERCENT

None of the above 544 45%

Both of the above 418 35%

Dot density (DPI) should match 145 12%

Edges touching each other should have the same 97 8% size

PAGE 4

Question Answers Skips Thanks for your answers ! Anything else you want to tell us ? 239 966 08 20% 80%

Friday, Sep 2nd 14,638,561 a good windowmanager makes a big differnence - I'm to my missfortune bound to windows :( 8:25AM

Friday, Sep 2nd 14,635,361 ion3 4:01AM

I bought an 8.5 fl oz can of sprite because I thought it'd be cheaper than the 16 oz Coke next to it. They Thursday, Sep 1st 14,628,142 both cost $1.70. I am displeased. 8:06PM

Thursday, Sep 1st 14,627,676 One big monitor would be better! 7:41PM

Thursday, Sep 1st 14,615,314 1920x1200 is much preferred to 1920x1080. Give me back my pixels (= 8:06AM

Thursday, Sep 1st 14,614,564 I use multimonitor an also I use multi monitor with my laptop. 6:40AM

I routinely plug a monitor in to my laptop. So, matching DPI and/or screen size is not an option. The Thursday, Sep 1st 14,614,511 assumption of a rectangular desktop region should be relaxed to allow. 6:32AM

the user interface matters too! i like what 3 does for 2 screens, keeping one consistent between Thursday, Sep 1st 14,614,327 all virtual desktops. 6:09AM

Mac OS X 10.7, Macbook 13", one monitor on MiniDisplayPort to VGA, another one on a DisplayLink USB to Thursday, Sep 1st 14,609,847 DVI adapter 12:27AM Wednesday, Aug 14,609,126 what a silly poll...what was the argument which this was based off of? 31st 11:45PM

Wednesday, Aug 14,607,815 My second monitor is my TV. I use it for watching DVDs, with the first monitor for general use. 31st 10:33PM

Wednesday, Aug 14,606,816 LG IPS231 x 2, Ubuntu 11.04, Nvidia GT 430 31st 9:46PM

i use DisplayLink technology - very painless and gives me 2 extra monitors that I can do what I want with Wednesday, Aug 14,603,164 connected to my laptop via USB. Once you've tried it, you'll never go back. 31st 7:22PM

Wednesday, Aug 14,601,783 I wish vertical stacking were easier! But that's a hardware thing... 31st 6:37PM

Wednesday, Aug 14,597,076 I only use desktop pcs 31st 2:51PM

For my setup, I used a USB video device with a separate driver. It would be nice if programs worked Wednesday, Aug 14,595,313 seamlessly with all my monitors, but not all of them do. 31st 1:23PM

Wednesday, Aug 14,594,471 Must still work when DPI doesn't match, even if it runs very slowly or displays the window as a weird shape. 31st 12:31PM

Wednesday, Aug 14,592,912 single monitors and things like 'mission control' will prevail for everyday use in the future 31st 10:40AM

Wednesday, Aug 14,592,503 I feel cramped with only one monitor! 31st 10:08AM

Wednesday, Aug 14,589,674 I run linux & nvidia cards because when I began using two monitors, nvidia was a better choice. 31st 5:14AM

Idealy I'd have an array of identical monitors. Eventually my home setup will be that way but currently it's Wednesday, Aug 14,586,267 comprised of 1 16:9 LCD, 1 4:3 CRT, 1 4:3 LCD. Resolutions are all different. I'm hoping for IPS monitors in 31st 12:43AM the future but they are still too pricy.

