Any equivalent to WinSplit or GridMove for OSX?

NineTailedFox

I use dual monitors with my MacBook every day, and switch back and forth all the time. It's really easy.

At work I plug an Apple 20" Cinema Display into the DVI port, and the MacBook remembers that I want the 20" monitor to be the main monitor with the menu bar at the top, and the dock at the bottom. I keep my calendar and chat windows on the MacBook screen while I work on the Cinema Display.

You can switch the main monitor, adjust their relative positions, adjust each monitor resolution and switch between mirror and extended in the Display Preferences. I keep the Display Preferences icon in my menu bar for quick access to the controls without bringing up the System Preferences.

When I plug the MacBook into a projector, it remembers that I want to mirror, and adjusts the resolution appropriately. There are also some great advantages to using extended desktop with a projector too.

rtkrum

I use dual 17s with my home desktop and have a few comments to throw in:

- Make sure you take the time to color-balance your monitors so whites, skin tones, etc. look the same on both. I have an ATI X1950XT and the Catalyst control panel has pretty good color tools that can be adjusted per monitor.

- I don't mind the taskbar on only one monitor...I just use RocketDock on the other monitor at the bottom of the screen so each bit of real estate has a slightly different function (see this image: [www.jcarroll.net]).

- Apps like Google Earth (and also Maps) are very, very fun when stretched across two screens.

onesix18

@mwagner: ScreenRecycler, [www.screenrecycler.com] does exactly that (Uses a secondary machine to extend screen-space on a primary machine, via VNC)
Since it creates a VNC server as a fake-secondary-monitor, then you connect to that server on the other machine - You can theoretically connect as many secondary machines to it, so you could have hundreds of monitors on one.
MaxiVista [www.maxivista.com] does the same on Windows XP, and for Linux/etc I can't recall the name of the application.

dbr

Dual heading is cool. I run two 1600x1200 flat screens here under Linux and the extra screen real estate is invaluable. A typical use for me is having documentation open on one screen while coding on the other screen.

With Linux (which I don't think was mentioned in the original article) you can configure X to either have two displays or one display spread across the two monitors. There's pluses and and minuses for both methods depending on how you tend to work. I like having two separate displays as I use the KDE pager to have half a dozen desktops on each and have random combinations across the two depending on what I'm doing.

TallPaul

I use dual monitors when my lappie is docked. However, when I am on the road, using just the laptop monitor, many apps will "remember" their previous location on the second screen, even if "Extend" is unchecked in the display properties. If that happens to you too, remember the ALT+space key combo to bring up the window context menu. Then use the arrow keys to drive that window back onto the primary monitor.

delgaudm

@mwagner: See a couple of comments above! Just use Synergy.

Another tip I have is also using Synergy, but a little off-topic since it's not multi-monitor:

I have a pretty big widescreen TFT with a PIP (picture in picture) function. So what I do is, I connect my laptop to the screen, set desktop and laptop machines to the same resolution, display them side-by-side on the big TFT using PIP and additionally use Synergy. So now I have both my computers on one screen and can seamlessly move the mouse from one to the other (and thus giving control of mouse and keyboard to the respective machine). The cool thing is that c&p works fine and they supposedly work on drag and drop support for copying files.

rawfan

Is there any way to use a MacBook as a secondary monitor for an iMac?

mwagner

If your video card supports the Horizontal Span setting you can just use that and Windows thinks you only have one monitor, no need for anything else, however I use DisplayFusion and the (freebie) Multimon taskbar and I like it just fine.

odiernod

I already have a nice image that spans my two monitors. I'm on day two of using Leopard's Spaces, and all the additional real estate has my head reeling. It's like going from two monitors to ten. I think it will take some time to figure out the best work process now...

timwayne

Mac version please?

egoldin

An alternative to multiple monitors, if you are using a laptop monitor as your secondary screen, is synergy2. You can simply use one mouse and keyboard on both systems, whether they are windows mac or linux.

