Procedure for setting up multiple monitor

You can put multiple displays on your desk-up to nine if you’re really nuts-as long as you have the space and the money for the monitors. Each monitor extends the Windows desktop; you can drag program windows “across” the gap between screens, as if that physical gap didn’t exist, to position, say, your Web browser on one display and an Excel chart on the other. You can even open multiple copies of you browser, each “tuned” to a different Web site or part of a Web site or each on a different display.

Sure, you can do the same on one monitor by juggling program windows. But with multiple monitors, there’s no need for software hide-and-seek, no need to shuffle one window from another. You can keep open more windows-you’ve just enlarged your screen real estate, remember? -All the time.

And if you’re using a relatively new PC equipped with Windows 98, this isn’t even much of a technical challenge.

 

Step 1: Check your system:

• The right operating system. Only PCs running Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), the updated version released in 1999 and installed on most brand-new systems, support multiple monitors.
• The right video cards. You need a separate a Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) or Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) style video card.
• Generally, newer PCs use PCI or AGP video cards, while older systems rely on ISA-compatible video cards. Verify the type of video card by choosing Settings from the Start menu, then pick Control Panel. Double-click the System icon in the next window, and the click on the device Manager tab in the System Properties window. Double-click the Display Adapters item. The description should spell out if the card is an AGP or PCI device.  Most of the motherboard has 3 PCI slot and 1 AGP slot. That means if all of these slot are available, you can install 4 video cards.
• The right video drivers. Not only do you need specific cards, but the video driver-the software that makes the card work with Windows-must be compatible with the multiple-monitor concept, too. Use the System Control Panel again, but this time after you double-click Display Adapters, highlight the video card, click the Properties button, then the Driver +tab. You can get all the information you need by clicking on the Driver File Details button at the bottom. Finally, use your Web browser to skim the list of compatible drivers on Microsoft’s support site:
  WINDOWS98: support.microsoft.com/support/windows/readme/98/w98displaytxt.asp

WINDOWS98SE: support.Microsoft.com/support/windows/readme/win98se/w98sedisplaytxt.asp

• Any old monitors. Computer displays are pretty dumb, so it’s wide open here. You can combine monitors of a different sizes if you want

Step 2: Installing the Second Card.

            Turning off the PC, unplug the power cord and the monitor cable, and open the case. Remove the current video card if it’s not multiple-monitor compatible and replace it. Leave the power cover off but plug in the power and reconnect the monitor’s cable and new card. Turn on the computer. Windows 98 will recognize the new card and ask for either the floppy or CD that contains the card’s driver (one is in the box) or request the Windows 98 setup CD (the one that came with your computer). You’ll be asked to restart your computer.

            When this replacement card is operating properly-or if you’re only adding one new card-repeat the above procedure, this time with the second video card. You’ll get a message that says Windows has successfully initialized the second video card.

            After you have both cards installed, you may notice that the windows 98 start-up logo appears on the wrong (says, second) monitor. The PC controls which card is the primary card, and the only way to change it is to go back into the computer’s guts and swap the position of the video cards in their slots. (Generally, the slot closest to the power supply is the one you want for the primary card and its monitor.)

Please Repeat Step 2 procedure for third or fourth Video card installation.

 

Step 3: Set it up.

      Make sure the primary monitor/video card combination (again, that’s the one

Where the Windows 98 startup logo appears when you boot up the PC) is set to display 256 or more colors. Right-click anywhere on the desktop, pick Properties from the pop-up menu, click the settings tab, and choose anything but 16 colors in the Colors field.

      Right-click anywhere on the desktop again, pick Properties, and then click the

Settings tab. Under Display, you’ll now see a click able list that contains the names of each video card installed in you machine. Choose the secondary monitor/card (the one that until now has shown only the initialization message), and then check the box by Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor. The Display dialog should now also show a tab marked Monitors. Click it. Here you can set the resolution and the color of the screen in pixels, and the number of colors. Windows 98 lets you set each monitor differently; for instance, to use a large monitor at a 1024-by-768 pixel resolution and a smaller screen at 800-by-600 pixels.

 

Step 4: Use the Real Estate.

            Because multiple monitors act as a Windows desktop expander, you now have more real time estimate to push around program windows, open new windows, and keep accessories such as stock tickers always on the screen. To move a program’s window from another, click and drag the window off the side of the first screen and drop it onto the second.

Some software will span two monitors but the gap is intrusive. A much better idea is to open a program window, slide it to the other monitor, and then leave it there; you can maximize a program window (expand it to full size) only to the extent of one monitor. It won’t maximize to take up all the monitor’s space.

 

  Ben Hau
monitoronsale@monitoronsale.com