Effectively I make use of different DPI and sizes. In such layout I never install monitors side-by-side: the Wednesday, Aug 14,586,183 higher DPI device is always closer to me. 31st 12:51AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,584,350 Didn't understand the last question 10:49PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,582,060 Used to have MCGA and CGA way back when. EGA changed all that... 8:30PM

I tried two different things: workstation with 2 monitors anf laptop + monitor. Both the configs are very Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,581,708 practical and I really enjoy them (while I write the laptop+external monitor) 8:10PM

My monitors are independent. I don't use ; I can't drag a window from one to the other. My Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,581,559 workspaces on each monitor are seperate. Nvidia, Sun Solaris, Matrox do this. ATI does not 8:01PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,581,395 a need for a color profile for every display has locked me to the mac (X11 ....) 7:52PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,580,388 Poor support in both Windows and OSX requires 3rd party hacks e.g. Multi monitor taskbar 7:07PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,580,263 I use different monitors for different programs not a big desktop 7:00PM

Would be nice for OS to stretch/compress, if have different resolutions or DPI next to each other, seamless Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,577,807 transisition between with windows aligned etc. 5:11PM

The ability to extend the desktop and have applications open on both monitors is a huge help. DPI and screen size shouldn't necessarily be important in handling this, and if this were a requirement, would Tuesday, Aug 30th Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,576,261 hinder laptop setups. I currently have a Thinkpad T400 with a 14.1" 1280x800 display and a 22.3" 4:03PM 1680x1050 display as a second monitor, this setup works very well, though not as seamless as two monitors of the same size

is the setup permanent or not ? is the primary screen a notebook ? which displays are in portrait or Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,576,065 landscape positions ? 3:53PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,575,494 It would have been nice to easily set it up to use a different for each monitor. 3:27PM

the OS / must allow to change content of each monitor indipendently (e.g. as Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,574,874 wm, e17, xmonad do ... not like gnome, , etc) 3:02PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,574,010 The Monitors have to be identical, same brand, model etc... 2:14PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,573,037 Full screen apps on one monitor while windowed on the other should be allowed. 1:42PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,572,665 Using a 17" laptop and a 26" screen together. 1:13PM

I also use a laptop with a multi-montor setup. This means that I need flexibility in the configuration. It's Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,571,986 preferable to not have to logout/restart to unplug/attach a monitor. 12:18PM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,570,614 Surprised there were no questions on aspect ratios or resolutions 10:33AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,569,898 I admit to not having what I would consider an ideal setup. 9:28AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,569,537 Make it easy to use, not the most options 8:54AM

I think apps should be thought from the start for multimonitor. Eg: Image you're writing a document in openoffice. The document could be displayed in one monitor for editing and in the other in a smaller zoom Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,569,490 for whole page or multipage overview. That way you get really useful multimonitor setup. Else you can just 8:51AM run more applications at once, but it's not that useful. A good example of programs that do this right is trading programs which show charts in one monitor, price list in other, etc.

I do not use multi-monitor setups nowadays. One sufficiently big monitor is fine for my use. 1920x1080 Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,569,470 resolution at least is fine. And the monitor should not be huge, 21.5-23 " is fine for this resolution. 24" is 8:50AM too much.

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,569,190 Multi monitor setup is at work. I just have a laptop at home. 8:19AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,568,781 Lion's fullscreen mode isn't multi-monitor friendly :-( 7:22AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,568,703 color matching is important 7:10AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,568,561 It is interesting that you are not asking how many monitors I have. OS being use. 6:56AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,568,190 I thought there would be more questions than this :( 6:11AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,568,070 I also use multi-seat multi-monitor 5:56AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,568,056 I want better control over my windows across multiple screens. improved version of winsplit? 5:54AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,567,868 When will there be resolution independent graphical user interfaces. 5:27AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,567,649 e17 is the only WM that does multimonitor setups correctly. 5:03AM Horizontal (or vertical) stacking only means that one may need to waste a lot of time moving things from Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,566,991 one place to another. 4:01AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,566,846 I will have to poop soon. 3:48AM

My setup is two PCs using 3 monitors. I use the A-B switch on the center monitor to choose between the Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,566,507 two PCs. This gives me two PCs with two monitors each. 3:21AM

When I use monitors of the same side, they are in an horizoontal setup and when I use my laptop (13,3), I Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,566,320 have added one bigger screen (23") on top of it. 3:08AM