[synergy2.sourceforge.net]

DarkJesus

Somewhat unrelated dual-monitor question: I have a laptop docked with a 24" widescreen monitor here at work. Any time I open a .wmv in Windows Media Player, whichever screen the WMP windows isn't on shows the video in maximized full-screen view. It's kind of hard to discreetly watch a clip someone sends me when it's maximized to 24"... is there any way to disable this functionality? (Current solution is pretty low-tech... turn off the monitor and watch the video on the laptop.) Thanks!

canadianco

@britne and anyone else with two computers to span across: I've got two computers at home with the monitors side by side and I use a free program called Synergy. It lets you share a mouse/keyboard across multiple systems, kind of like a software KVM switch, but without the "V". You can't drag windows between systems with this (obviously), but it does merge the clipboards for cutting/pasting.

ImpactVector

Ever a sucker for a freebie, I tried working with Multi Mon before switching to UltraMon. I found that MM seemed to conflict with some apps, though I can't remember which ones anymore.

The only problem I've had with UltraMon is getting my employer to spring for it!

CrispyShot

I'm wrestling with how to apply various pretty pictures (lots from Digital Blasphemy!) as screen savers. I'm running two LCD's at 1280 x 1024. No, I don't need them to save the screen but since I have a squillion things going on, I never see the wallpaper underneath. Windows Desktop settings will display the right size image tiled across both monitors. But the screen saver won't. Any ideas short of plunking out (yet another $40) for UltraMon?

BigJim45

Anyone has an idea which tool to use to be able to watch movies (vlc) spanned across 2 screens?
I believe I could do that in the past, but I have no idea how to achieve this again.

schoash

@MrPages: I've only started experimenting with it (so UltraMon lovers, correct me if I'm wrong), but you can set up multiple display profiles and switch between them with UltraMon. So you can have 1 profile for 2 monitors when the external's connected, and 1 for when it's not and switch between them easily.

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor

Some great tips here for wallpapers but the problem I have is with the resolution mismatches for the entire system. I'm using an NVidia card and Nview desktop manager but it only lets me choose one resolution across both monitors. Since one is a 20" widescreen and the other is a normal 17" this makes for some weird stretching on one screen or the other.
Anyone know how to set each monitor to its proper max resolution and still stretch the desktop across both without one having to be distorted?

jtheletter

A very easy way to add additional monitors to your PC is with a DisplayLink USB dongle, like one of these: [sewelldirect.com]

The guys at Sewell managed to get 5 working on one PC over USB!

warpzero

Has anybody come across a possibility to use my external monitor with my g4 14 inch ibook under Leopard? I used to have a small program but that as well as all other applications (screen enhancer, etc.) seem to be rendered ineffective with the advent of Mac OS X 10.5. :(

Harald

How do you folks deal with the problem of switching between single and dual monitors all the time?

I'm with Jason. Switching between single and dual monitors is a big pain in re-setup each time. Does Ultramon do a better job at detecting your status and acting appropriately?

MrPages

I use my 24" imac monitor for watching movies, and have a little 17" monitor so I can keep an eye on my chats...

Naomi

I'll kick in one more vote for Ultramon. It is worth every penny. As icing I am running the excellent MaxiVista right along side it without a hitch. Good code all the way around.

wshackne

Hey we included that link in the post! :)

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor

@kbulfin: Thanks for the link. You are correct, that particular article is for XP only.

The How-To Geek

I found that the tutorial at How-To Geek was very helpful.

[www.howtogeek.com]

I is very much XP related and not Vista. I am two screens at work and there is no way to install anything.

kbulfin

@Jason:

The basic windows display properties lets you choose which is the primary and secondary and lets you swap the left and right by dragging them around.

enine

Ultramon hands down. The stretchable taskbar is indespensible.

I have one 23 inch and a 17inch. I use the smaller one for gtalk, yahoo widgets, notepad and when I'm using photoshop I put all the toolboxes over there.

The bigger monitor is widescreen so I keep my FF tabs vertical and have a sidebar usually open.

parjoe

USB monitors -- no dual-output card needed:

If you just want more screen real estate for word processing/email/spreadsheets, I've read about these new-ish USB monitors from Samsung: Samsung SyncMaster 940UX
[www.xbitlabs.com]

They have a built in (mediocre) video processor. Don't expect great performance for movies, games, CAD, etc.

steve_in_nyc

this couldn't have come at a better time. I've had 2 monitors for awhile, stumbled upon ultramon and am really digging it.

