Configuring Photoshop 7 for dual monitors under Windows XP

[pete_caluori]

Greetings,

 

I've heard of people running two monitors with Photoshop: one to

display the image and the other to show tools and dialogs. I can't

seem to find any info in the users manual, or on Adobe's site.

 

Other than two graphics cards and two monitors, how does one go about

doint this? Do both monitors have to be running at the same

resolution? I'm running Windows XP home. TIA!!

 

Regards, Pete

[markw]

Pete:

 

Running two monitors is a function of the graphic card and the operating system so you will not find anything in the Adobe documentation.

Simply put, once you have a graphic card that can handle multiple monitors, or you add another graphic card to your current one, XP will recognize that and you will see this in the Display Properties. You can then choose to resize the Photoshop window, or any application for that matter, to cover both monitors and can choose how you layout your work area. Both monitors do not have to be at the same resolution.

[jackflesher]

I open PS on my main monitor and have slid all the tools boxes over to the second monitor. This also allowed me to "expand" the tool boxes I regularly like to see big -- navigator, history, actions and layers and tool presets -- so as to to keep all their options readily available and not clutter the main image screen.

[john_demott]

Pete--I just upgraded to a new system under XP, primarily to run Photoshop, and I went with a two monitor set-up. Many of the graphics cards available today support two monitors; just check the specifications. Note that some will require an inexpensive adapter if you want to run two analog (CRT) monitors.

 

Once you have two monitors hooked up, the Display Properties dialog lets you set up the two monitors, including choosing different resolutions if you wish, and electing to extend the desktop to both monitors. When you extend the desktop, it is as if there is one large monitor, the cursor moves back and forth without interruption and windows can be dragged across onto the other monitor.

 

For Photoshop, I have the image window open on one monitor, occupying the full screen, and have all the palettes and tool selections on the other monitor. Not only can I see the photo better, but I can keep more of the critical palettes in view at all times.

 

Surprisingly, Dell, Gateway and others don't offer much information about two monitor set-ups, but once you get the right graphics card it is really easy. Also well worth the extra cost. I'm delighted with my set-up.

[jackflesher]

PS: I meant to add you need a graphics card that supports dual monitors -- I use a Matrox 550. Most of them will give you multiple options for how you want the second screen to behave (I set mine to extend my current desktop) and allow you to set them to different resolutions for monitors with different native resolutions.

[richard_drdul]

As noted above, it's a function of your graphics card, not PS. I use an inexpensive yet more-than-adequate-for-my purposes ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card. The ATI graphics driver lets me configure the resolution and refresh rate of each monitor, as well as their relative alignment (side-by-side in my case).

 

My primary monitor is a 19" Sony CRT, and my secondary monitor is a 18" LG LCD. I use the CRT for the image when I'm working in Photoshop, and the LCD for all my palettes. I calibrate the CRT with a Colorvision Spyder, and adjust the LCD by eye. Note that in Windows, I can only calibrate the primary monitor (the CRT) with the Spyder (a limitation of the software that comes with the Spyder). The ATI graphics driver will allow me to use a different colour profile for the LCD, but seeing as I don't use the LCD for colour work (and because the colour changes slightly as the viewing angle changes), I don't bother trying to calibrate the LCD -- I just eyeball it.

 

I run both monitors at the same resolution -- 1280 x 1024. Note that on the CRT, which has a 4:3 aspect ratio, this actually distorts the image slightly. The LCD is sized correctly for 1280 x 1024 (which is its "native" resolution). I find that using the same resolution on both monitors makes it easy to slide windows from one monitor to another, something I often do when I'm working and have several applications such as Word, Excel and others running at the same time.

 

I switched over to dual monitors a few months ago, and I would never go back. I can't believe I managed to work with a single monitor for 20 years!

[Spearhead]

You don't need a graphics card that supports two monitors if you already have a good graphics card. You can get an add-in PCI graphics cards for almost nothing these days since most people are buying AGP graphics cards, and for a palettes and text monitor, PCI cards are fine. You can buy a PCI graphics card for around $30.