blonde poker forum

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to add an extra monitor to a laptop. My laptop is only a couple of months old.

Someone said this was possible, but I can't work out how to do this.

Having an extra monitor would make multi-tabling much easier.

Another thing which I can't understand. When multi-tabling with two monitors, how does the site know how to split games. For example, if you were playing four Limit tables on pokerstars. How do you play 2 tables on one monitor and 2 on the other. This is probably a stupid question I realise, but I am crap with computers.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

apparently it is - leading me to get the bloke who does our IT in work to get one on order for me. He explained that it is easy to set up, just a case of plugging it in and changing some settings on your laptop.

However i've told him not to talk me through it until the monitor arrives then i can write the instructions down in a step by step idiot guide!!  :D so for now i've no idea

If your Laptop has a dual card, it is possible or you can get one fitted.

With two monitors it is an extended desktop, so the first game will come up on the main screen, just drag it over to the other one and so on.

Thanks for the feedback folks.

I have a question dik9, Does dual card mean the same as DVD-Dual?

thanks.

Errrrrrrm............... :blonde:

I am not a techy lol but i have 2 monitors, my computer already had a dual card, but my friend had his modified with one, I don't know whether it is called a dual monitor card, dual graphics card or dual dvd card. But if your computer is new then it should have it already.

Thanks

I will contact the company I bought it from and ask

I appreciate your help

Almost every modern laptop has a monitor socket just plug in the monitor and if using windows XP

right click anywhere on your desktop click on  properties  then settings and a box appears on your screen.  theres a drop down menu that says "display"   on that menu there is usually TWO settings..  default monitor (which is your laptops screen.)  and multiple monitor (which lets you use both and extends your desktop to the other monitor)   
        just click on the multiple monitor option and then APPLY and you should be off and running..   Try to but a monitor which has its own driver on a cd as this helps windows recognise it and makes the colours steadier but windows xp will load up a generic driver which will work anyway so if you get a second hand monitor without the drivers its still all good

There is also a program that gives you a task bar on each monitor, I haven't got it but really should, there was a link on here somewhere to do it but I cannot find it at mo. It is a pain if you just have the one task bar.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=6194.msg134600#msg134600

There ya go!

Thanks for all the help.

I just added my friends monitor to my laptop. After some tweaking, it worked.

I will definately start looking for a cheap basic monitor that I will use for playing poker.

Unfortunately I am restricted to stores such as currys,ect.  I am normally out during the day and in the area where I live, sadly I don't trust anyone to take the delivery for me. If I did, by the time I got home they would be smoking the profits from the sale. lol

Again thanks to everyone.

What about when your using a nomal computer?
I,m a real computer novice and when i'm playing more than one table at a time i have to switch back and forth, which is a right nuisance.
Do i need a special moniter to play split screen or is this a software matter?

These are normal run of the mill computers, if you have a spare monitor see if there is a connection at the back to plug it in. It is a godsend to multi table.

really, it's that easy?
The computer can differentiate between the two screens and what i want to show on either of them?

It is really that easy, you may need to right click on a blank in your desktop and click properties then go to settings and arrange how you want your monitors to appear. Desk top can be duplicated or extended left or extended right depends on how you want it.

I use extended desktop so I can have a clear monitor for the poker, and one for everything else.It takes about 10 mins to set up, and about the same to get used to.

Very handy :)

I bought a monitor today. I have set it up and now have identical screens on both my laptop and the new monitor.

I was wondering if any kind person could explain. 1. How do I use one screen for something and one for the other?
                                                                     2. When I went on pokerstars and tried to play 4 tables . I saw the same tables
                                                                         overlapping on both screens...help?

My computer seemed slower when starting up.  Is this normal?


Thanks in advance

I had a look back through the previous replys in this section. But I am still confused.

Forgive me, I am a simple country person  :D

Something freaky is happening. I can drag things off the screen.  But this happens on both screens exactly the same.

thanks

Have a look here - this might help.

http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20040712/techspace01.shtml (http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20040712/techspace01.shtml)

Ok, fiigured it out.

This is cool.  I feel like I have just seen a wheel for the first time  :D

Any suggestions how to play 2 tables on each screen  without an overlap.

thanks

Thanks Andrew,

I read this site after you posted it.  By pure luck I managed to do all the things it suggested before reading it.

However by going back through the set-up using this site, I was able to actually see what I had done.

I am useless with these things, and usually press things untill it works .  Or breaks.   :D

I appreciate your help.

Ok, I have a problem: can anyone please point me in the right direction?  :D

I recently connected an old CRT monitor to my laptop; with the aim of doing precisely as this thread suggests - i.e. extend the desktop over both screens.

At the moment, my laptop has recognised the monitor, because the same image is appearing on both the laptop's flat screen and the CRT Monitor's display.

However, when I go to "Display > Settings", I get this coming up:

Display:
(Multiple Monitors) on S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR

...with just one monitor icon above it. Not two. And no way to seemingly separate the screens.

My laptop does run XP - but am I correct in thinking the graphics card in this laptop is not sophisticated enough to handle two monitors?

Or am I still doing something wrong?

???

Thanks,
Z.

BUMP


I mean...


HELP


I mean...


