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monitor spanning question

slipper

slipper

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 19, 2003
1,563
44
Not to familiar with monitor spanning, can someone please explain?

I know there are two different types of spanning, on eway would be like having two different desktops and the other would be like having a huge desktop. am i correct? and how exactly does this work?
 
slipper said:
Not to familiar with monitor spanning, can someone please explain?

I know there are two different types of spanning, on eway would be like having two different desktops and the other would be like having a huge desktop. am i correct? and how exactly does this work?
Click to expand...

Apple deactivates screen or monitor spanning on the iBook, iMac, and eMac lines to separate its feature set and justify cost for the consumer line and power user line.

However I know many people who have used the screen spanning hack for the iBook, eMac, and iMac systems (just google screen spanning hack).

It allows a users to use dual displays so you can have an extended desktop and have more workable screen space.

Some people say its dangerous to the GPU however the GPU already support this option and Apple disables it.

With the eMac, iBook, and iMac if you do use this hack it will void your warranty.

At present all you can do without the hack is a mirror meaning what you see on your iBook, eMac, or iMac screen is exactly what you will see on an external screen for presentation, etc... This links is made via VGA or S-Video.

Be careful that the screen spanning hack is safe however there is another its called the "clam-shell mode" for iBooks if you leave your notebook unattended for long periods of time it will over heat the system and might cause damage beyond repair "claim-shell mode" is the only mode you have to be careful with. :)
 
um well...

m a y a said:
Apple deactivates screen or monitor spanning on the iBook, iMac, and eMac lines to separate its feature set and justify cost for the consumer line and power user line.

However I know many people who have used the screen spanning hack for the iBook, eMac, and iMac systems (just google screen spanning hack).

It allows a users to use dual displays so you can have an extended desktop and have more workable screen space.

Some people say its dangerous to the GPU however the GPU already support this option and Apple disables it.

With the eMac, iBook, and iMac if you do use this hack it will void your warranty.

At present all you can do without the hack is a mirror meaning what you see on your iBook, eMac, or iMac screen is exactly what you will see on an external screen for presentation, etc... This links is made via VGA or S-Video.

Be careful that the screen spanning hack is safe however there is another its called the "clam-shell mode" for iBooks if you leave your notebook unattended for long periods of time it will over heat the system and might cause damage beyond repair "claim-shell mode" is the only mode you have to be careful with. :)
Click to expand...
All of that is true but he never said he had an emac, iBook, or, iMac. He might vary well have a powerbook or powermac, Its not that important but I didn't want him to have the wrong impresion that all macs have this feature disabled. Anyways the only two modes I know of are mirror wich just makes the same thing appear on both screens, and then there is non-mirror wich is spaning so you have one huge desktop, you can expan it an way you want. In other words you could either an extra tall destop or an extra fat desktop or, in any way you want. As for having to seperate desktops that are different from achother I dont think you can do that. :)
 
Different desktops? yes with spanning (because you can adjust every monitor to the resulotion and other options) no with Mirroring, because as the name says, it mirrors a similar singla to multiple monitors, so same resolution, same desktop same everything...

all mac is the e- i- series only have as standard mirroring (there schould be a working hack available for spanning somewhere I was told...)
all the Power- series do standard have mirroring & screenspanning as option...

J
 
m a y a said:
With the eMac, iBook, and iMac if you do use this hack it will void your warranty.
Click to expand...
It's a software hack. Are you sure it voids warranty? That's like saying that by using Transparent Dock you are voiding any OS X support that Apple should provide.
 
edesignuk said:
It's a software hack. Are you sure it voids warranty? That's like saying that by using Transparent Dock you are voiding any OS X support that Apple should provide.
Click to expand...
just reinstall OSX before bringin it in at apple, and remove anything you installed as hardware after purchase, so what they don't see they don't need to know :p

and in my case it takes much longer than the apple warranty before anything goes wrong... and I fix it myself most of the times when I can...

J
 
Jo-Kun said:
well it seems you'll be on the same road as I am with my Pioneer drive :p warranty void...
Click to expand...
Half the story. All you need to do is zap the NVRAM to revert to factory settings, ergo, warranty intact.
 
I have a g4 iBook and have been tempted by this hack for a month or two now but when it comes down to it, I just don't have to balls to do it (voiding the warranty)... how hard is it to reset the firmware if I ever chose to get rid of the hack? Is it as simple as just formatting and reinstalling osx? If someone can let me know what needs to be done to reset my laptop to a state where it would be like the hack was never applied it would greatly appreciated...
Thanks!

PS - If the answer is to "flash" something please keep in mind I only have a slight idea as to what that entails....
 
JonHimself said:
PS - If the answer is to "flash" something please keep in mind I only have a slight idea as to what that entails....
Click to expand...

There's a "non-volatile" flash rom chip inside the computer -- kinda like a compact flash or SDRAM card that goes in a digital camera -- that holds some information that is loosely a mix of programs that are used right at the beginning to get the computer working, when you turn it on, and preference type of info related to these programs. This information can be modified, but it is persistent when the computer is turned off, unlike RAM.

I believe there is another ROM chip (or a portion of the same chip), which has a copy of what is in this "flash" ROM chip, as well as other stuff, but this ROM chip is not "flashable" -- you can not change its contents.

