I do (of course) still use the white-board a lot, so in no way am I limited to showing material just using an LCD projector. In fact I may go days (could easily do the entire semester and many Instructors do) without showing anything on the LCD projector because a lot of what I teach is mathematically based. But that's not t say I don't like media via the LCD projector, I do like it!
However, I sometimes wish I could show material on the LCD projector for the students, and at the same time view different material independently for my eyes only on the laptop LCD.
I guess there are some split screen modes that would divide the Laptop LCD so that some portion of the laptop LCD shows what's on the LCD projector, and the balance of the Laptop LCD screen would be for my eyes only, so that's one option, but I'm not sure how to enable this. Suggestions?
But...what I would really like is to be able to have full use of the Laptop's LCD at all times, for my eyes only, and at the exact same time be able to show whatever I want on the LCD projector to the students. But...unless I am totally wrong the best (only?) way to do this would be with a second LCD monitor on my desk, otherwise I would have to keep looking at the LCD projector in order to know what I'm projecting to the students.
I don't really want an LCD monitor on my desk in addition to the Laptop on my desk, because of the additional clutter and cost, but maybe it's the way to go, instead of some split screen mode on the Laptop LCD. Suggestions?
Also I have a Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet that I have yet to integrate, so any suggestions on how to use that as well would be great!
PS: I do have two Laptops so that would be a thought, but it would also be kinda cluttered.
0 Replies
Chumly
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Mon 31 Aug, 2009 12:12 pm
Nada responses
0 Replies
Robert Gentel
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Mon 31 Aug, 2009 10:24 pm
@Chumly,
What you want to do is pretty easy as long as you have a video card that supports "dual monitors" or "dual display". If your laptop has a VGA out then it probably supports it. In most setups (other than using a simple output splitter) the way this will work is that you'll have an "extended desktop" and you can drag windows from one monitor to the other. It's usually as easy as plugging in the monitor and turning on extended desktop from your display settings. Here is a tutorial (XP-centric, but it shouldn't be much different on Vista) that explains the steps:
Ya-but I want to be able to view what's on the LCD projector from my Laptop's LCD, but not have what's additionally on my Laptop's LCD be seen on the LCD projector. An "extended desktop" does not do this AFAICT.
Quote:
But...what I would really like is to be able to have full use of the Laptop's LCD at all times, for my eyes only, and at the exact same time be able to show whatever I want on the LCD projector to the students.
I didn't get that you wanted to see the projected screen on your laptop screen. In that case, yes, you would likely need two screens.
I'd add a secondary LCD and a splitter (if you are dealing with VGA then search for "VGA splitter" for example) to the setup I recommend above. So the laptop would use extended desktop outputting to the splitter, which sends the output to both the projector and the secondary screen.
In this scenario using extended desktop, one laptop, one LCD monitor and one LCD project there is still no way to have for-my-eyes-only files, apps, etc on the laptop''s LCD while at the same time displaying what the students would see on the LCD projector and the LCD monitor.
As long as you don't need them to interact it certainly sounds easier. However, having it run on one laptop would let you view things on your screen and then move them to the projector, but I'm not sure if that is important to your desired setup.
I edited my post number just as you replied with post so here is my updated response again (with your post reposted first)!
Quote:
I didn't get that you wanted to see the projected screen on your laptop screen. In that case, yes, you would likely need two screens.
I'd add a secondary LCD and a splitter (if you are dealing with VGA then search for "VGA splitter" for example) to the setup I recommend above. So the laptop would use extended desktop outputting to the splitter, which sends the output to both the projector and the secondary screen.
Quote:
I don't think this is it either, alas.
In this scenario using extended desktop, one laptop, one LCD monitor and one LCD project there is still no way to have for-my-eyes-only files, apps, etc on the laptop''s LCD while at the same time displaying what the students would see on the LCD projector and the LCD monitor.
If I added an LCD monitor, VGA splitter, and used XP Extended Desktop could I have material on the laptop for-my-eyes-only, and at the same time have student material showing on the LCD monitor and LCD projector?
I'm getting a bit confused here, and got to run, but if I understand you correctly I think you can get what you want on the extended desktop. The way that works is that you will have two separate desktops that are connected, you can drag a window from one to the other (and even leave it in the middle, with half of the window on one display and half on the other).
So with that setup, you can have a private output for yourself (e.g. the laptop screen), and then the public output for the projector. And if you want to be able to see the projected desktop without looking up at the projector you could split that output and route to a second screen (so that this output is going to both the projector and our second LCD).