BUHELMP



buggrit, you lot know what I mean...  :D

right click on your desktop and select properties. then on the display properties window go to the settings tab. on here you should see 2 monitors (if your graphics card supports it). click on monitor 2 and then tick extend my windows desktop onto this monitor and then apply. if your graphics card supports dual monitor then this will sort it.

Nic

so you've clicked on blank area on desktop and gone to properties     then settings   it should give you a picture of monitors 1 and 2 is that right? under there there should be a little arrow after you clicked it it it should say default or give you another option? am i right so far?

lol sorry


Jinx 123

No, I only get one monitor on my Display Properties screen, despite it saying 'Multiple Monitors' beneath that.

I tried to post a picture but the file was too large...

hang on...


guess this means the laptop's too old then? :(


[attachment deleted by admin]

Looks like its the graphics card that needs updating

Updating the graphics card - is that something I can do meself?

I.e. unscrew the back and slot another one in?

And is it expensive?

By which I mean - more expensive than getting a graphics card for a desktop?

Y'see - I had to replace the hard drive a year or so ago, and that was expensive, for this laptop (I had to get one direct from the manufacturer)... because I couldn't use a regular desktop hard drive, it wouldn't have fitted the slot for the laptop.

For some reason, Desktop 80Gb hard drives were £80 (at the time), but I had to spend around £300 just to get a 20Gb Laptop HDD. Was v. annoying... >:(

you can do it yourself but i am no techy. The price depends on the card/quality you want.
Just as a matter of interest what is the processor speed and ram memory? It may be cheaper to buy a new laptop if all these need upgrading. £300 for 20gig seems a little expensive even if it was last year.

My graphicscard is now out of date suggest a 256 now but your properties should look a bit like this


[attachment deleted by admin]

It was just over a year ago... and it seemed outrageous to me at the time (I was hoping to upgrade beyond 20Gb, but that would have been even more expensive - and yes, tantamount to the price of a new laptop - which at the time I could not afford.)

I will probably just have to bite the bullet and get a more up-to-date laptop - with a WUXGA and all mod cons etc...

It's going to severely eat into my bankroll, though.

(sigh)

Thanks for your help, dik and Stally... I guess I'd better  ;slavedriver; !!!

 ;)

I bought an acer aspire 1642 a week ago from comet at £599
60gig (although not really large)
1024k ram
1.73 processor
15.4" screen

does the job for me and the cheapest i found live, with those specs.Can find cheaper on net.

http://www.savastore.com/productinfo/product.aspx?catalog_name=Savastore&product_id=10284286&pid=45&tid=2
Same specs but with twice the ram

Can you multitable on it without overlap?

if you can get away without having a laptop then go for a desktop. dell are selling some very good PCs at rock bottom prices and all Dells come with a DVI card (digital video something) which allows you to connect 2 monitors to the one card. the problem with laptops is the majority of stuff is integrated into the motherboard so upgrading is expensive. The cheapest is a Dimension 1100 at £349 http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=D03115&rbc=D03115&s=dhs&sbc=ukdhsrsdimen_1100_3 (http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&oc=D03115&rbc=D03115&s=dhs&sbc=ukdhsrsdimen_1100_3)

No I just run another monitor off it

Stally - I have a desktop that I bought last year, I don't think I can connect two monitors to it though... at least I don't see more than one monitor 'port' at the back of the machine.

Which is why I was trying to connect the extra monitor I have to my laptop instead...

if the desktop has got a DVI port >>> (http://www.traderock.com/images/Img606.jpg)

then you can buy a dvi splitter cable >>> (http://www.8ballshardware.com/articles/v8420/V8420010.jpg)

this will split 1 output signal into 2

the only other alternative is to fit a 2nd graphics card to your desktop and run a 2nd monitor off it.

hope this helps mate

Cheers Stally...

Unfortunately, I don't think my desktop has one of those ports... it has a billion USB ports, two firewires, a parallel and a regular monitor thingy.

This all has to be filed under 'information I wish I knew when I was shopping around for a new computer, last October'...

I am now torn between buying a cheapy laptop and hooking up my extra monitor to it, and actually going the whole hog and buying a spanking new laptop with a high res screen, or trying to amend the graphics card in my desktop.

Any which way I slice it, money is involved - I imagine the second graphics card for the desktop is the cheapest option right now... at least if I can hook up the monitor to that one, I can play two or three tables properly with minimum overlap.

psssst, i'll dig around and see if i cant find a cheapo graphics card somewhere for you....i'm sure i'll have one somewhere

Just had a thought though... the graphics card in my laptop isn't sophisticated enough to support two monitors...

...so presumably I have to get a graphics card for the desktop that is sophisticated enough to support two monitors...

So it can't be that cheap?   :D

I don't want to buy the wrong thing. (weep)

They don't make it easy!

you can (in thoery) fit 2 graphics cards to 1 pc and run a monitor off each...it really depends what the model of your pc is

Yes, but can I then extend my desktop over both?

On my laptop, I was running both screens over the same graphics card, and couldn't do it.

I don't want to get a second card that won't let me extend the desktop over both screens, that would be useless.

Erm... can anyone recommend a good site that reviews cards needed for adding a second monitor to a desktop PC?

Or for that matter - can anyone personally recommend a card that they know works?

Cheers...

Z.