The most frustrating thing about multiple monitors is when fullscreen is active and either changes the Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,566,211 resolution on the other monitors, blanks them out entirely, or fails to capture the mouse in one screen 2:58AM when videogaming. (Especially in RTS gaming where edge of screen is used to scroll around the map)

At home 2 monitors wildly different orientation and size, at work 4 monitors all same resolution and parallel Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,565,920 with each other 2:33AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,565,505 having some "both" options for the early questions would be nice.. 1:59AM

Mirroring is important. I use wacom cintiq, and it would be nice to be able to mirror / scale a different Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,565,149 resolution monitor. The second monitor acts as a preview display, no current OS handles mirroring to 1:28AM different resolutions. AND monitor scaling is spotty at best.

I use multi-monitor for my laptop (which is my primary computer), so my 2nd monitor will always be Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,565,147 bigger/different. 1:28AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,565,132 I'm using independent heads, "Zaphod" style. 1:27AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,565,040 I sometimes feed my gremlins after midnight, is that wrong? 1:19AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,564,758 accelerometers on monitors!! so they can rotate automagically! 12:43AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,564,314 I'm not opposed to vertical stacking, but don't have room for it. 12:13AM

Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,564,306 multimonitor support on linux is terrible 12:22AM

Survey didn't ask about orientation; I run two 22" monitors oriented vertically, so in some ways they Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,564,271 resemble one big 32" or so screen split down the middle vertically. Doesn't seem to be a very common 12:19AM setup, but I like it.

newbies in need like me love some easy interface to program the thing, not every Nvidia thing has a Tuesday, Aug 30th 14,564,142 proper fool-proofed options setup. 12:10AM

I use Linux and an Nvidia card with twinview. Biggest issue I see is full screen apps that don't recognize multiple montors. They do things like put unmovable dialog boxes in the center of the screen, split across Monday, Aug 29th 14,563,939 the monitors. For example, of the games in Humble Bundle 1 and 2, only Osmos is usable full screen - it 11:56PM maximizes to one monitor. The rest maximize to both and I have to play them in a window.

Monday, Aug 29th 14,563,745 And if you want 24" 1920x1200, Lenova at $250 is a treat and <40W max. 2 is better! 11:45PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,563,569 4 22" monitors running at 1680x1050 11:32PM

Having spent the better part of a decade with multiple monitors, both at home(2) and at work(2-4), I don't Monday, Aug 29th 14,563,540 know that I could go back to a single monitor setup. 11:30PM Monday, Aug 29th 14,563,220 Tell me how to make a "multi-seat" arrangement. thanks 11:09PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,563,109 I try and get the same type of panel as well, as colors do change immensly. 11:02PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,562,922 XOrg ATI libre driver needs work in multi monitor area 10:49PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,562,826 Nope. 10:42PM

you seem to have forgotten screen duplicating as the most common multihead configuration (often a Monday, Aug 29th 14,562,511 laptop screen and a beamer) 10:22PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,562,065 Make sure when docking and undocking the screens go back to the dual monitor setup. 9:58PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,561,902 http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2007-10-16/ 9:48PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,561,882 I estimate I am 35% more productive and prefer real monitors over virtual workspaces. 9:47PM

There are several people at my office who use multi-monitor setup with laptop and one external monitor. In Monday, Aug 29th 14,561,783 most cases the resolution doesn't match and sometimes even the DPI are different. 9:40PM

I have had several multi-monitor setups, most with monitors purchased specifically for that purchase, but other setups made with whatever monitors were lying around. The only vertical setups that I've done used Monday, Aug 29th 14,561,757 a laptop on the bottom, and an lcd mount above the laptop. I have also used multi-system tools like 9:39PM synergy which give the multi-monitor feel, and in these setups I've had widely varied sizes, resolutions, and dpi of the displays invloved.

