Well that went relatively painlessly. I just added an old HP 17inch LCD panel to my existing 28 inch ViewSonic. Both monitors are powered by a EVGA GeForce 8800GT. The Viewsonic is running at 1900×1200 and the HP at 1280×1024. Coupled with Spaces with 6 workspaces, I have effectively 12 monitors!! Woot!
The only reason I did this was because as I was trying to pick up some Xcode skills, I was finding it difficult to use the online web references and the Xcode development tool at the same time. Lots of Alt-Tabbing. Now I can keep the online reference in the second monitor and use the big screen for my main work area in Xcode.
I’m running 10.5.2 (although 10.5.3 is just out) – fully patched. The OS found both monitors without any issues and I was able to control them independently from System Preferences without having to resort to 3rd-party software. I also had the ability to change the orientation of either monitor, which surprised me. Something I may take advantage of once I get my office remodeled.
-JT
5 replies on “Woot! – Dual Monitors on my Hackintosh”
Hi, do you have any tips I’m trying to do the same with a nvidia 9800gtx. I only have the one card and want to use two 19inch monitors for dual display. I’ve read that hackintosh doesn’t like trying to use dual dvi from the same card. Something about sharing bandwidth?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Ollie
Ollie – The really old card I have has two DVI ports and it works like a champ. Doing a google search on your card model, hackintosh and dual monitor came back with some interesting results. A lot of the hits were really old – so I wouldn’t hold much stock in them. However, there were a few from this year that seem to have some positive results.
I’ve recently switched to a vanilla build using Tony’s Mac stuff – great stuff and you may want to take a look over there. There is a good article on nVidia on the blog – it’s really technical, but the comments are worth a read to get a hint on what to research next.
-JT
Jt, thanks mine is a new build using Tony’s aswell so I’ll have a look. To be honest I tried using a small LCD tv with a dvi to hdmi cable. But I now have another LCD monitor which is standard dvi. I’ll have a look on on Tony’s and have a little play. But Its interesting your older 8800gt worked so easily. Anyway thanks for the reply, I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
JT,
just to let you know i have dual set up with my 9800gtx+ on dual dvi. no problem at all. it must have been the tv i tried before that Hackintosh didn’t like.
i’m currently using two 19inch monitors. thought i’d let you know.
cheers
Awesome!
-JT