PowerMac G5 Dual Monitor Questions

F

freaky

OSXer
Do I need to buy any additional adapters to hook up a PowerMac G5 to 2 VGA monitors so I can run them side by side? If so, what exactly is it called? Or is it ready right out of the box to hook it directly up to 2 VGA monitors?

Is it possible to have it so half the screen is on the left monitor and the other half is on the right monitor? Is there any third party software that is required or advisable to use? I currently have a PC with a Matrox G400 and it comes with software to control things like the resolution, window commands such as double clicking to maximize a window in the current monitor, etc.
 
If you have the NVidia GeForce FX 5200, you'll need an ADC-to-VGA (or VGA-to-ADC, I never can remember) in addition to the supplied DVI-to-VGA adaptor.

If you have any of the other currently shipping cards (like the ATi cards), you'll need to purchase an additional DVI-to-VGA adaptor.

You can connect one VGA monitor, via the included DVI-to-VGA adaptor, out of the box. A second one would require one of the above adaptors, depending on your graphics card.

You cannot have the screen "split" down the middle on two monitors (or split side-to-side, for monitor-on-top-of-monitor use), but you can have an extended desktop -- meaning, in addition to your normal desktop with the menubar and dock, you'll have extra unused screenspace (hence "extended" desktop) on the 2nd monitor, and you can drag and view windows, icons, palettes, etc. seamlessly between the two. The menubar and dock will only reside on one monitor, though.

There's no configuration needed -- simply plug in two monitors, then open the System Preferences, then "Displays." Click on "Arrangement" and you'll be presented with options for the layout of the displays as well as mirrored or non-mirrored (extended, what you want) modes.
 
I am going to go with the ATI Radeon 9650 w/256MB DDR SDRAM. I have an adapter that came with my aluminium PowerBook. Do you know if that's the additional one that I'd need?

So I can make it so it would function side to side except the top bar and dock won't extend to the right? Can I take a Safari window and extend it from the left side of the left monitor and drag it to the right side of the right monitor and see the entire webpage from side to side?

Do you use dual monitors? If so, are you happy with the way you can use them on Macs or do you think the support for dual monitors on PCs is far superior?
 
I have the adapter right here in front of me but the only thing they bothered to print on it is Made in China. One end has 3 rows with 5 pins on each row and the other end has 2 squares of 9 pins each with a rectangular pin on the side.

I guess this is correct?
 
Yep, you can do all that and more. Pretty neat. Basically, it's like one, big-ass desktop, but the menubar and dock are confined to one screen only (the "main" screen). I run a dual 17" monitor setup -- it's a cheaper way to get more pixels than purchasing a larger monitor. I couldn't go back to one 17", or even a single 19".

It's pretty neat -- you can arrage the monitors so that they're on top of one another, or side-by-side, or even diagonal. You can have as many monitors as you can support, too, so if you add another graphics card that supports dual-monitors, you can have four monitors arranged however you like.

If the adaptor that came with your PowerBook is a DVI-to-VGA adaptor (which I suspect it is), then you're all set.
 
I agree. I've been using dual monitors for years and can't see how people just use one that work on a computer all day. So I guess you're pretty happy with your setup and don't really have any complaints with the dual monitor setup on OS X? (just curious becasue it seems like there will be a lot of things I don't like since there's no special software just for dual monitors)
 
Nope, no complaints at all. I don't need or want a bunch of fancy controls -- just the option to mirror when I wanna mirror and extend when I want to extend. I can configure each monitor's resolution independently, adjust color independently, and adjust the arrangement of the monitors independently.

ATi does provide updates/software for their graphics cards, but they usually just fix display bugs or the like. They do provide some control over advanced monitor features, like adaptive de-interlacing for DVDs and some rotational controls.

For the most part, the basics and some medium-strength functionality is built-in. I don't have much experience with advanced controls for dual-monitors on PCs, but I would suspect that the PCs would have more "fine-tuning" controls than the Mac -- but the Macs do it without any setup or configuration -- just plug in the new monitor (with the unit powered off, of course) and it'll immediately act as a 2nd monitor.
 
Yes and no. Apple does not ship the "iWhatever" (iBook, iMac, etc.) computers with the options of expanded desktops, only mirrored desktops. There are firmware hacks available on the internet that enable extended desktops, but again, it is a hack and therefore not guaranteed to work, nor guaranteed not to cause damage to your system.
 
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