Monday, Aug 29th 14,561,634 xmonad is an EXCELLENT window manager for multi-monitor setups 9:32PM

Teh important part is not what the OS does with the monitors, all OSes I've seen with multiple monitors have handled that part well. The important part is how window management is handled for multiple Monday, Aug 29th 14,561,544 monitors (e.g. does the window manager knows where the monitor borders are (in case of monitors with 9:26PM same resolutions), how does maximizing a window work (on one monitor or across all), etc.

Monday, Aug 29th 14,561,356 nvidia has a terrible drivers on linux that crash like fuck 9:15PM

I simply put a monitor with my laptop(s), enabling both external (monitor) and internal (LCD Panel on the laptop) as displays - locating the external to either the left or right of the internal. The only expectaction I Monday, Aug 29th 14,561,229 have is that the OS should remember the configuration (whether stacked horizontally or vertically) when 9:06PM going between single monitor (internal display) and multi-monitor configurations. FWIW, I also have a desktop with two CRT monitors that I use in a similar manner.

Monday, Aug 29th 14,560,959 Thanks for your answers ! Anything else you want to tell us ? 8:49PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,560,902 Each monitor needs it owns virtual desktop set, as well as task list. 8:47PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,560,158 I hope you have a lovely day. 8:11PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,560,139 Horizontal stacking with 1 monitor in landscape, 1 in portrait 8:10PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,560,135 The only OS capavle of setup I wanted to create was Linux, all others failed 8:10PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,559,983 My biggest limitation it's the physical space available on my desktop. 8:03PM I have used multi-monitor support on Windows since early 2000, I find that the built in multi-monitor management has 'just worked', given the fact that since NT4 very little has changed on the multi-monitor Monday, Aug 29th 14,559,830 setup interface, which I would stress is that someone got it right the first time, and have not tinkered with 7:56PM it to make it "better"..

Monday, Aug 29th 14,559,742 using software like display fusion because of os limitations. 7:53PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,559,306 I have one flipped portrait while the rest are landscape. (four total) 7:34PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,866 Can't live without multiple monitors...restricted using one... 6:18PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,759 I love you. 7:11PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,637 yo dawg i herd you like multi-monitor setups 7:06PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,614 I am still searching for the perfect solution although Matrox isn't really with us in the 3D world anylonger. 7:05PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,597 Eyefinity!!!...When I can afford it! 7:02PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,485 I found multi monitors distracting and switched back to a single monitor and virtual desktops. 6:59PM

typically use 4 screens + nvidia. forced to use xinerama to combine the nvidia pairs. no xrandr. sadness. Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,375 (was that a haiku?) 6:54PM

I have found Windows 7 to do multiple monitors pretty poorly, they don't allow for multiple desktops, the Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,190 implementations that exist are very bad, therefore making multiple monitors cumbersome. 6:45PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,558,101 I wish Gnome-3 + were more multi-monitor friendly! 6:41PM

i don't care about the details, i want to use two screens with my laptops regular screen. resulition yes, at Monday, Aug 29th 14,557,893 new years eve. or whatever will work - there is scaling, isnt ? 6:27PM

From my experience Mac OS X handles the multi-monitor thing best, but having the menu-bar on only one Monday, Aug 29th 14,557,718 monitor is very annoying. Especially if the current app is on another one. 6:25PM

Monitors must be exactly the same size and specs to work well. I started with different sizes that didn't Monday, Aug 29th 14,557,716 work well. 6:25PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,557,596 Do something awesome with the data! 6:18PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,557,478 FUCK YOU! 6:12PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,557,271 Nope. 5:57PM

Sometimes I rotate one monitor to vertical for word processing or reading PDFs. I'd really prefer to have Monday, Aug 29th 14,557,050 three monitors so one would always be in vertical/portrait orientation. 5:45PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,883 Very Widescreen monitors suck! 5:40PM