The "flashing" basically means...to enable the hack, you use a program to write part of the flash ROM to different values that tell the graphics card to allow spanning. To get rid of the hack, you tell the computer to copy over the flash ROM from the permanent ROM back to its original value. You do this by holding some keys on startup. Not too hard.... In principle, things could get so messed up that even this function is not possible, or some damage is done that prevents the computer from working correctly even after this is done.... That's the risk you take.

Running software and voiding the warranty is sort of like operating a car. You expect the car to work properly when you use it properly. But, for instance, if you drive a car in second gear constantly and keep the engine near the redline for hours at a time, the damage you cause may not be covered by your warranty... If you were, say, for the sake of argument, to run a program that disabled your computer's fan and ran the CPU and the HD as hard as it could, and it caused your motherboard to melt, well.... :D

But there are few reports of anything like that happening with the spanning hack....
 
mkrishnan said:
But there are few reports of anything like that happening with the spanning hack....
Click to expand...

And that's exactly where the problem lies... I haven't seen anything terrible happen (aside from people running the iBook closed) but I just keep thinking I'll be that one guy... but other than that, thanks for the reply!
 
JonHimself said:
I have a g4 iBook and have been tempted by this hack for a month or two now but when it comes down to it, I just don't have to balls to do it (voiding the warranty)...
Click to expand...
As noted, it does not void the warranty. You aren't changing any hardware and it's easily reversible. The only people that had issues were those with older graphics chips. Like the original white iBooks' 8MB ATI. You are safe.

how hard is it to reset the firmware if I ever chose to get rid of the hack? Is it as simple as just formatting and reinstalling osx?
Click to expand...
Not even that hard. Easily undone, not detectable. Doesn't hurt current iBooks, iMacs, eMacs, etc.
 
JonHimself said:
And that's exactly where the problem lies... I haven't seen anything terrible happen (aside from people running the iBook closed) but I just keep thinking I'll be that one guy... but other than that, thanks for the reply!
Click to expand...

Oh, I know *exactly* what you mean. My first, and last, dedicated PDA was a Palm III that I dropped on the fourth or fifth day after I bought it, cracking the screen and effectively destroying it. *cries* Well, my second PDA device was my Nokia 3650 and it and I are still happy together. :)

As far as the hack goes, I don't use it mostly because I don't often sit with my iBook anywhere where there is a monitor to be plugged in to, but.....
 
Yeah neither do I... but just knowing that it IS an option is what tempts me. I would probably use it a few times and then just forget about it...
 
I use it on my iBook and it has been working fine for the last year. I couldn't do without it at work as 800x600 resolution on a 17" TFT looks crap and the hack allows you to display at higher resolutions too. The extra screen space is handy too.
 
What kind of resolution are we talking about here? Cause I'm at 1024x768 and I would like more because I'm used to having it higher on my PC... and yeah, the screen space is nice
 
Platform said:
Does anyone know if it will work on the Rev B :confused:
Click to expand...

People I've asked about that have said that there's no reason why it shouldn't.. but I'm holding off till I can get someone to confirm that it works. Hopefully won't be long ;)
 
I've used the 'hack' on my iMac for about 18 months now, and can report not a single problem. When I first installed it, I tried out the "remover" that came with the installer, and that seemed to work fine.

One thing that you should watch out for is your video ram, the hack will split the available memory between two screens, which could cause some graphics slowdowns. In my case, expose starts to get a little choppy, and for more recent games (a rarity for me) I need to unplug my second monitor to get better framerates.
 
Angrist said:
I've used the 'hack' on my iMac for about 18 months now, and can report not a single problem. When I first installed it, I tried out the "remover" that came with the installer, and that seemed to work fine.

One thing that you should watch out for is your video ram, the hack will split the available memory between two screens, which could cause some graphics slowdowns. In my case, expose starts to get a little choppy, and for more recent games (a rarity for me) I need to unplug my second monitor to get better framerates.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I should have been more specific, I was waiting to see if the hack worked on the NEW iMacs with the Radeon 9600.

As for the splitting of VRAM between monitors that's always the case when using dual monitors even when it's supported (eg PowerBook or PowerMac). When playing WoW I usually put the PowerBook into clam shell mode so the external gets all the VRAM. I guess it's probably not possible to shut down the iMacs main screen without shutting down the computer as a whole.. hmm.
 
Angrist said:
I've used the 'hack' on my iMac for about 18 months now, and can report not a single problem. When I first installed it, I tried out the "remover" that came with the installer, and that seemed to work fine.

One thing that you should watch out for is your video ram, the hack will split the available memory between two screens, which could cause some graphics slowdowns. In my case, expose starts to get a little choppy, and for more recent games (a rarity for me) I need to unplug my second monitor to get better framerates.
Click to expand...

Yes I know that but I was wondering if apple had changed the firmware on the Rev B ;)
 
Angrist said:
I've used the 'hack' on my iMac for about 18 months now, and can report not a single problem. When I first installed it, I tried out the "remover" that came with the installer, and that seemed to work fine.

One thing that you should watch out for is your video ram, the hack will split the available memory between two screens, which could cause some graphics slowdowns. In my case, expose starts to get a little choppy, and for more recent games (a rarity for me) I need to unplug my second monitor to get better framerates.
Click to expand...

Yes I know that but I was wondering if apple had changed the firmware on the Rev B ;)

Edit: sorry for doubble post :(
 
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