I have a dual monitor setup at work. Actually, I have three monitors. The monitor on my right is the screen on my company-issued laptop. It sits on a stand so it is at the same height as the monitor in the middle, which is a 21" CRT. My laptop desktop is extended across screens, and I actually use the CRT as the principle monitor (with the task bar and such. The monitor on my left is from my dual-boot Fedora Core 5/WinXP desktop. It is a 19" LCD monitor.
The beauty of the setup is that I use an open source program called Synergy2 to share one wireless keyboard and mouse across both systems. The keyboard and mouse are connected to the desktop box, and regardless of whether or not the desktop is in Fedora or Windows mode, the keyboard is shared with my laptop. I just move the mouse from screen to screen. Whichever screen has the mouse cursor is the screen that my keyboard works on. It all works through the network connection between the computers. Visitors to my cube get weirded out when I move the mouse from my Fedora screen onto my Windows screen, and invariably want to know how I do that. And even cooler is that I could hook up as many computers as I wanted. You can also share the keyboard and mouse between Linux, Windows, and Mac machines. You can even copy and paste text across computers (not images, though). This nifty app and multiple monitors has increased my productivity because I can keep the application I'm documenting running on its own server, while I've got my documentation software working on my laptop. The split laptop screens allow me to run my documentation software and image editing software simultaneously in different windows, or I can keep my work other work applications up on the other screen where I can refer to them at a glance. Anyway, I love my three screen display. I feel greatly impeded when I get home and only have my tiny laptop display when I try to work from home. If you're running multiple computers on your desk, you ought to check out Synergy. You might be able to get it down to just one keyboard and mouse. -Paul Pehrson Midvale, UT On 1/31/07, Melissa Nelson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I have a dual monitor setup at work...it is the greatest thing since > sliced bread! It is worth any fighting you have to do to get it. The only > thing is now when I am at home doing something on the computer...I am > constantly looking for that other monitor! I guess I will have to pony up > for a second one at home myself! :) > > Melissa > ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. DITA West 2007--Use a discount code of "TECHCOMMPROS" to get a discount rate of $200 off the $900 registration price. http://www.travelthepath.com/conf/dita2007.shtml _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
