Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!mitchell
From: mitchell@cbmvax.commodore.com (Fred Mitchell - PA)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re:  Virtual Monitors (was re: Xer... oh, who cares? :-)
Message-ID: <9259@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 9 Jan 90 10:37:29 GMT
References: <17514@rpp386.cactus.org> <9191@cbmvax.commodore.com> <17542@rpp386.cactus.org> <12572@cbnewsc.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: mitchell@cbmvax.commodore.com (Fred Mitchell - PA)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 57

In article <12572@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> stuart@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (S. D. Ericson) writes:
>...
>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.

It seems to be a matter of semantics and/or terminology, but the Amiga
Screens are more than Virtual- they can have their own independent
resolutions, palettes, plane-depths, etc. They are also draggable, so
that more than one screen can be viewed simultaneously. Each screen is
a TOTALLY SEPERATE ENTITY, with its own seperate bitmap. I can render
_directly_ into one bitmap (screen) and it won't affect the other bitmaps 
(screens).

>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.  

Sounds interesting- love to see that sometime. But won't it confuse
the interface a bit- espically if half my paint program is on one and
the other half is on the other? Do they all have to be identical monitors?
How is the screen broken up? Vertically? Horizontally? Both?

>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.

Again- a matter of semantics.

>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...)

I am currently running two monitors (yes-real monitors!) on my Amiga-
a RGB monitor and a (giant - 1008 x 800) MONITERM monitor. Basically,
I use the MONITERM for its large resolution. Great for fitting large
documents on the screen at once.  The RGB monitor handles all other
Amiga resolution modes. 

 
>Stuart

	-Mitchell
	 mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP
	 To Life, Immortal.