Ok..here is what I have...my Compaq Presario and my G5....here is what I want to do...I want to set up with a Y ...two monitors for my Compaq...one for me to see and one for my guests...dual keyboards and mice would be nice here too.. or I can position this and pass the keyboard and mouse back and forth between the two monitors and persons..I'll no doubt get a wireless keyboard and mouse for this station too.......now for my G5 I have dual monitor capability built in..I believe this also means I can run the two processors independently and work with two differant projects at the same time or switch at random from one to the other etc..web surf..on one ...down load or build with the other etc..play a DVD..whatever...now with the Apple I would like to have two each(monitors) for each half of this computer...two for me and two for my guests...thats six monitors in funchion...two for my Compaq and four for my G5...now in addition to this I want to Y from one or both (preferably both)...I want to Y into my projector and shoot about a six foot image onto its screen...so if everything was running at once...the screen shot would be going on...the two monitors from my G5 would be working in front of me...and...my guests would have views of both from there sitting position as well as the screen on the wall... I have the Bluetooth Keyboard and mouse for the G5 so it can be passed around or two can be purchased of each...in addition to this my Compaq would be running from its position..with its two monitors and doing its own thing...now most of the time it will be just me...switching from time to time from one to another in this work station and the kids playing or working on one or another of the computers and probably another connected computer of there own...it sounds at first like some kind of a wild colaboration of some kind... at first... but when you break it down its just a funchional viewing and work station....I got this idea the first time I saw a projector and laptop presentation at a (web development) overview class, here at the Vo-Tech in Detroit Lakes. Electricity is a bit of a problem but not the amount of electricty, that is not a problem...most of the time I will be using only one or two of these monitors at a time...the wiring in my trailer house is old and finding the right lines and outputs is a bit of a problem but solvable I think...my studio of course is being integrated into all this...I have a APC UPS BR 1500 875 Watt Backup for my G5 so that base is covered...is this going to work... and what should I be doing...please...thanks for your's help's, Tom
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Questions...how do I set up dual monitors etc...
- Thread starter TheBunnellFarm
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
OK, that's a pretty complicated set of questions, but I wanted to clarify something for you: the G5 does have two processors, but they aren't "two computers" the way you see them - they are more like two halves of the brain. Each app runs on one of them (some apps will use both, but not many apps, and you might have multiple apps running on each, and apps can switch between processors - but none of this is under your control). It's more like how thoughts flicker from side to side in your brain - not a perfect analogy, but close enough.
You can hook up four monitors if you buy one or two additional graphics cards, but, by default, you can only hook up two. You can tell the Mac in System Preferences...->Displays->Arrangement if you want to mirror the two displays (i.e., show the same thing on both). I'm not sure how it works with mirroring if you have more than two displays connected.
Someone with more multi-monitor experience will need to answer the rest of your questions.
You can hook up four monitors if you buy one or two additional graphics cards, but, by default, you can only hook up two. You can tell the Mac in System Preferences...->Displays->Arrangement if you want to mirror the two displays (i.e., show the same thing on both). I'm not sure how it works with mirroring if you have more than two displays connected.
Someone with more multi-monitor experience will need to answer the rest of your questions.
One other thing: as far as I know, you can't pair more than one Bluetooth keyboard or mouse with a given Mac (or PC). I think you can have a BT and wired mouse and keyboard at the same time, but not two BT ones (again, as far as I know).
All that you want to do is never gonna happen. You need more machines. I don't even know where to start on what's wrong with this "plan".
Well, it isn't actually impossible, if I understand it correctly (which I doubt).edesignuk said:
You can buy VGA and DVI splitters (Google "VGA splitter" and "DVI splitter"), which aren't cheap, and use those to literally display the same thing on multiple monitors. You can use a KVM to switch between KBs and mice. I think it's all feasible, but it sounds like it would be a jumbled mess.
That was what i was thinking, Best bet is to use a very large KVM switch to switch keyboards and monitors and mice... THat is about all i can understand and compute from that whole mess!edesignuk said:
kyle
TheBunnellFarm said:
Um, no no no. Your G5 has two processors, not two computers built into it. The dual display is either mirror (both displaying the same thing) or spanning (both monitors are one canvas and is one long desktop). You can not set you Mac up to have two people working at it with two mouses and keyboards with each person having their own desktops on two monitors doing their own things. (I really can tell what the hell you are doing so I'm guessing you want everyone to have the ability to do their own work on their own desktop.) Only one person can be logged physically to a computer and using the desktop at one time. You could set up a person to remote into the box but that would be pointless because you would need two computers which is what you are trying to do with just one.
