OK a confession... I've made a big mistake. I ordered two new computers, four new 17\" TFT monitors, and reading the advice here two Matrox G550 cards.

Last night I tried to fit the Matrox cards... only to find my nice cheap quiet HP Compaq computers DON'T HAVE AGP SLOTS!!!

Aaaaarggggghhhh!!!!!!!!!! :cry:

So, my supplier has agreed to take back the Matroxes (Matroxii?) as that is the lesser of two evils.

My question: Is it possible to run Myriad in dual screen mode using a Sapphire ATi Radeon 9250? This one of a very few cards I have found which gives dual monitor and PCI bus support. I DON'T want to buy anything else until I am sure it will work.

Also we will be upgrading to Myriad 3.0 as soon as it gets to \"released\" status (I'm about to start trialling the beta) so if that will work better / worse than 2.6 please let me know.

In abject misery at my failed plan...

Baldrick. No, sorry... Simon West

Simon West



Presenter and Committee Member

Apple AM : Taunton Hospital Radio



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Myriad doesn't actually care what graphics cards you have fitted. It simply uses the Windows interfaces to handle them.

That said, there are two different modes of operation when it comes to dual screen drivers. One is what we term stretch mode. Effectively you have a single screen which is stretched across two physical monitors. What this means is that when you maximise a program it maximises across both screens.

The second mode is independant operation. In this mode the monitors can be addressed individually and by default windows will maximise to the edge of the screen they are currently on.

You can run Myriad on a PC running in either mode. However, in stretch mode you will get the same thing that you get on a single screen (the Station Log window on a tab) just stretched across two monitors. To get the audiowall and station log visible at the same time, each on their own screen, you need to run the drivers in the indepedent operation mode.

So the answer to your question is whether the Radeon 9250 will support independent operation (assuming that's what you want). The guys here think that it does but only on XP. That said, we're not 100% sure since we don't often use them in that mode (since we use Matrox cards).

A quick addition, if you're planning to run those nice 17\" panels at their native res of 1280x1024 then make sure that you have the latest version of Myriad. The is a bug in older versions which causes it to crash during startup on reses higher than 1024x768.

Christ I'm not awake this morning. In reply to your query about Myriad v3, it handles dual support support differently.

Myriad v2 used separate windows for each section (audiowall, Q-Nxt log, songs db, etc.). Myriad v3 has it all inside the same window.

What this mean is that you could run the drivers in either mode and it will still be usable. The only thing to bear in mind is that in stretch mode the windows task bar and the Myriad cart players will split across the two screens. However, if the screens are right next to each other it shouldn't be a problem.

As a special treat, here is a shot of Myruiad working in 'dual screen' mode on a single screen PC.

In this case it is my laptop which is actually a wide screen format but a standard 17\" monitor running at 1280x1024 provides a very workable solution for dual screen operation without the cost and size problems of having two monitors.

Enjoy!

Liam Burke - Broadcast Radio Ltd

Email: liamb@broadcastradio.com

Telephone: +44 1482 383700

OK, based on that I think I will buy the Sapphire cards. My colleague here at work has a Sapphire ATi Radeon 9200 installed with WinXP Pro, and his taskbar is definitely only on his primary monitor.
Even so, I think I shall try a test installation of Myriad on his PC just to make absolutely sure.
If it does work as hoped, I will also have saved some money - the cards are only £27.46 + VAT/carriage each from Ebuyer.com (No I don't work for them or have shares in them)

I'll re-post when I know the outcome, but would still be interested to hear from anyone actually running Myriad on this type of card.

--maybe the cunning plan will work after all--

Simon West

Simon West



Presenter and Committee Member

Apple AM : Taunton Hospital Radio



We are listed on http://www.everyclick.com, the search engine that helps charity.

Please go to http://www.everyclick.com/uk/tauntonhospitalradio and set it as your home page, so you can search the web and help Taunton Hospital Radio. It does not cost us, or you, a penny - so it's a great way to support us everyday.

We wish to purchase a dual head card for our studio 2 pc and I am looking for a suitable matrox one. I tried eBay and this one looks OK

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MATROX-G550-Dual-Monitors-32MB-AGP-VGA-DVI-with-Adapter_W0QQitemZ8732457566QQcategoryZ96874QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Can you have a look and confirm that it look OK.

Many Thanks

Neil

***
Neil Ogden

Matrox G550's are old friends of ours - a very good card.

And at the price, a very good buy too :-)

There were different flavours of the Matrox Gx50 range cards (they did a 450 as well) but that one looks about right as it says it supports 2 monitors. As long as it's able to run different displays on each (as opposed to the same display 'cloned' onto both then all will be well

------------
Peter Jarrett, Technical Director
Broadcast Radio Ltd.

Bill Bailey: No win, no fee, no basis in reality. Just a room above a minicab office in Acton and a steady stream of greedy simpletons whose delusion is only matched by their clumsiness

Has anyone had success working with 128mb ATI Radeon x300 SE Hypermemory graphics cards. They seem to have dual support on them one via vga the other by dvi which I can convert to vga.

Matt

Matt Wade
Need Training or Consultancy for Broadcast Radio Software Products?
Get in touch
w: https://mattwadeonline.co.uk
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The ATI X300 SE PCIe will run Myriad dual screen quite happily with 2 provisos, both of which I have fallen foul of in the past.

Firstly, the DVI output must be a DVI-I output not DVI-D output, as an analogue converter can not be fitted to the latter (it is digital only and the connector has a different pin configuration).

Secondly, you need to make sure that the card supports real dual screen with 2 separate displays, rather than a copy of the same sent to both monitors.

Whether the card you are looking at fits both of these specs can vary depending on manufacturer and whether or not they choose to enable features. I would suggest checking the specs on the manufacturer’s web site, and possibly speaking to your supplier to make them aware of what you need from the card.

Regards,

Andrew