Is it possible to disable a secondary display?

[jroad]

Hi,

I have a multiple display setup and am experiencing a software conflict because of this. If I unplug the display, the conflict goes away.

Is there a way to temporarily disable the display through software? In Windows, this can be done easily through Display settings, but I am unsure how to do this in OS X.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[zakatov]

Off the top of my head (used multiple displays before, but not at the moment) it can't be just disabled if the second monitor is plugged in. A 3rd party app may do something similar to what you want.

[disconap]

Before going through a bunch of new installs and the like, try setting the displays to "mirror" and then just turn off the second monitor, that might work...

[jroad]

Off the top of my head (used multiple displays before, but not at the moment) it can't be just disabled if the second monitor is plugged in. A 3rd party app may do something similar to what you want.

I would be happy with an app or even a way to do it through the terminal, but so far I haven't found anything.

Before going through a bunch of new installs and the like, try setting the displays to "mirror" and then just turn off the second monitor, that might work...

Interesting idea. I tried it but the conflict still arose.

I'm really suprised this is not a readily available feature of the OS. Are Mac notebooks not able to shut the screen off? Perhaps there is a button to do so...

In any case, any other ideas or suggestions appreciated.

[disconap]

Some more specifics might help (like OS version, hardware set-up, application, and details of the conflict)...

[jroad]

Some more specifics might help (like OS version, hardware set-up, application, and details of the conflict)...

Well, I initially left these details out to focus this thread on the action of enabling/disabling a display through the OS or an application. However, it seems that such a feature is not immediately obvious to myself or others I have asked.

My hardware is a Mac Pro running 3 displays with an ATI 1900xt & a Nvidia 7300gt card, the app is Motion 2. The ATI in pcie 1, Nvidia in pcie 4. 2 Displays connected to the ATI, 1 to the Nvidia. I have previously posted some of the issues I have encountered with such a setup in OS X and XP both here and at the apple discussions forum.

Motion 2 will not work properly on the displays attached to the ATI card, only the one connected to the Nvidia card. I can only get Motion 2 to work on the ATI connected displays if I unplug the cable to the Nvidia connected display. I have reported this problem to Applecare and they said it was a known issue, with no indication if this would ever be fixed.

I find it disappointing that such a conflict exists since Apple controls both the hardware and software. The requirements for Motion 2 do not mention this issue.

So, as an alternative to unplugging my display cable constantly or being forced to use Motion on the lesser card in my system, I seek a way to hide or disable the display to eliminate the conflict.

[simie]

As Motion is a Pro application and your problem is known, I would have thought that they would address this issue.

My other point being that both the Nvidia and Ati PCIE cards are supplied by Apple and not a third party, then they should address this problem.

[disconap]

Well, if it is a known issue, then either they are working on fixing it or it won't be an issue in the next release (but they should still patch the software).

I might suggest picking up a cheap monitor splitter box, as switching the monitors to a different channel will sever the link and the computer won't identify the monitor. However, with some ATI cards, the presence of a chord in the output will generally identify that channel as used (this is a cheap workaround when flashing ATI and Nvidia cards). I suggest posting at strangedogs and see if anyone there has a solution or can suggest anything...