Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!think!ames!pacbell!att!cbnewsc!stuart
From: stuart@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (S. D. Ericson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re:  Virtual Monitors (was re: Xer... oh, who cares? :-)
Summary: Virtual Monitor vs. Amiga Virtual Screen
Message-ID: <12572@cbnewsc.ATT.COM>
Date: 4 Jan 90 13:42:09 GMT
References: <17514@rpp386.cactus.org> <9191@cbmvax.commodore.com> <17542@rpp386.cactus.org>
Distribution: usa
Organization: The Great Underground Empire (60187)
Lines: 41

In article <17542@rpp386.cactus.org>, mgodwin@rpp386.cactus.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
> In article <9191@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes:
In article <17514@rpp386.cactus.org>, mgodwin@rpp386.cactus.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
> >> is, they were talking about having all the monitors connected AND
> >> acting like a single monitor. 
> >That's certainly a cool feature of the Mac OS.  But do they actually call
> >it a "Virtual Monitor" facility?  That doesn't sound like what it really
> >does for you.  The Amiga's Intuition interface has a feature that's more
> >like what I'd think of as virtual monitors -- it can support any number of
> >separate monitor displays on a single monitor, via kind of a superwindow
> 
> Heh. Sorry if I've treaded on someone else's nomenclature. I don't know

Well, to nitpick here, I would agree with Mike.  The Amiga has a *very*
useful feature which should be called Virtual Screens - it is akin to
Switcher - a special command switches you between screens of information,
all separate.

But Virtual Monitor is a correct way to describe the Mac II handling of
multiple monitors, because it treats all of them as if they were one
Big (if not weirdly shaped) monitor.  The Virtual Monitor is the
logical connection of all the separate REAL monitors.  The Amiga's
Virtual Screens (my term) are not actually separate screens, but
representations of them.

Did I clear that up any?

Have we beaten this to death yet?

More interesting question: How many of you out there are Running
multiple monitors?  More than two?  I think people would be interested
in any Especially 'fun' configurations or Side-effects  (like getting
the cursor lost because the screen 'below' is wider than the one
with the menubar...)

Stuart
-- 
Stuart Ericson                  AT&T Bell Laboratories    | Note: area code 312
USEnet: att!ihlpa!stuart        IH 1C215                  |   becomes 708 on
ARPA:   stuart@ihlpa.att.com    2000 N. Naperville Road   |   11/11 Thanks to 
Voice:  (312) 979-4491          Naperville, Il 60566-7033 |   Illinois Bell :-(