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Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spangenberg who wrote (2168)	8/26/1998 3:45:00 AM
From: Dirk Hente	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

Dan, you can't mix different Matrox card 'models ' under NT. Here's the text of the Readme file for the unified drivers for Mystique/MIllennium/MillenniumII for Windows NT 4.0 Rev. 3.61.121: Release description ------------------- This is the Matrox Windows NT Display Driver. It supports Microsoft Windows NT for x86 CPU's, version 4.0 (Build 1381). This product includes: - Display Driver - Matrox PowerDesk for Windows NT 4.0 The driver can support up to 5 Matrox cards (of the same model) in a computer at the same time. Multiple Monitor setup is quite restricted under NT (has nothing to do with Matrox). If you need to have a mix of different graphic cards you must go with Win98. Here you have all kind of flexibility you need not only on the graphic cards side (different model types, different vendors, an 'unsupported' win98 graphic card for your primary adapter) but on the monitor side as well (different resolutions & frequencies). Multi mon setup under NT requires the same resolution on all monitors. However, you can specify different refresh rates. The question if Win98 has a better 'window management' for a multi mon .. well ..yes and no. If you ask me, here is my opinion: At a first glance it seems to be better. First, it prevents the so called 'window splitting'. Usually applications are written to pop up (dialog) windows at the center of the screen. In a dual monitor setup, however, the center of your screen area is exactly between your 2 monitors and it would become 'splitted'. This is where Win98 comes into play, it just prevents the window to pop up at the center so that it opens on one of the center your 2 monitors (either the left or the right one). While this seems to be a nice feature, it has the consequence that due to this kind of Win98 intervention windows not always pop at at places where the programmer of the software wanted them to open. Whether this is good or bad depends on the application. Under NT its different, you have some sort of control how windows are opened. E.g. you can force to open windows always on a certain monitor or not restricted at all (this depends on driver settings in the control panel and the registry). When I used NT I removed all restrictions to let the windows open 'freely'. As far as I know there is a registry entry for the Matrox cards which is supposed to prevent window splitting but i coudnt get it work. On the other hand, window splitting is not a big deal for me. What I really dont like in Win98 is the fact, that some applications only pop up on the primary screen. This is the case e.g. for all Netscape Navigators I've used so far (4.5beta & 4.06, the behaviour of IE 4.0 & 5.0 which I use as well is different). The 'official' rule for Win98 is: The application starts on the screen where you click on your shortcut icon. But Win98 only 'tries' to do so there is no guarantuee. This is quite annoying for me because I'm always 'busy' shifting around browser windows from my primary to the secondary monitor...I'm a bit picky here. With Win98 you can use different kind of monitors with different resolutions. While this seems to be a nice feature - it allows you to use your 'old' monitor which is usually a smaller one - it is in fact not necessary if you plan to buy new monitors for a multi mon setup. I strongly suggest to use the exactly same monitor models in a multi monitor setup. Its better for your eyes. If you ask me to list the pros and cons for a multi mon setup Win98 vs NT i would say: WIN98: + flexible hardware setup + prevents window splitting -- some application windows pop up only on primary monitor (you cant change this) - window management too restrictive NT: ++ application window pop up user defined (control panel, registry) - window splitting (maybe a question of driver type &settings ) - quite restrictive hardware setup