I know have the resources for 3 monitors and am feeling a little greedy. does anyone know how to set 3 monitors up?

mw2006

Actually, if you have an Nvidia card there is an option for the wallpaper thing in the menu.

Most of all, I recommend UltraMon -> MUST have for dualmonitor users. Does the wallpaper thing,can save your icon positions on the screen, and much more.

TrayIt is also a nice program that let's you minimize any program to the system tray. Nice for those programs you always leave running.

bojoe

To add to what Worf said: Open your gigantic JPEG in your browser or the windows picture viewer if it's a BMP, right click and select 'set as wallpaper.' It will split it at first, but then open your video properties and set the background to tile. This is probably the "lowest tech" way to do this.

FriarJohn

I think more of what they meant is having one image span both laptops, etc.

GrinnDaddy

Nice trick with putting Google Cal on the desktop. I use Outlook on the Desktop to do the same with Outlook.

sumocat

@emax4:

You do know that iMacs, MacBooks, MacBook Pros, Powerbooks and iBooks have DVI (or VGA in the case of older models) ports right? No need to add an extra card. The only limitation I'm aware of was on some of the early early G4/late G3 iBooks that could only do mirroring on not extended.

conigs

I'll also cast my vote for UltraMon. The Smart Taskbar and Window Move buttons are by far the features I find most useful. With different size monitors (17" and 21") it has no problem setting up different wallpapers or resizing moved windows to fit the other screen. Well worth the $40.

JayDeEm

My biggest multimonitor headache is one I have with my work laptop setup. Specifically I have my laptop to the left and my external monitor on the right, but the default in the Intel Graphics Adapter software that Dell uses to manage monitor selection and loayout has the laptop on the right and monitor left.

Wha this means (unless someone out there has a fix they can share!) is that whenever I have undocked and used my laptop without a monitor, then return to the office and hook up the external, I have to re-enable the "Extended Desktop" to span both monitors. But when I do it always defaults to the laptop being primary and being on the right. I have to go back into the properties, make the monitor primary, and drag it to the right.

Seems like there would be a way to save this configuration, but I don't know where. Short of writing a AHK script to do it is there any built-in way to save my layout and configuration?

Jason

If you want multimonitor wallpapers, and have an nVidia card, the nVidia display driver can do it for you.

But if you can't, as long as you can make a LARGE bitmap, here's what you do:

Create a bitmap as tall as the vertical resolution, and as wide as the horizontal resolution all summed together (i.e., if you have 1280x1024 monitors stacked vertically, your bitmap is going to be 1280x2048, if they're horizontally placed, it's 2560x1024).

Now, take the resolution of your primary monitor, and put the first wallpaper from the top left edge. If they're vertically stacked, the wallpaper for your secondary monitor will start at the bottom of the first, if they're horizontally, then the secondary will be to the right.

(This applies even if the secondary monitor is to the LEFT of the primary - Windows will use extra wide/tall bitmaps starting from the primary and work down/up as appropriate.).

Save the bitmap, and enjoy.

Worf

I forgot to point out that multiple-monitors can primarily be used for desktop systems. This is, full towers where you can access the motherboard/logic board and add another video card to it. I believe that Flat-panel iMacs don't have this capability, as the space inside is too narrow.

If you have a regular desktop or tower model with 5 empty PCI slots and an AGP slot, you can get 5 PCI video cards and one AGP card (if you're not already using it for your existing video card), then get 5 extra monitors (plus your existing monitor) and have 6 desktop screens. That's a BIG desktop!

emax4

@emax4: MacBook Pro's have DVI out, so I use that to connect my Dell widescreen to it. But it doesn't just mirror the video (though it can), it also extends the desktop.