I do development and like the horizontal setup. I'd use a stack-based setup if I were more into consuming Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,758 information, however, such as traders do. 5:32PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,533 i have a dual head setup and a third using synergy (3 headed 5:18PM Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,341 My setup is a 14" laptop + 22" monitor above the laptop's screen. 5:08PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,286 My priority is multiple users logged in with their own desktop 5:06PM

Cloning (of at least one screen) to a different resolution/DPI "monitor" (digital projector) schould be Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,209 supported too (I've used that for presentations). 5:01PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,138 The OS shouldn't allow windows to get lost in space that isn't shown on the monitors. 4:59PM

Don't know if this is interesting or not, but i've got two identical monitors at work, and a mis-matched pair Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,074 at home. otherwise my responce to this test is factual. 4:55PM

Even two different monitors can be a pain due to monitor color settings. Also, non-matching edges are Monday, Aug 29th 14,556,003 okay as long as you set it up so when you drag a window, it goes where it would physically (not middle of 4:52PM monitor to middle of monitor if they are misaligned)

$7-15 VESA mounting plates off eBay plus some scrap wood make an excellent poor-man's dual-monitor mount for freeing up desk space. 19" 5:4 LCDs at 1280x1024 are less than ideal for movies and, if you lock Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,711 your resolution at 2560x1024, games will try to center across the boundary between monitors. In 4:39PM retrospect, I'd go for 22" widescreen monitors so KDE's clone of Aero Snap can fully come into its own in this world of apps that expect a certain minimum width.

1) Using multiple monitors boosted my productivity enormously, while using multiple virtual desktops didn't. Quite the contrary, virtual desktops just made me waste time by hunting and rearranging program Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,653 windows. 2) I hate it when the OS forgets the arrangement of the monitors (e.g. after unplugging them, 4:39PM after a crash, etc.), this should never happen.

Dot density and size should not matter because the applications and the OS should be resolution Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,533 independent. The window and text should be the same physical size no matter where it is displayed, 4:34PM unless the user chooses otherwise.

Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,458 Vertical setups rule! If only they worked better. 4:32PM

Best layout I've found is three monitors horizontal with another above the middle. *Much* prefer three Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,423 screens (even if each are of smaller res) than two as you don't need to keep your neck at an angle to 4:31PM work only look side to side occasionally.

Someone need to do a "multimon-in-a-box" with card, cables, and glass - maybe 4 LCDs in one big bezel or Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,172 something; with win/mac/linux/etc. support 4:20PM

I think that the key element that prevents multi-monitor setup with two different monitors(size and or Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,149 resolution) is that each monitor will have different size of fonts. The OS should provide an option to adjust 4:19PM font size on both monitors to match each other.

My initial multi setup consisted of a 17in HP flat panel at 1280x1024 in the center position, and a 16 in CRT Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,064 at 1024x768 to my right. DPI was different, and the edges sure didn't match, but it worked for me. Now I'm 4:17PM using two identical LCDs at 1440x900, but in still have one in the center and one to my right.

Monday, Aug 29th 14,555,020 One monitor is not enough! :) 4:15PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,923 no 4:14PM

Monitor #1 is a 27 inch PC monitor, flat screen, normal stuff. #2 is a 32 inch LED TV, on VGA mode. Use 32 Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,886 inch for movies and Windows Media Center , more or less. Sometimes for web browserin, but only if a family 4:12PM member had a hard time reading on monitor #1.

give us better multiheaded setup so we can have multiple logins in the same monitor. also, allow us to Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,742 select which desktop to have on each monitor using the desktop applets 4:05PM Since most (reasonably priced) monitors top out at 1920x1080 so multiple small monitor more hi-res real Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,595 estate 4:00PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,586 It is hard to get monitors with enough pixels in vertical direction today. 4:00PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,527 no 3:34PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,516 virtual desktops work well, use multihead to extend laptop 3:57PM