And if this is not what you are saying, I could not follow you because you...use...to many of these.... and you don't seem.... to finish a thought....nor convey your ideas.....in a way for someone.....to follow.
Exactly, (for the bits that can be done) it's gonna very very complicated, and very expensive to get all the various adapters, switches, splitters etc. Can you imagine the nightmare trying to fault find when something goes wrong? 😱jsw said:
Maybe it's not as bad as it seems. But that post is a jumbled mess itself and makes it very hard to understand just what it is he/she wants.
4 screens will be no real problem as long as you add enough graphic cards... I'm not sure if you can a screen spanning on 2 and mirror that on the other two...(I guess the options will be: screenspanning over 4 screens or 4 times mirroring) go for 4 equal monitors so resolution will be equal on all of them.
you want to add a 5th screen (projector) on the G5... well another videocard should overcome that...
I guess this will be a difficult setup, and most likely will not work the way it should be.
I have another Idea... there are devices wich can clone an image to multiple screens (hardware not trough macos) so you get screenspanning over the two main monitors & the projector & you 'clone' the image of the two main monitors to its counterparts across the desk, because I'm pretty sure macos will not allow you to do both screenspanning & mirroring at the same time...
and dualprocessor doesn't mean that they work independent, the data is devided by both so each can do its part of the whole process at hand... I guess you need enough ram so all the tasks can work together without getting in each others way...
I hope this helps a bit because I was kind of confused by your question and since you wrote the whole text in one block its harder to read... I hope the things you explain to your clients is less chaotic and have a better overview 😉
you want to add a 5th screen (projector) on the G5... well another videocard should overcome that...
I guess this will be a difficult setup, and most likely will not work the way it should be.
I have another Idea... there are devices wich can clone an image to multiple screens (hardware not trough macos) so you get screenspanning over the two main monitors & the projector & you 'clone' the image of the two main monitors to its counterparts across the desk, because I'm pretty sure macos will not allow you to do both screenspanning & mirroring at the same time...
and dualprocessor doesn't mean that they work independent, the data is devided by both so each can do its part of the whole process at hand... I guess you need enough ram so all the tasks can work together without getting in each others way...
I hope this helps a bit because I was kind of confused by your question and since you wrote the whole text in one block its harder to read... I hope the things you explain to your clients is less chaotic and have a better overview 😉
hmm every body beat me to answer 😛 hahaha thats why you'll get a lot of similar responses
and indeed 2 users on one computer will not work (except if you buy an empty G5 and add two mac mini's in there you'll get 2 in 1)
the monitorthing will work (and be expensive as posted by others)
the easiest way will be two sets of computers in a network so you can work with the same data but work independently 😉
and indeed 2 users on one computer will not work (except if you buy an empty G5 and add two mac mini's in there you'll get 2 in 1)
the monitorthing will work (and be expensive as posted by others)
the easiest way will be two sets of computers in a network so you can work with the same data but work independently 😉
ok..I'll try to unconfuse this some...first ..the extra keyboards and mice..throw them away...they were just for convience...two people are not working at the same time on one computer...so no mice and keyboard problems...now the dual monitors...apparently the dual monitor funchion built into my G5 does not work like I thought it did...so cancel this...now back to square one and separetly....my G5 with a simple Y converting the image to two monitors and my Compaq doing the same thing...do I need to unhook in order to use my projector on one or the other to use the projector as the monitor..or could it be run from one of the Y's...thanks..
Let me see if I've got this straight. You want...TheBunnellFarm said:
- A dual G5 with dual screens + projector
- A PC with dual screens
those...post...s*ck...on...readability...
I have just a minor thing to add to the list of possible solutions to the 'problem'.
Then again, you'll be throwing out a lot of money on kvm's and splitters, so why skimp on another GPU? 😛
I have just a minor thing to add to the list of possible solutions to the 'problem'.
Most beamers (all 4 😱😀 ) i have seen have a vga in and out port. This way you can attach the beamer to the Mac and a screen to the beamer. Beamer and screen will show the same thing.Jo-Kun said:
Then again, you'll be throwing out a lot of money on kvm's and splitters, so why skimp on another GPU? 😛
Yes
That will get me going just fine...pretty basic now...I'm hoping...or are there still snags...
That will get me going just fine...pretty basic now...I'm hoping...or are there still snags...
Ok good, so all you need is.TheBunnellFarm said:
- Dual G5 which has a dual card to support your dual screens and two monitors.
- Mac ready PCI video card to add to the G5 to support the 3rd screen - the projector.
- Your PC with a dual card of some sort and two monitors.
