The Answer Gang

VIDEO CARD

From Tracy

Answered By Heather Stern

DEAR ANSWER GUY:

Greetings.

Do you know who is making two-monitor cards for 98SE?

Thanks.

[Jonathan] Oooh, this one has "Heather" written all over it. Let's stand back.

[Heather] Nope. Our focus is on Linux, so we don't think much about windows (except sharing files with it)... it is possible to use multiple monitors with linux, as long as you have such a card, and it's something supported by X version 4. Before we got that folks had to buy a well tuned commercial X server (think video driver) called "Metro-X" (http://www.metrolink.com).

So, as a matter of hardware, you might not need one card that does two monitors at a time; some video cards are okay with having two of the same kind in the computer, but then you need a video driver that will survive the experience. Some past linux'er described his troubles doing this at (http://www.tarball.net/docs/multihead_fb_howto.html) -

The keyword you probably want to try in the search engines is "dual monitors" or "multi-headed" video cards.

Perhaps a visit to one of the windows magazine sites would be more useful. With luck they might have had an article on the topic in the last few months so you could get some reviewer comments about which are any good in your platform.

ENTHUSIASTICALLY YOURS, tracy

[Heather] Best of luck and feel free to give us a buzz if you have any linux questions.

DEAR HEATHER,

Thanks. Matrox answered too and it appears that Matrox has a card (G450) with two outlets which allows two monitors to operate as one big one.

ENTHUSIASTICALLY YOURS,

tracy

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Published in issue 65 of Linux Gazette April 2001

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