From: ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid   
      
   On Sun, 02 Jun 2013, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in article   
   , TJ wrote:   
      
   >Mageia's MCC has a setting to "enable duplicate display on second   
   >monitor" much as Mandriva did, but the way I see it, that's of little   
   >utility. If I were to be running a second monitor, I'd like one   
   >desktop on one and a completely different desktop on the other. And   
   >I'd like the mouse and keyboard to seamlessly know which one I wanted   
   >to use as I switched back and forth. Probably easier just to use two   
   >computers.   
      
   The way I got acquainted with multi-headed operation was in X in SunOS   
   4.1.x - they'd stick a second video card into the box, and there was   
   a relatively simple setup beyond that. You told it which monitor was   
   left or right,  and it was as if you had extra workspaces on your   
   desktop to play with.  Which one you were typing in depended on where   
   you moved the mouse cursor - it seamlessly transitioned from extreme   
   left of the left monitor to extreme right of the right one as if it   
   were one giant display, but the left (desktop) remained on the left,   
   and the right on the right - independent.  Normally, there was a   
   hi-res (maybe 19" 1152 x 900 B/W) and a color (19 or 21" 1024 x 768   
   was not uncommon). This was normally a setup where someone was doing   
   higher resolution graphics (such as mechanical or electrical drafting)   
   as one job, and the ordinary text based tasks in the other monitor at   
   the same time.  Quite useful - I use something like that even today.   
      
   [fermi ~]$ who | grep -c pts   
   17   
   [fermi ~]$   
      
   There are 17 terminals on 6 workspaces on this desktop. Same idea.   
      
   >But I didn't have that in mind, anyway. I haven't been that kind of   
   >a power user in many, many years. I just thought a $20 backup monitor   
   >was a good idea, with the TV part being a nice plus.   
      
   Agree - three of the five monitors in my computer room are used.   
      
   >Right now, I have the TV set on a shelf above my computer monitor,   
   >so that I can glance up at it and distract myself from my work.   
      
   Only do that during football season   
      
   >Unfortunately, the stand doesn't allow tilting, and the good viewing   
   >angle is rather narrow. So for now, I have a book sitting under the   
   >back of the stand, tilting the TV so it's watchable from my chair.   
   >It has a mount for a VESA stand, so I suppose I should really get   
   >one - or build one - before the cat knocks it over.   
      
   The latter was a problem with our first flat-screen. The cat decided   
   that the monitor was in HER space, and "moved it" out of the way   
   (luckily, onto the chair rather than the floor).  I wound up looping   
   a piece of nylon weed-whacker cord through the vents on the rear, and   
   using a bungee cord to hold the monitor in place.   
      
           Old guy   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)