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A Dual Monitor Experiment
backBeat writes "This is a descriptive article about one man and his dual monitor odyssey. After reading the snippet I had to read the article: "The productivity increase lasted for about two days. At this point I realized that I could to work on one monitor and watch a full screen DVD on the other. This was pretty cool until I realized how counterproductive it could be. Luckily I am quite adept at concentrating on my writing, while typing, while watching a movie." The Dual Monitor Experiment did not disappoint."
Dual monitors isn't news for anyone. It's been easy to do for years and years. Hell, Win98 did it just as easily as the current Windows versions. I remember the difficulties I ran into when I was trying to do it with two different sized monitors with X and no GUIs. I wish there had been a single repository of easy to interpret information back then.
Yeah, two monitors COULD be more beneficial if you're looking to be productive. This guy mentions that but then switches to say that he enjoys multi-tasking and watching a movie at the same time as he is working. Personally, that's not exactly "productive" and honestly it's likely not something that's permitted outside of your home. The only time I am TRULY looking to be productive is when I'm at work and Slashdot has cornered the market on hoarding my time while I'm there.
He talks a little bit about the cost of having a dual monitor setup. Yeah, CRTs are cheap and LCDs are costing less and less but I'm mostly concerned with the amount of electricity that two monitors use up when they are both fired up and running constantly. I ran a 17" and a 15" CRT on my desktop for several years but recently I have switched back to just running one. Why? Even if it saves me $1 on my electric bill (it actually saves a bit more than that) it's beneficial. That's a beer, a burger, or $1 to go towards something else that's more important than being able to have Word open on one monitor and AIM on another.
Personally, I'm going to stick to running a single CRT for now and have to waste all that time hitting ALT+TAB to get to my AIM window when it starts flashing. So much for being able to watch a movie and do my work while being productive at the same time.
Honestly, is this really that special? I've been using dual monitors for a while and KNOW I'm not the first nor anywhere close to it. Yeah, its nice if you can afford to have two monitors (and the hardware to support it).
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Is that you soon realize that going back to one monitor is impossible.
Second, and more importantly, I really detest people who post their own stories as if they were a third party. Look at the story above, and note that backBeat lists his email as salcan@gmail.com. Then go to the article and you'll see that it is written by one Sal Cangeloso. He claims that "after reading the snippet, I had to read the article", which is strange, since he wrote it in the first place. If you wrote something interesting, take credit for it. Say, "I recently did some experimenting with a dual monitor setup, and I wrote up some of my conclusions." But don't try to pass it off as anything except self-promotion, as if all of us are idiots who won't catch on.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, there is an icon on the panel divided into four sections. Each of these is a separate desktop in which you can open separate windows, etc. and their contents are graphically represented by the icon. To move between desktops, you simply click on the appropriate panel, or use a hot key.
For me, it was seriously like having four computers in one. Under Windows, after a certain point, you can no longer navigate between the windows you have open. Under linux, I can have all my windows divided into sections based on their content. I have never, under this setup, had the number of windows I had open become impractical or unimaginable.
So, I haven't worked with dual physical monitors, but I can saw from what I consider to be a software equivalent under Linux that it should be able to make your life easier. Especially with a stable operating system that can handle running a bunch of programs at once without crashing. *cough*
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
Fanboy mode: ON
/etc newsfeed, the flash for some seconds as the updates come in. You can only look at one screen at the time, but your eyes notice the flashing to make youu aware of the news coming in. Red flash = important! look at me NOW!, Green flash = Just some 'ol news coming in, Yellow flash = Just a lead (followup).
Windows: Letting users discover the niftyness of Mac, a decade later
Fanboy mode: OFF
Seriously, this guy don't get it. Having to screens filled with two full space windows is very, very inefficient. Having switched to Mac recently, I find the mentality of MDI-ness a bit strange, as I'm used to the fullscreen windows on Windows. But on my Powerbook, during a lecture I can actually juggle Powerpoint to see the professor's notes, Word to type my notes and iChat all on my laptop screen at one time. It is not a matter of size. Sex is, but not screens.
At work I use Windows with dual monitor, but nowhere near as inefficient as he does. The setup (a newsdesk) has one screen constanly reloading a Reuters / AP / APTN
So thats where my tax dollars are going, to some asshole teacher wanting to have messenger and the web up while they work
On a similar note, if you have more than 1 PC and are looking to have a more efficient setup, I highly recommend the use of a KVM switch. They are cheap and save you the cost of another monitor besides the inherent power savings.
He talks a little bit about the cost of having a dual monitor setup. Yeah, CRTs are cheap and LCDs are costing less and less but I'm mostly concerned with the amount of electricity that two monitors use up when they are both fired up and running constantly.
If you do video, image, or web editing, it can be very useful to have a second monitor (for option pallettes or previewing, or browsing documentation on the second screen). If you're worried about power consumption, why not just turn off the supplementary monitor when you're not using it?
I'm personally a fan of dual-heading. I use a POS 15" monitor along with my (somewhat less POS) 17" at home, which usually just has Moz eternally open in it to preview the page I'm working on, or to look stuff up.
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.