The photo in the middle of this page shows an example of what we expect from a multi-monitor setup: Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,492 http://mactom.com/rv/ 3:56PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,453 4:3 ratio displays works much better in dualhead setups than widescreen displays. 3:55PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,327 3 monitor system from left to right. 30" Apple cinema, 27" iMac, 30" Apple Cinema 3:49PM

Better window mgmt would ease some of the need for multi-monitor set ups. Mail, Browsing, Terminal and Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,301 IM all need their own space; then you add on the "other stuff" 3:48PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,298 multi monitor software should support every kind of monitor/resolution with no pain for user 3:48PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,235 post results faster, heh 3:44PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,166 Multi monitor functionality on MacOS X still sucks something fierce. 3:41PM

I use three monitors at work and it's fantastic. I'm a web developer running a browser, editor, IM, and email Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,153 all at once and all on the screens at the same time. 3:41PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,124 Nice Survey! 3:37PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,080 True Multiple screen gaming/ 3D support is highly desirable 3:37PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,554,060 Multiple monitors are awesome! 3:37PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,991 The biggest issues are management of windows accross the displays and settings. 3:33PM

My 'ultimate' monitor setup is three monitors, as opposed to the more common 2. I wish there were better Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,950 support in various operating systems for three. 3:32PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,823 Tiling Window Managers are the best for MM setups.. 3:26PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,785 2x24" Dell monitors, one in landscape mode, one in portrait mode (10.6 bug w/display rotation) 3:25PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,725 I'm a long time Mac user, but do have to admit the global menu bar is not ideal for multi monitors. 3:23PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,600 many linux distros don't support 1366x768 which is quite a common resolution 3:18PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,362 osnews rocks! 3:09PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,191 one monitor is rotated in my setup, also use X-forwarding to a seperate notebook 3:03PM Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,187 Xinerama FTW 3:02PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,146 I would rather have a huge monitor, i.e. 30 inch vs. two 20 inch (what I have). 3:01PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,131 Limitations suck. 3:00PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,553,029 automatic detection of turned off screens. 2:57PM

Select the monitor one application will launch. Freely select the screen a full screen game will be (if not Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,916 using all at once). Keyboard/Mouse shortcut to release mouse control while playing games in fullscreen, so 2:52PM you can change control from one screen to another.

Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,909 Full screen flash/vidoe should maintain in one monitor while working in the other 2:51PM

Nice if a camera could be use to smap a picture of the setup showilg special setup images on each Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,890 monitor and import it in a tool taht will then configure automatically ther monitors accordingly to real 2:51PM space psition

Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,798 Hi there ! :^) 2:47PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,700 Make setting up multi-monitors easier. So far, only Fedora setups up my monitors correctly. 2:40PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,692 Currently using 4 17" monitors at work off of two video cards. 2:41PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,690 Secondary monitor runs calendar, todo, stickies and social stuff. 2:41PM

I tend to use mirroring on my laptop because my wm (-crystal) isn't designed for multiple monitors well Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,642 and straddles some widgets across the seams. 2:39PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,480 I prefer to use them in portrait mode. 2:31PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,427 nothing 2:29PM

Besides XRandR and Xorg.conf tweaks... a new solition would be nice... plz email me for more on this Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,332 subject: [email protected] 2:25PM

I believe that most multi-monitor setups are from a laptop with a bigger screen attached to it, and therefor Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,298 are not likely to have the same size (and/or dpi). I have not seen many multi monitor desktops, but when 2:25PM those are setup, I suspect that it will involve 2/more monitors of the same size and dpi

while multi-head desktops often have similar/same screens, keep in mind that the laptop + desktop- Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,255 screen is a very common thing as well 2:23PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,206 Using a laptop with an external display. Apple 2:21PM

usually Virtual Desktops somehow do not integrate well into multi monitor setups, not even on macs. if you have 4 virtual desktops and to monitors - you get 8 virtual desktops, no one can remember where he left Monday, Aug 29th 14,552,098 which window. I think if you have 2 monitors and 4 virtual desktops - then at least two of the nearby virtual 2:16PM desktops should be always visible on those two monitors