Now you can, of course, do the same with two laptops, except you can't drag from one to the other (without separate software that I know exists but that I can't recall at the moment).
0 Replies
Robert Gentel
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Tue 1 Sep, 2009 09:43 pm
@Chumly,
Chumly wrote:
If I added an LCD monitor, VGA splitter, and used XP Extended Desktop could I have material on the laptop for-my-eyes-only, and at the same time have student material showing on the LCD monitor and LCD projector?
Yes and you could drag them back and forth. So you could open something on your laptop screen, then drag it to the extended desktop that is being projected (and split to your secondary LCD).
0 Replies
Chumly
1
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Tue 1 Sep, 2009 10:22 pm
Very obliged indeed!
To confirm: once the student material is dragged to the extended desktop from the laptop:
a) it could be viewed in full on the LCD projector,
b) plus the student material could be viewed in full on the secondary LCD monitor or the student material could it be split with for-my-eyes-only material on the secondary LCD monitor,
c) plus the student material could be viewed in full on the laptop's LCD monitor or the student material could it be split with for-my-eyes-only material on the laptop's LCD monitor,
d) plus other combinations of a), b), c)
To further confirm: if it's a Word Doc, separate CD-ROM based application, animation, video etc I can fully enable it from the laptop's keyboard if it's shown only on the LCD projector / secondary LCD monitor combination. Or must it also be shown on the laptop's LCD monitor in order for me to fully enable it?
Darn I forgot to mention I have a USB to VGA adapter. It seems to me (I could be wrong) that a USB to VGA adapter would do as well (if not better?) that a VGA splitter.
a) it could be viewed in full on the LCD projector,
Yes
Quote:
b) plus the student material could be viewed in full on the secondary LCD monitor or the student material could it be split with for-my-eyes-only material on the secondary LCD monitor,
c) plus the student material could be viewed in full on the laptop's LCD monitor or the student material could it be split with for-my-eyes-only material on the laptop's LCD monitor,
No, you can either display the same thing as what you have on your laptop on the secondary display, or an extended desktop (which would allow you to keep things separate).
So you would use two displays and your laptop would be your private one, the other display output is your extended desktop. Now normally in such a setup you'd just look at what the students look at, which is the projected display, but you want to be able to look at that output as well separately, so you need to split that output to duplicate it on another screen for yourself. So the splitter I have in mind is similar to those headphone jack splitters, it's really just a wire splicing into two for the purpose of having the student material on both the projector and a separate screen for you.
Quote:
To further confirm: if it's a Word Doc, separate CD-ROM based application, animation, video etc I can fully enable it from the laptop's keyboard if it's shown only on the LCD projector / secondary LCD monitor combination. Or must it also be shown on the laptop's LCD monitor in order for me to fully enable it?
You can do it on either or even both. You will have a second display with a fresh new desktop and you can open a program and drag it there. I think words aren't doing this justice, here is a video:
Just give it a try, you should be able to set this up in about 5 minutes. If your laptop has a video out, connect a display and right click your desktop and go to display properties. This video explains how to set it up, and it'd take less time to test it (assuming you have another monitor or display you can try) than to explain it.
0 Replies
Robert Gentel
1
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Wed 2 Sep, 2009 02:51 am
@Chumly,
Chumly wrote:
Darn I forgot to mention I have a USB to VGA adapter. It seems to me (I could be wrong) that a USB to VGA adapter would do as well (if not better?) that a VGA splitter.
This seems to be doing the graphics card part of dual display, which most laptops don't need help with.
So to summarize:
1) With most graphics cards you can already have two displays.
2) You can easily configure this to display two separate desktops (e.g . you can have word open on one, and a browser on another etc).
3) The part that gets tricky is that you really want three displays, one private and with the public display duplicated on another monitor for yourself. That part is where I think a splitter will come in handy, I'm not sure if the usb option can do what you need.
Give it a try though, you should be able to get to #2 with any secondary display, and if that works the way you want you just need to figure out how to split the public display output, and a simple splitter should do it easily.
0 Replies
Chumly
1
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Wed 2 Sep, 2009 10:28 am
Robert you've been an immense help and I'm sincerely appreciative!
BTW the reason I got the USB - VGA adapter was that on one laptop the VGA output failed due to (I'm pretty sure) a ground loop. And yup I understand the functionality of a passive VGA splitter versus an active VGA splitter. Hey, it turns out the LCD projector can daisy-chain an additional VGA monitor, so perhaps I won't need a VGA splitter!
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