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor

You can accomplish multiple monitors on a Mac (have been for years), but ou can't hook up an iMac to a laptop for dual monitor usage though. Check some Mac sites for the availability on the iMacs and laptops. I did a tutorial for hooking up multiple monitors on a Mac a while ago (plug: www.macinstruct.com), but I stated that you need an extra video card to do it. Some users who had a laptop, iMac or eMac questioned me on how to do it with theirs, but I don't think they realized that their Macs need an extra slot on the logic board to accommodate another video card.

I think with laptops, you can use a special plug for another monitor, but instead of giving you more desktop real estate, all it does is mirror the video from the computer.

emax4

I envision an iMac coupled with my MacBook in the near future... any hope for a how-to Mac version?

britne

I find ultramon covers all my multi monitor needs.

urbanride

@TheGreatNico: Ah, the old Active Desktop chestnut! Great tip.

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor

You can do all of this with Nvidia's "Nview Desktop manager" You Just have to Enable it and 11 tabs of settings :)

Ryoko

There is a very easy way to get multiple wallpapers on your windows desktops: rt-click on the desktop>properties>desktop
click the 'Customize Desktop' button go to the 'Web' tab
hit the 'New' button, the browse for whatever you want to use as your second desktop background. This works for as many monitors as you need, I have four.

TheGreatNico

I'm using a work provided laptop with dual monitors so that means no real software, stuck with XP and IE. is there any way to make XP use dual monitors properly. Like when you have a browser window open on one monitor and it pops up a dialog on the other, IMHO is should pop up the dialog in front of where I'm looking. or when you resume from suspend or hibernate and it decides to only use one or the other, how do I make it always resume with both?

enine

UltraMon ([www.realtimesoft.com]) is definitely the way to go to manage multiple monitors, despite the $40 price tag.

iniquitor

Do you guys have suggestions for "Managing windows" on OSX? I've been looking for a while for utilities to tile windows on my LCD (24") and the MBP's screen (extended) but with no luck so far.

caccamo

Active Desktop on XP is pretty excellent for monitoring CCTV from network cameras. At work I have two 20" TFTs with an active desktop on the right displaying a simple webpage I wrote. This displays the mjpeg streaming applets from my Axis network cameras (with a nice wallpaper in the background too) in the bottom right corner. Its very neat. Each Axis applet takes 5% of the CPU on my Athlon 3200+. I tried a D-Link camera once, and it wanted 20%.

sein

@nichesoftware: Thanks for the tip, turns out it was a setting in the Nvidia software... their desktop management software has a tab labeled "Zoom" and another dialog box buried under that called "Full Screen Video Zoom..." I was able to disable that "feature" and now can watch time-wasting interweb videos like a normal person again. Thanks!

canadianco

Some quick notes:

-Beware, some fullscreen programs/games do not limit the mouse to one monitor when in use and clicking outside can minimize the program-- which depending on the program might make it crash or make it become unrecoverable. I'd suggest disabling the monitor or finding a program to limit the mouse movement, otherwise it could be a nightmare.

-The Ultramon 3.0 beta supports Vista and WindowBlinds 5 skins, so you can have functionality AND style without compromise. You can also add the Samurize toolbar client to the Ultramon taskbar to add a system clock or other info.

-The Samurize PluginPak has a NoteTaker plugin which is a fully featured text editor which can be added to a config-- It supports fonts, alignment, bullets, colors, URLs, and other formatting. Its a much more elegant solution and its great deal more functional then the static overlay of a txt file.

-Samurize is a great tool with a high learning curve, but its beyond useful when used correctly.

JHusar

@canadianco: Having a WMV file automatically fill the screen is a glitch that I've seen before on a colleagues laptop at work. Turned out to be a "feature" of the Video chipset - NVidea, if I recall, but worth looking for the option anyway.

nichesoftware

@Jason: Here's one solution for your laptop "forgetting" the layout of your monitors when you come back after working elsewhere: Set up multiple hardware profiles

This is what I've done on my laptop - under the System Control panel, I created two hardware profiles: "Docked" and "Undocked".

When I'm using the laptop at work, in my docking station, I choose "Docked" from the bootup screen and both my screens come up, arranged as I prefer (*).

When I'm using the laptop at home, say, on the coffee table, I choose "Undocked" from the bootup screen and use the built in display no worries.