So far, all my multimonitor setups have been 4:3 or 5:4 monitors - I don't look forward to a time where 16:9 Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,928 is the only easily available format. 2:09PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,883 i have my work too. this just asked about my own stuff. Work is also multi monitored. 2:06PM Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,875 a single big screen is better than two small screens 2:06PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,850 Im running linux & windows with multimonitor setups, both have problems but nothing that cant be fixed.. 2:05PM

comparable dot density is important, but not essential. On my work setup I use one monitor as a Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,808 magnification screen. You also didn't ask about aspect ratios. In one setup I had a 1920x1200 widescreen 2:03PM landscape with a 1024x1280 portrait monitor beside it. Similar density, similar screen edge sizes

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,806 booya!!1 2:03PM

yes, lots. I am using a netbook 1280x800 and a 19inch 1280x1024 monitor. They are physically side by side, but my graphics card can't make a texture large enough to do that, so i tell xrandr to put stack them Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,760 vertically. this also sovles the horrible handling of none rectangular workspaces. (email if you have more 2:00PM questions, [email protected])

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,744 Well basically you've got a lot of troubles when using Eyefinity, and this must end. 2:00PM

XRanR sucks bigtime! ATI open source driver sucks too (random crashes)! Only painless way is to use Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,713 NVidia proprietary driver and TwinView. 1:58PM

Invariably I use multiple monitors like having several books open: I wouldn't find it comfortable to split Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,706 data/windows across two monitors. Consequently it doesn't matter if the monitors are of different size. The 1:58PM only exception tends to be for games (and then only with an odd number of monitors).

I see additional monitors in a traditional way, e.g. having a main screen and a 2nd (maybe smaller) one Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,660 containg toolboxes or unimportant windows. 1:56PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,629 Displays with thin frame and bottom placed buttons are hard to come by. 1:53PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,554 You should include questions for number of monitors in an optimal setup, and their sizes. 1:51PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,413 Nvidea Linux drivers do not handle different sized monitors very well. Kill them. 1:45PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,320 I'm just using a multi monitor setup because i'm cheap. It's so much better to just have ONE BIG SCREEN. 1:40PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,218 easy to set up in win7, more difficult in Linux mint (I gave up) 1:39PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,180 I do not want the two monitors to be in the same logical desktop. I want them to be independent. 1:38PM

I bought a second monitor of the same brand/type. I use one vertically and one horizontally, one for Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,136 working and one for dealing with long texts or vertical images, like reading PDF. 1:37PM

Be careful about mixed horizontal/vertical setups. It can be very easy for the user to loose where the Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,104 pointer is as it crosses screen boundaries if it is above or below the edge of one of the monitors.. 1:37PM

It's crucial to have the choice, where the monitors logically connect. Especially with differing resolutions of Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,078 the monitors. (Like Windows) 1:36PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,063 CRT monitors are the best for shooters. 1:33PM

At work and at home, multi monitor. Home purely horiz... work both horiz and vert. Makes it easy to monitor Monday, Aug 29th 14,551,040 servers on one monitor, work on another, and browse the web as needed on yet another. 1:33PM

Most importantly the OS should provide a seamless experience when monitors are connected / Monday, Aug 29th Most importantly the OS should provide a seamless experience when monitors are connected / Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,969 disconnected 1:31PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,927 fish tacos 1:28PM

A setup like a 2-by-2 monitor grid acting as a single virtual monitor, plus a completely independent 5th Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,878 monitor would be nice... 1:25PM

While multiple monitors are a cheap way to increase visible desktop size, I do think that multiple monitors are more important based on tasks. So often do I find my main task on the 'main' monitor and Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,868 secondary/reference windows on the other. I have even forgotten to use the second monitor simply 1:25PM because all windows I had open only pertained to my main task.

