iMac G5 and running second monitor

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Twain

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I'm considering buying the new G5 iMac 1.8 20inch to replace my ageing G4 450 Dual. I spend most of my working day using InDesign and Photoshop CS but the endless pallets take up so much screen space, even on my 21inch CRT monitor, I'd really like to run a separate 15in flatscreen to house them all.

I know iMacs can mirror a second screen, but is there a way to modify this with third-party hardware or software to run a second screen with my pallets on it?

Twain
 
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m1k

Guest
You can run pretty much any screen on a Mac. I've hooked up my PowerBook to a Samsung CRT monitor a few times, and it runs without a hitch. Just uncheck 'Mirror display' in the display prefs, and then you can have both screen side by side for double the workspace.

Your iMac should be able to do this pretty easily. Good luck!
 
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Animatronica

Guest
Actually, no you CANNOT turn off Mirroring. Mirroring is the ONLY option you have if you plan to use dual moniters. The only way you can use the extended desktop mode is to alter the firmware via 3rd party compnay which WILL VOID your warrenty...so if anything goes wrong. Its touch luck to you. I wouldn't suggest doing it on such a new machine.

C-ya
 
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Twain

Guest
m1k said:
You can run pretty much any screen on a Mac. I've hooked up my PowerBook to a Samsung CRT monitor a few times, and it runs without a hitch. Just uncheck 'Mirror display' in the display prefs, and then you can have both screen side by side for double the workspace.

Your iMac should be able to do this pretty easily. Good luck!

You make it sound easy. I thought I'd try your idea by hooking my wife's iMac to my G4, but realised I haven't got a VGA adapter.

Thanks for your help.

Twain
 
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Twain

Guest
Animatronica said:
Actually, no you CANNOT turn off Mirroring. Mirroring is the ONLY option you have if you plan to use dual moniters. The only way you can use the extended desktop mode is to alter the firmware via 3rd party compnay which WILL VOID your warrenty...so if anything goes wrong. Its touch luck to you. I wouldn't suggest doing it on such a new machine.

C-ya

OK - so who's correct?

Can you tell me what the third party firmware is called? At least it gives me another option to try.

Thanks

Twain
 
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Animatronica is right, on the iMac, eMac and iBook you can only mirror your screen. The PowerBook and PowerMacs (with dual-display capable video cards) can turn off mirroring and use 2 screens like one big desktop.

I also heard about that firmware thing, but honestly, I wouldn't mess up with the firmware...one little error, and your Mac becomes a very expensive paperweight...
 
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Mr.Curlynose1

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I use that software that trpnmonkey41 posted on my iBook, and it works spectacular with 32 MB of video memory. Everything goes perfectly well, and I have a second monitor with 1280x1024 resolution. You can undo the changes it makes just by resetting the PRAM. I don't think Apple will do some extreme diagnostic to check for if you zapped your PRAM to cover it up. :p
 
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iMac, eMac and ibook can only miror by default, but you can unlock it by usin "Screenspanning doctor", this in apple script that can modify the grapfics handling. it worked great on my eMac
 
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if that works, there's no need to flash the firmware, so no risk of warranty loss or damage to the firmware
 
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Matt

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So that means if you mess up you can just re-install? How do you do it? I'm sure many people will be intrested.
 
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Matt said:
So that means if you mess up you can just re-install? How do you do it? I'm sure many people will be intrested.
Well, if it's only a PRAM setting, I guess resetting the PRAM will do it...

COMMAND-OPTION-P-R (or APPLE-ALT-P-R) while booting up, let go after the 3rd chime... ;-)
 
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Twain

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Twain said:
I'm considering buying the new G5 iMac 1.8 20inch to replace my ageing G4 450 Dual. I spend most of my working day using InDesign and Photoshop CS but the endless pallets take up so much screen space, even on my 21inch CRT monitor, I'd really like to run a separate 15in flatscreen to house them all.

I know iMacs can mirror a second screen, but is there a way to modify this with third-party hardware or software to run a second screen with my pallets on it?

Twain
Thanks to everyone who replied to my request. I feel confident now to go ahead with the purchase of a new iMac and second monitor.

Regards

Twain
London UK
 
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Matt said:
So that means if you mess up you can just re-install? How do you do it? I'm sure many people will be intrested.

in the same folder of screen spanning doctor there is an uninstaller as well, so just double click and restart
 
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andipantz

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Anyone use Screen Spanning Doctor yet?

I just bought the imac g5 a couple of weeks ago and I'm loving it! However, I have also looked into Screen Spanning Doctor so that I have the ability to connect a second monitor as an extended desktop. Since the start of this forum, I'm wondering if anyone has tried out Screen Spanning Doctor or other software for this?
 

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