Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!lbaum From: lbaum@bcsaic.UUCP (Larry Baum) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: Re: Comments on PixelView? Keywords: PixelView Mirror Technologies Message-ID: <28146@bcsaic.UUCP> Date: 17 Jul 90 14:21:05 GMT References: <6891@umd5.umd.edu> Distribution: usa Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle Lines: 85 In article <6891@umd5.umd.edu> vbob@umd5.umd.edu (Bob Shields) writes: : Has anyone had any experience with the PixelView monitor/cards from : Mirror Technologies? Specifically, I am interested in getting the : PixelView I (portrait display) for my MacPlus. At $567 (including : video card), the price seems good enough to consider this upgrade. : : Although their "direct to you" sales approach may save a number of : dollars, I guess this means I can't go to my local Apple dealer and : see one on display. : -- : Bob Shields vbob@umd5.umd.edu I have had the PixelView II for my MacPlus for a couple of months. Installation was quite easy, even for me (I had never opened up the Plus before); it took about 15 minutes. The instructions were clear. The display is quite crisp but not as bright as the regular Plus screen, though definitely bright enough for comfortable usage. When I asked them about it, they said that they deliberately chose a lower brightness level to extend the life of the monitor. (Is this reasonable?) Things are a LOT slower, even things like putting up dialog boxes. I guess 2 pages of area is a lot to ask from my poor Plus. I suspect one page display would be noticeably faster. As a result, I typically decide at boot time whether I intend to do work such as word processing or drawing which will benefit from the extra area. If not, I stick to the old monitor. The INIT that comes with it makes it simple to do this; you can set it to always ask at boot time. The software that comes with it is in the form of a combined INIT/CDEV and has some good features, though not as good as what comes with a Radius, for example. At boot time you can specify whether or not to use the PixelView and if so how the two monitors are physically arranged. If you use both, you can use the Plus monitor in one of 3 ways: 1) A la the Monitors CDEV where the Plus screen is at a fixed position and the mouse moves over only if itpasses thru the correct "passageway" on the side of the larger monitor. 2) The Plus screen can be a virtual window into an area the width of the screen and the height of the Pixelview. In this mode, the mouse always goes over, and you can scroll the area by pushing the mouse against the top or bottom of the screen. 3) The Plus screen can be used as a magnifying glass on the PixelView for whatever the mouse is over. The CDEV provides a number of features: 1) you can make the mouse cursor really big 2) you can have it always add grow boxes to windows, even if the application doesn't. 3) you can choose larger menu font 4) you can turn on the magnifying glass I mentioned abova and control its magnification 5) you can choose which monitor to put the menu bar on (Why you would choose the PLUS is beyond me!) 6) screen saver (but no sleep now or never corner) 7) screen inverter 8) popup menu key which puts the menu bar into a popup menu like a number of other inits 9) Select Application which is supposed to let you set which monitor to use for a particular application. THIS DOES NOT WORK IN ANY SENSE AND SHOULD NEVER BE USED! The software definitely does not coexist well with a number of popular inits; e.g. Application Menu, HierDA, SuperClock; i.e anything which touches the menubar. Overall I am happy with my purchase, especially considering the price. -- Larry Baum Advanced Technology Center Boeing Computer Services uucp: uw-beaver!bcsaic!lbaum (206) 865-3365 internet: lbaum@atc.boeing.com