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,818 I use an H assembly left and right are vertically and the middle monitor are horizontally placed 1:22PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,773 Going for the police station after this! \o/ 1:20PM

Any multi-monitor solution _must_ be able to cope with one or more of the screens being rotated eg. 2*20" Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,672 in portrait and 1x30" in landscape: [ ][ ][ ] 1:14PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,633 Keep up the good work! 1:12PM

multiple screens can have a different function, so they can have different needs and thus different Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,531 characteristics 1:06PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,489 Would prefer single bigger screen >30" -> inf, instead of multi mon setup. 1:02PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,478 Lacking "vertical only" stacking options. 1:02PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,454 I want Wayland as my display server 1:00PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,403 every time you hook your pc up to a projector,you have a multimonitor setup 12:56PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,395 I use Awesome WM and it suites my needs perfectly. 12:56PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,376 Laptop + external monitor, so not a "pure" multi-monitor setup 12:54PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,370 15" mbp + 21" tft, same reso, different dpi 12:54PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,289 Using Laptop+External LCD 12:49PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,279 It's easiest to just buy two identical monitors at once. 12:48PM

dot density being the same and edges matching is only important if you want windows overlapping to a Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,263 second monitor. for having 2 different windows on 2 different monitors they are not required. 12:47PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,211 Decent multi-monitor setup on Linux is a must! 12:44PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,171 Multimonitor setups are not about extended desktops, They are about multitasking 12:41PM

Yes, I have created multi-monitor set ups BOTH as a single purchase, & as an incremental thing, your Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,153 question didn't allow me to say that. That said, from now and forever more I will always start with a Multi- 12:40PM monitor configuration, you can't really go back.... Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,148 Now gone back to single (larger) monitor at both my locations 12:40PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,117 On the multi-monitor orientation: I _only_ stack my monitors vertically. 12:38PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,550,102 HW accel across multiple monitors is almost always painful, esp with 3+ monitors. 12:37PM

Some monitors used for small things, others for big things. Small resolution - big resolution. Depends on Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,912 the data. CHunky things look bad in a teeny window on a big screen! 12:33PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,881 I find that i focus on only one monitor . . . 12:31PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,794 linux rocks! 12:23PM

Using Windows. I have a non-rectangular desktop, and although the system has a fixed DPI in software, my Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,785 two screens have different pixell/(physical dimension) ratios. The colour depth is the same over both 12:22PM screens, though (it's an important class of optimisations)

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,775 9600GT dual DVI out and a Geforce 6200 PCI with DVI out - 3 monitors on Ubuntu 12:20PM

I run multiple Xorg screens so I can switch workspace on each monitor independent of each other; it is Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,719 painful not be able to move windows between monitors but I find it really useless to have a large 12:20PM workspace streching across multiple monitors (becomes more useless the more monitors you connect)

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,706 Not Really 12:19PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,681 I cannot get used to single monitor 12:18PM

Ubuntu multi monitor setup works well (11.04 and. NVIDIA) when finally set up. Some (GUI) tricks are Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,612 needed, though. 12:14PM

These days I prefer a single large monitor (27" Apple cinema), but having a widescreen display in portrait Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,596 mode was great for code. 12:14PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,581 The functionality has to at least match what MS Windows offers. 12:13PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,580 Vertical stacking is just for a netbook + monitor. Horizontal in all other cases. 12:13PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,515 I prefer each monitor to be seperate X-display, so the workspaces are independant. 12:10PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,438 i use 2x19" and 2x24" setups, but from 27" and above i prefer a single monitor setup. 12:05PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,429 I <3 Eyefinity, makes things a lot easier 12:04PM

Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,370 After using dual monitors it's frustrating to use systems without! 12:01PM

I like the "single desktop mode" you could choose in WinXP (I.e. Maximise would fill both screens). This Monday, Aug 29th 14,549,369 option is gone in Win7 12:01PM

It's ideal if monitors can be arranged visually using some simple tool. OS adjustment for DPI difference is Monday, Aug 29th 14,548,802 good, too. 11:14AM