A tv attached to your computer also works well for this sort of thing.
A TV attached to a DVD player (and not a computer) also works surprisingly well for this sort of thing. I think some of you should give it a try sometime...
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
XML causes global warming.
It's really beneficial for developers. It makes it SO much easier to do web development. In my case, monitor #1 has has the dev environment (for me, most of the time it's a fancy text editor) and monitor #2 has the test area (browser window, etc).
The biggest improvement comes when you're using a program like Flash MX 2004, with all the windows/panels. With one monitor it's a pain in the butt, having to open/close panels all day. With 2 monitors, you can actually see what you're doing all at once. If I had to choose between 1 20" LCD and 2 17" LCDs (and a video card for support), I'd take the latter any day now.
The only real negatives are 1) desk space can be an issue for some, and 2) explaining to envious coworkers why you need 2 montiors gets really old fast...
Personally, I run three monitors on my work computer (an OS X machine). There's a CRT on the left that has my iTunes list, Stickies, iCal, and other "need to keep an eye on it" sort of stuff. There's a fullscreen iTerm session on the rightmost CRT that has tabs for half a dozen or so SSH sessions. And the middle display is an Apple Studio Display (the retired 15" model) where I do most of my serious, interactive work.
Changing from one monitor to two takes some getting used to, but going from two to three was (aside from some geometrical issues trying to fit everything onto my desk) pretty painless.
Just another data point.
--saint
I have been running duel montors for several years and over time have gotten several other people stuck on it. family, friends, and co-workers. One you have it, it is hard to go back.
My newest trend is rotating the one on the left so it sits taller than wide. At high resolutions, a lot of space is wasted to websites that dont adjust to the width. By rotating the screen, they display more actual content.
This also lets me see 2 more slashdot headdings and 4 more google results in one look.
Having both displays rotated just looks weird and throws everything off.
Im a gamer, not a grammer major. This post is full of spelling and grammer mistakes.
It's way more difficult to aim when your crosshairs straddle that "monitor gap." Especailly if they have wide borders or any degree of separation.
Now, three monitors? Yeah, that's the ticket!
R
Stuff that matters: circuitbreakers, vacuum-cleaners coffee makers, calculators generators, matching salt+pepper shakers
I have used a 2 monitor system myself (15"+17" crts) and I didn't find any benefit from the additional monitor. Maybe if you don't have virtual desktops it is cool to have a place where you can throw windows to, but with pwm a simple Meta+number changes virtual desktops and I don't see the point. Turning my head needs more work than that simple keyboard combo. And two screens slow XFree86 a lot.
At work I have a laptop computer (fairly new IBM Thinkpad with Centrino chip; ATI Mobility Radeon 7500) and I also have a CRT (running Win 2000). I can easily set it up so they are both on at the same time. But they just match each other. I can't extend the desktop onto two monitors. Guides I've seen on the internet are of no help. Is there an easy was to get multiple monitors on my computer? Or do I have to buy a PC Card with?
But don't try to pass it off as anything except self-promotion, as if all of us are idiots who won't catch on.
Someone obviously fits your description of not catching on.. the article was posted...
You need wallpaper set up before you can be productive? Just to be clear, you're talking about the background graphic that gets covered over by your application windows, especially the maximized ones, all the time?
And then what's the productive part but setting up the screensaver!? That program that wastes processor cycles and only runs when you're not even there? And somehow setting up the wallpaper first was necessary for this?
I think I can quantify your productivity increase. You've saved the time that it takes to switch between working and goofing off. Before you could only do one or the other; now you can do both at the same time!
You know, you can get that same effect by putting a picture on your desk, and it doesn't draw as much power. Really, your most productive use of your second screen is to display a static image?
I find it difficult to believe you even work in an office environment, and if indeed you work from home, I should let you know that they have these glass-covered portals in walls that offer a view of the outside world. Coincidentally, they are also called "windows". Try moving your computer closer to one.
And I still come away with nothing about what your work is, other than it involves word processors and possibly spreadsheets. If it is writing articles for the web, you could have at least touched on having your research materials on one screen and composing your articles on another. If you were a coder, you could be viewing the application on one screen and tracing code execution in a debugger on another.
Sorry, but your article is useless. It's nothing but talking about your new toy and you really offer no work benefits to the configuration other than it makes your goofing off more efficient.
There are those of us who are trying to get dual monitors in our workplace. If management goes by articles like yours, they'll only see them as tools for more goofing off in the workplace and refuse the requests.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Shame on him for attempting it the first time. Shame on the Slashdot editors for letting him get away with it more than once.
UNIX/Linux Consulting
...and if you can skip being lazy for long enough, remember to change job-title to "manager"
Hells bells, let's just give them the ability to edit the stories too, that way the editors wouldn't really have to do anything at all.
Seriously, I know the editors here get crap all the time for the grammar/spelling/duplicate stories, but isn't that what they are supposed to be doing? Don't they even read Slashdot themselves? I mean, this is a blatant example of a known abuser of the system, and the article was posted by Hemos himself. WTF? I don't WANT to wear a tinfoil hat, but I almost feel like I can't avoid it much longer.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.