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admin
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 Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:50 am Post subject: Mac mini with Dual Displays |
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Mac mini with Dual Displays
Sunday January 12, 2006
Mac mini enthusiasts have been looking for a way to get dual displays working with their computer for the last year. Well, we have some good news to report! Aniel of Firefall Pro has posted some pictures and information about his Mac mini setup with dual displays. He's using Matrox's new DualHead2Go video solution to split the signal between two 17" Westinghouse LCDs and extend the desktop.
"One of the things that dissatisfied me most about using a mini day in and day out was the inability to drive dual monitors. Up until extremely recently, there was simply no way to achieve a very wide display. But then my own personal Christmas came, and I discovered the Matrox dualHead2Go. Many many posts and reviews have discussed this device since it came out. But what is it?
Simply put, this box acts as a splitter for a VGA signal. It effectively takes one VGA input, and splits each horizontal line in half, and feeds one half to one VGA output, and the other half to the (you guessed it) other VGA output. Unfortunately, according to Matrox, it's only supported under Windows. Well, I'm happy to say that this jigger works great under OSX too," writes Aniel for Firefall Pro.
We would like to congratulate Aniel on getting the two displays up and running, and thank Mike for the tip.
http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/437.html
Last edited by admin on Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:01 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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castaway
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:56 am Post subject: |
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Cool!  Didn't someone else come out with a USB thingy to do this a while ago? |
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LouieMacGoo
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Joined: 01 Apr 2005
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Location: Livonia, Michigan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:25 am Post subject: |
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| castaway wrote: | | Cool! Didn't someone else come out with a USB thingy to do this a while ago? |
There has been a USB dongle that works for the PC side but nothing for the Mac until now!!! This is very exciting news.
Although the price seem a little steep for the unit and it is only VGA support. No digital out!
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Texark
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:45 am Post subject: |
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I believe the USB device you're talking about is the Tritton USB 2.0 to SVGA for Mac. I was really interested in the product when I first heard about it on here, but the company postponed or killed it. They have something about it on the bottom left of their homepage.
http://www.trittontechnologies.com/
I would really like to get two monitors working with my mini for Photoshop and stuff. This Matrox DualHead2Go sounds pretty neat, but I'm a little hesitant about putting $160 into something without Mac support. What I really would like is for Apple to put that mini DVI port like the iMac has on the next Mac mini. That would be sweet! |
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James T Kirk
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Joined: 23 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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Man, what an ugly keyboard going with a Mac! 
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devo
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Joined: 23 Jan 2005
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Location: Dunwoody, GA
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Texark wrote: | I believe the USB device you're talking about is the Tritton USB 2.0 to SVGA for Mac. I was really interested in the product when I first heard about it on here, but the company postponed or killed it. They have something about it on the bottom left of their homepage.
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I was interested in the product too. I emailed the company a few times and they never got back with me. I think it's vaporware. I never heard about the Matrox DualHead2Go before. I might have to look into some more. |
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TheModWiki.org
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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Kudos on the digg! I wonder if this thing can power 2 20" ACD's.
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mmaslowski
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Joined: 10 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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| TheModWiki.org wrote: | | Kudos on the digg! I wonder if this thing can power 2 20" ACD's. |
That's what I'm looking for:) Any chances of hooking 2 DVI displays in similar form, anywhere, anybody?
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slickrick
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Joined: 09 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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Glad to see someone got the Mac mini to work with two displays, but I don't think this type of setup makes much sense. You can buy a 24" Dell LCD with 1920 X 1200 resolution for around $800 or less with coupons. This guy is only running at 2560x1024 with SwitchResX. Plus, you have to buy two displays and the Matrox DualHead2Go. Personally, I'd rather have a 24" Dell or the 23" Apple Cinema, which also happens to be my dream LCD. 
| TheModWiki.org wrote: | | Kudos on the digg! I wonder if this thing can power 2 20" ACD's. |
I don't think it would be able support two 20" Cinemas. They are 1680 x 1050. That adds up to 3360 x1050. The specs for the DualHead2Go say "2048 x 768 or 2560 x 1024 resolution". That means it can only handle two 1024 x or 1280 x wide displays.
| mmaslowski wrote: | | That's what I'm looking for:) Any chances of hooking 2 DVI displays in similar form, anywhere, anybody? |
I've never seen one. I'm suprised someone like Gefen doesn't make one of these. They have a lot of DVI KVMs and splitters. |
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mmaslowski
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Location: Szczecin, Poland
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:00 am Post subject: |
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| slickrick wrote: | | Glad to see someone got the Mac mini to work with two displays, but I don't think this type of setup makes much sense. You can buy a 24" Dell LCD with 1920 X 1200 resolution for around $800 or less with coupons. This guy is only running at 2560x1024 with SwitchResX. Plus, you have to buy two displays and the Matrox DualHead2Go. Personally, I'd rather have a 24" Dell or the 23" Apple Cinema, which also happens to be my dream LCD. |
I'm dreaming of it as well; I've been collecting Coke cans for this display a long time 
| slickrick wrote: | | I've never seen one. I'm suprised someone like Gefen doesn't make one of these. They have a lot of DVI KVMs and splitters. |
Good point. Couple days ago I came across with their major product: VGA->DVI converter - seems pretty good stuff for regular work basis for, let's say, an iBook connected to DVI display. Let's hope they work the splitter out for DVI displays and… the mini (crossing my fingers here).
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castaway
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Joined: 21 May 2005
Posts: 465
Location: UK
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 3:23 am Post subject: |
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| LouieMacGoo wrote: | | There has been a USB dongle that works for the PC side but nothing for the Mac until now!!!. |
I lost track of things. I thought that Tritton company mentioned by Texark had already released one. I didn't know it was canceled or postponed. I would have liked to see how it performed with USB 2.0. I bet USB didn't provide a big enough pipe for video. |
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iMav
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Joined: 13 Feb 2005
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Location: Columbus, WI
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:17 am Post subject: |
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When I had my Mini, I actually had that very same LCD (only one, of course). They are very nice and affordable too. Ended up selling it with my Mini. (still have the kids' two Mini's though!)
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resuna
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Joined: 15 May 2005
Posts: 215
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:14 am Post subject: |
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| James T Kirk wrote: | | Man, what an ugly keyboard going with a Mac! |
that sure looks like a regular beige Apple keyboard to me.
Yeh, if you read the blog comments, that's what it is. |
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devo
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Joined: 23 Jan 2005
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Location: Dunwoody, GA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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| resuna wrote: | | James T Kirk wrote: | | Man, what an ugly keyboard going with a Mac! |
that sure looks like a regular beige Apple keyboard to me.
Yeh, if you read the blog comments, that's what it is. |
There's nothing wrong with that keyboard, it's a classic. But doesn't it make you think "Thank god for Jonathan Ive!" |
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resuna
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Joined: 15 May 2005
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| Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:24 am Post subject: |
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| devo wrote: | | There's nothing wrong with that keyboard, it's a classic. But doesn't it make you think "Thank god for Jonathan Ive!" |
Hell no. That's the last decent keyboard Apple made. The jello keyboards on the iMac are probably the worst Mac keyboards ever, and the more recent ones are hardly better. I literally can't use an Apple USB keyboard, it wakes up my RSI again... I've got two, and I only ever use them for hitting CMD+S if I want to boot single-user because the USB/PS2 adapter I have for my good keyboard has one bridge too many for the Mac's taste. |
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