ATI weirdness.

[graywolf]

I picked up a second 19 inch CRT at Goodwill yesterday. So I replaced the old 15 inch I was using as my secondary monitor with it. Now I have two 19'ers @ 1600x1200. Then the funny stuff starts. Everytime I reboot the settings change. Nothing stays the same. Color, brightness, contrast, size, position, even primary and secondary change at random. I had read that ATI's software was buggy as a beehive, but I never had those problems with the 15 incher as my secondary. The best I can figure is that CCC has a hard time keeping track of two monitors with the same resolution, I was running the 15 inch at 1280x1024.

So I removed the software and just loaded the drivers. I was then able to adjust both monitors very close to matching. And this morning they came up still matching. But then, of course, I lose all the video card controls I had with CCC.

The other problem that, at the moment, I do not see a solution to is that apparently Windows always assigns the secondary monitor to the electrical right of the primary monitor. Since I like my taskbar on the right edge of the screen, I would like the primary on the right and to be able to move the mouse left to the secondary monitor. But, as I said, I can see no way of doing that. For the moment I have moved the taskbar to the left edge of the primary but I do not much like that. Oh, I could move everything to the right side of the secondary monitor, but if you lose you primary for some reason then you can no longer access any thing (don't ask how I know that, it is a long story) and the only solution I found is to reinstall everything.

Sigh! Nothing ever works exactly the way you want it to.

[lowpoly]

The other problem that, at the moment, I do not see a solution to is that apparently Windows always assigns the secondary monitor to the electrical right of the primary monitor. Since I like my taskbar on the right edge of the screen, I would like the primary on the right and to be able to move the mouse left to the secondary monitor. But, as I said, I can see no way of doing that. For the moment I have moved the taskbar to the left edge of the primary but I do not much like that. Oh, I could move everything to the right side of the secondary monitor, but if you lose you primary for some reason then you can no longer access any thing (don't ask how I know that, it is a long story) and the only solution I found is to reinstall everything.

In the Display Properties dialog, Settings tab: do you have the pic with the two monitors? You can click on the right one and drag it to the left. That solved it for me.

[graywolf]

In the Display Properties dialog, Settings tab: do you have the pic with the two monitors? You can click on the right one and drag it to the left. That solved it for me.

On my system I can do that. There is no problem moving the primary to the right monitor. The problem is you still have to move your cursor to the right to get to the secondary which is then on the left. That is not what I would call intuitive. As I said, windows seems to set up the secondary to the electrical right of the primary no matter what I do.

[bhtooefr]

That seems like something's not working right, because when you do that, it should always change pointer mappings, too.

Have you tried using UltraMon or a similar app?

[graywolf]

That seems like something's not working right, because when you do that, it should always change pointer mappings, too.

Have you tried using UltraMon or a similar app?

Gee Thanks! You have gone and made me feel inferior again. I looked up that UltraMon, and that led me to looking for other similar software. That wound me up on this site:

http://thehottestgadgets.com/2008/06/15-dazzling-multi-monitor-setups-00848

Now, I have to decide if I want #4 or #12. Of course all I can do is want

However I did find out that I could interconnect all my computers (Only this one is worth more than $200) and have 5 dispays.

So, thanks for pointing me in the add on software direction. However, nothing I have seem indicates I can move my mouse left to a secondary monitor on the left side. But I can not be sure of that until I try a couple of them out.

[bhtooefr]

Right, because that's not usually a concern, because if Windows is working properly, you should be able to do that without add-on software.

[graywolf]

Right, because that's not usually a concern, because if Windows is working properly, you should be able to do that without add-on software.

Windows? Working properly? Isn't that an oxymoron?

On the other hand Slackware does not even recognize my drive array, despite claim to have the proper drivers. When I go to the Slackware help forum, I get insulted by someone who was in kidergarden when I started using it.

BTW, it looks like maybe my problem was the wireless mouse. It seems to be working as I expected it to with the Logitech Marble Wheel plugged in.

[bhtooefr]

And, I take it you found MaxiVista? (That one came in handy back when I had machines that had no native multi-head support. Now my preferred method of multi-screen multitasking is to just use multiple machines running different apps, though.)

[graywolf]

And, I take it you found MaxiVista? (That one came in handy back when I had machines that had no native multi-head support. Now my preferred method of multi-screen multitasking is to just use multiple machines running different apps, though.)

Yeh, that is the one. I have not tried it, but it does sound fasinating. Let's see I can use my server as another monitor which I can control by remote desktop.... Err.... Oh well, you know what I mean...

[zwmalone]

Gee Thanks! You have gone and made me feel inferior again. I looked up that UltraMon, and that led me to looking for other similar software. That wound me up on this site:

http://thehottestgadgets.com/2008/06/15-dazzling-multi-monitor-setups-00848

Now, I have to decide if I want #4 or #12. Of course all I can do is want

However I did find out that I could interconnect all my computers (Only this one is worth more than $200) and have 5 dispays.

So, thanks for pointing me in the add on software direction. However, nothing I have seem indicates I can move my mouse left to a secondary monitor on the left side. But I can not be sure of that until I try a couple of them out.

I would rather have #8, Its the most usable setup (for me anyway)

[iMav]

I like #13.

[itlnstln]

Combine 12 and the last one, and that might be a strong gaming setup.