Virtual Displays on Mac Pro?

[sboerup]

Quick question, this is based off a recent thread that gave me an idea to a problem I have. Not really a problem, but looking for an added convenience.

I have an HDTV with a Mac Mini connected to it that I use for business presentations. Works fine and as I would want it. But, the presentation software is meant to be used with a 2nd display, where the controlling display shows more details and the OSX task-bar. The 2nd display shows only the presentation info when running properly.

Up till about 2 months ago, I had my HDTV hooked up to the Mac Pro via 25ft HDMI cable. I moved locations and my office is much to far away with multiple walls to elegantly hook up the HDTV to my Mac Pro, hence the need for the Mac Mini.

I would love to be able to run a wireless HDMI to the HDTV, but I haven't found anything that looks like it's halfway decent to even use. I need the full 1080p. This is just slides, not motion, and I don't need sound either.

I'm trying to find out, via VM solution or something else, can you create a Virtual 2nd Display in OSX? This would allow me to run the presentation software from the Mac Mini in the "presentation" mode, as if it were a 2nd display.

Not sure if this makes sense, but I'm just trying to get the software to run in the "presentation" mode, which by default is on a 2nd display. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Hmmm... tricky one but I think I can envisage a solution:

Install Windows (or OSX) in a VM. Run a VNC client and setup ScreenRecycler on the main machine. That should do the trick. If you setup the virtual display to have a 1024x768 resolution then you could even enable vnc access on the main machine and connect in using Jaadu VNC on an iPad to connect in with full screen (triple swipe up to enable, down to disable) 1:1 pixel mapping with Touchscreen Mode enabled to have portable control support which could be quite nice.

 

[diazj3]

Why isn't simple screen sharing a solution?

 

[sboerup]

Because its low quality and you can't full screen without the FULL version of it (like $400?)

 

[hayduke]

Apple's VNC is quite good and free. You can operate at "Full Quality" (View-->Full Quality) and without any scaling. This should work really well for what you described (no sound, no movies).

This doesn't provide the multiple display view on a second virtual display, so that is probably a deal-breaker for you...

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Give the solution I gave a try. Screenrecycler + Windows in a vm running a vnc server should be able to give you the second dummy display that you require in order to have the presentation software run in full screen on your main display.

 

[Weepul]

Although I have my doubts that it would trick the software into thinking there's a second monitor, it might be worth trying the Spaces feature of OS X 10.5+ anyway.