Because the monitor settings are stored in the hardware profile, I have no (zero) configuration to do when I switch from one to the other. Well, unless I choose the wrong hardware profile, but that's not a software problem. :-)

(*) I have two 19" LCD screens set up, one landscape and one portrait. Works great, as some applications (Word, Excel, Visual Studio) suit a wider screen, and others (Help files, Adobe Reader, Outlook) suit a taller screen.

nichesoftware

ohhh use synergy, one of the best little apps ever! will save so much space if done write.

(make sure you configure the mouse to return to the master screen, if not shut down the app on the second machine)

jedinight37

I run 6 monitors, mostly to run network monitoring apps, but still looks nice. I am running 3 dual DVI output Nvidia pci cards, that keep up okay. 2 32" lcds on top of 4 18" lcds. it works out okay with the standard nvidia manager. cannot complain at all. At home I run 4 lcds off nvidia quadro fx sli. looks so much better. I can have counter strike on one screen and watch amovie on the other with no lag. But my issue with both set ups is Yahoo widgets, when ever i open an app that launchs into full screen, they move all over (sometimes off screen) then you have to manually set them back into the place you like. any ideas?

jedinight37

I would like to talk about my dual monitor setup on Linux. Linux give me total freedom of setting up my dual monitor desktop. Basically, I can use nVidia Twinview, xinerama to fulfill what Windows people can do.

However after years of using this kind of dualview setup. I realize a big problem. When an application window or taskbar (or a dock) across both monitors, it is horribly ugly.

Another issue I had is that it takes too much finger/hand movement to move cursor from one monitor to another, especially when I am using a trackball.

I have two monitor in similar size, the looking will be very weired if you have monitors different in size.

So, I experimented and I am running another kind of dual monitor setup. I am running TWO Window Manager on each monitor(screen). On my main screen, I run a Windows-like WM, such as KDE; on my other monitor, I would rather run a TILING WM, such as DWM, Ion3, Wmii, etc..

This kind of setup made my work more efficient. I can take advantages of both graphic intense interface (KDE) and simplicity of DWM. Many console based (text based) applications are actually much better than their pars with fancy graphic interface. For an example, I would rather use VIM to write a document than use OpenOffice. When using an application like OpenOffice, I have to shift my hands between keyboard and mouse/trackball. This is not efficent at all!

Here is a screenshot of what I mean.

phabulosa

If you have a laptop with VGA and DVI outputs, can you hook up two external monitors for 3 displays?

TeddyO18

UltraMon. Period. It's also got a generous licensing policy.

dataguy

Is there any way to extend the taskbar without downloading something?

Iron

Here's a helpful trick I learned when creating your own dual-monitor wallpaper using the method Worf mentioned above: Start out by maximizing a window in each monitor, then take a screen shot (using the Print Screen key). Then paste this image into your favorite image editing software. You now can see exactly where each monitor's viewing area is on the wallpaper. This is particularly useful if your monitors aren't at the same resolution.

Robert J. Walker

I must recommend the freeware "John's Background Switcher" over the Display Fusion. I reviewed the latter but I currently use the former because it has more options: randomizing pictures, more network options and more local PC selection options (calendar display, search folders recursively). Flickr integration of course is included.

Freeware, .NET runtime (Windows only), version 3.1.x stable.

The question though is why one should spend so much time on the desktop picture? "Your Desktop is Not a Destination"

piyo

Is there any way to send a window to another monitor, on a Mac with dual display?

nemone

any tips for mac?
I use 2 monitors on my macbook pro, is there any way to have an hotkey to move windows from one monitor to another?
tks

nemone

I have have dual 17" monitors for about two years now and I don't know how I ever did anything without them.

I have a dual VGA [I know] out video card going to mine, and i've used UltraMon since they day I got them. I have Trillian stuck to the far right of the right monitor, and Winamp stuck to the top with the MMD3 skin. I have my chat windows all the same specific size in the right window, and usually windows explorer open above them.

The left monitor is used for browsing. Occationally when I need a browser and Photoshop or another program, i'll pop the browser over to the right monitor.

dj-anakin