dave2010
12-02-2012, 17:08
I always recommend people to use more than one display if possible. In fairness, it depends on the work they do, but often it helps to have a much bigger screen area.
I started thinking about this again recently, firstly prompted by the lurid purply colour TV with DVD for sale in Sainsburys. Could I use this to link in with my iMac, I thought? Perhaps not, as I think the iMac interface is a bit tricky re getting extra displays. I'm not proud though - I'd buy one (of the purply TVs) if I thought it could do the job.
What about using my PC, which is pretty much right next to it - on a separate desk, and largely unused - and perhaps unloved too? Since they're both on the same network, is there some way I can turn the PC on, and then have the commands from the iMac sent to it so that I can see the display on there?
I don't want just to duplicate the screen - I've seen tools which do that, and indeed run one or two. They tend to be slow. I want to allocate either the left or right part of the iMac screen to the extra display, or even have a completely different desktop showing.That way I could have a document on one, and my work area on the other.
I don't just have to run Windows, either - I'm quite happy to consider Linux or Unix, or some virtual machine system.
I know dual screens are possible - several of my colleagues at work have them, but I've not seen any using the suggestions I've made here.
In the end it might just be best to get another screen and work out how to do the iMac interface thing, but it seems a bit of a shame if I've still got a spare screen which I could use.
Oh- the second screen doesn't have to be fast - I'm not intending this for game playing or video watching - only for showing documents. I once noticed a USB interface method for connecting a second screen. Would have been slow, but OK for the kind of thing I'm envisaging.
If it'll work iMac to PC, could it also be made to work the other way?
Any ideas?
I started thinking about this again recently, firstly prompted by the lurid purply colour TV with DVD for sale in Sainsburys. Could I use this to link in with my iMac, I thought? Perhaps not, as I think the iMac interface is a bit tricky re getting extra displays. I'm not proud though - I'd buy one (of the purply TVs) if I thought it could do the job.
What about using my PC, which is pretty much right next to it - on a separate desk, and largely unused - and perhaps unloved too? Since they're both on the same network, is there some way I can turn the PC on, and then have the commands from the iMac sent to it so that I can see the display on there?
I don't want just to duplicate the screen - I've seen tools which do that, and indeed run one or two. They tend to be slow. I want to allocate either the left or right part of the iMac screen to the extra display, or even have a completely different desktop showing.That way I could have a document on one, and my work area on the other.
I don't just have to run Windows, either - I'm quite happy to consider Linux or Unix, or some virtual machine system.
I know dual screens are possible - several of my colleagues at work have them, but I've not seen any using the suggestions I've made here.
In the end it might just be best to get another screen and work out how to do the iMac interface thing, but it seems a bit of a shame if I've still got a spare screen which I could use.
Oh- the second screen doesn't have to be fast - I'm not intending this for game playing or video watching - only for showing documents. I once noticed a USB interface method for connecting a second screen. Would have been slow, but OK for the kind of thing I'm envisaging.
If it'll work iMac to PC, could it also be made to work the other way?
Any ideas?