Just to be clear: your G5 will support two monitors, no problem, and you can either have each monitor show different parts of your desktop (i.e., half on each) or mirror each other (i.e., show the same thing on both). This capability is built in.TheBunnellFarm said:
ok so let's read again...and to keep in style...write like you do... ;-)...you can hook up your projector to the second port of the G5... and with a splitter or 'Y' as you name it (sorry was confused about Y all those Y's the first time) you can mirror the first screen signal on both monitors with your 'Y' and use spanning to the second port to have the image you want/need on the projector (or do you want to mirror onto the projector too?? let me say with mirroring the lowest res wins... so if you mirror on the projector most likely the res will be lower than what the other screens can show and you'll find that not good to work with)..if this is a bit unreadable...sorry I was following the style... ;-)...
Wow, that really was hard to understand.
Basically I think this is how to go about doing what I think you're wanting to do:
Buy a KVM (two KVMs?) so that you can hook up the G5 and the PC to the same two displays.
Hook up the primary monitor to the kvm, and have that connected to the first output on both the PC and the G5.
Hook up the secondary output to either a 2nd kvm, or the secondary video port on the kvm if you've got one that supports more than one monitor. Connect your Y splitter to the output of the KVM and then hook up your projector and secondary display to that.
Having it set up like this will span between the primary and secondary display, and "mirror" (split) the secondary display onto the projector. If you want the primary display "mirrored" then connect the Y splitter to it instead.
I think two KVMs would be a better choice than one that supports dual displays (if such a thing exists) because you would then be able to have it set up so that if you wanted two, you could have one person on the G5 and one on the PC with their own display.
Basically I think this is how to go about doing what I think you're wanting to do:
Buy a KVM (two KVMs?) so that you can hook up the G5 and the PC to the same two displays.
Hook up the primary monitor to the kvm, and have that connected to the first output on both the PC and the G5.
Hook up the secondary output to either a 2nd kvm, or the secondary video port on the kvm if you've got one that supports more than one monitor. Connect your Y splitter to the output of the KVM and then hook up your projector and secondary display to that.
Having it set up like this will span between the primary and secondary display, and "mirror" (split) the secondary display onto the projector. If you want the primary display "mirrored" then connect the Y splitter to it instead.
I think two KVMs would be a better choice than one that supports dual displays (if such a thing exists) because you would then be able to have it set up so that if you wanted two, you could have one person on the G5 and one on the PC with their own display.
I appreciate the help you people are providing.
I'm concluding...a simple Y or splitter will take care of the PC
The G5...if I'm getting this right...will mirror or split the image(mychoice)
and...I can Y or split one of the G5 images to the projector but it will only get whatever image quality was sent via reduced multable outputs.
Now if I want maximum projector display it appears that I am going to have to drop the monitors and go direct from the computer to the projector..at these times... if I am interpreting this correctly..
and finally...I can use my wired keyboard and mouse and my bluetooths at the same time to direct all this stuff...thank you
if those Y's or splitters work why can't I add the other two or additional monitors...
I'm concluding...a simple Y or splitter will take care of the PC
The G5...if I'm getting this right...will mirror or split the image(mychoice)
and...I can Y or split one of the G5 images to the projector but it will only get whatever image quality was sent via reduced multable outputs.
Now if I want maximum projector display it appears that I am going to have to drop the monitors and go direct from the computer to the projector..at these times... if I am interpreting this correctly..
and finally...I can use my wired keyboard and mouse and my bluetooths at the same time to direct all this stuff...thank you
if those Y's or splitters work why can't I add the other two or additional monitors...
The splitters will work - it's just that they're a bit pricey. The rest of the stuff should work just fine. Be sure to keep your cables organized, of course.TheBunnellFarm said:
ok...thanks gang...
I'm looking into KVI switches now...I'm wondering if the $40 variety will do if I leave the PC out for now and just go with my G5
It appears that with the correct KVM and the right cables and Y's and switch combination this thing will be funchioning...oh happy day...its been a long time coming...thanks again, Tom
I'm looking into KVI switches now...I'm wondering if the $40 variety will do if I leave the PC out for now and just go with my G5
It appears that with the correct KVM and the right cables and Y's and switch combination this thing will be funchioning...oh happy day...its been a long time coming...thanks again, Tom
Good luck with the setup, and keep us informed what you eventually got so if anyone else has the same idea and take the time to search they can read your final result 😉
Jo
Jo
andrewfee said:
That seems like the most economical setup. Then you have dual monitors for both your G5 and your PC. You'd also have the projector with input from both the PC and G5.
You'd be able to use both at the same time just not displayed at the same time. All you'd have to do is flip the switch on the KVM to go from PC to Mac.