Support Multiple monitors

[Dale King]

My work PC has two monitors and when I log into it with VNC I only get to see the primary display. I'd like to see one of two possibilities.

- Allow separate connections for each display so I might initiate two sessions to different ports each showing a different display.

- Provide a toggle to switch between the multiple displays. So if the server recognizes that there are multiple displays it tells the client and the client provides a choice list to select which one to display.

[Cochrane]

I think that this is the major missing feature from UltraVNC.

I have some multi-head setups, and for those PCs I use RealVNC, but the speed difference is huge: Ultr@VNC wins,

The problem in doing a multi-head enabled Ultr@VNC maybe could be the kernel mode video driver, which has to be extended to support multi-head desktops.

When it will be available, then, I'll be in heaven

Cheers,
Cochrane

[AlanHawk2]

Add my vote to this, multi-monitor support is a MUST have for me. I can't use any vnc client that does not have multi-monitor support, without multi-monitor the program is of no use to me.

[Rudi De Vos]

Because the requests for multi-monitor support are that big,
we are taking a look at it.
Posible this will delay the rel1.00, but you ask we ....

How does it need to be implemented...

Server
++viewer select 1,2 or 1+2 of the server screens ?
Viewer
++Full screen on prim or secundary switch ?

Feedback please

[AlanHawk]

Because the requests for multi-monitor support are that big,
we are taking a look at it.
Posible this will delay the rel1.00, but you ask we ....

How does it need to be implemented...

Server
++viewer select 1,2 or 1+2 of the server screens ?
Viewer
++Full screen on prim or secundary switch ?

Feedback please

The server should definately send both screens at the same time, so that the Viewer can scroll to the left or right (using a slidebar on the bottom of the screen, or in fullscreen, scrolling the direction of the curser when the edges of the window are reached.)
I'm not sure what you are asking about the primary and secondary switch.
Check out how tight vnc and and real vnc handle this.

[xbx14]

Perhaps you wonderful developers could look at x2vnc @

http://fredrik.hubbe.net/x2vnc.html

I have not tried it yet, but perhaps this could do what some of people desire!

[Cochrane]

Because the requests for multi-monitor support are that big,
we are taking a look at it.
Posible this will delay the rel1.00, but you ask we ....

How does it need to be implemented...

Server
++viewer select 1,2 or 1+2 of the server screens ?
Viewer
++Full screen on prim or secundary switch ?

Feedback please

Hi,
glad to see that this feature is so requested!
Some suggestions for developers: If I connect as usual from the viewer (i.e. VNC server: "remote_multihead_pc") to a multi-monitor pc (not only dual-head but multi-head: for example, I have a 4 monitor setup), the client window will be one, big scrollable window (horizontally or vertically, based on screen layout of the server machine).

Moreover, if I connect to the remote machine using a monitor specifier (i.e. VNC server: "remote_multihead_pc:3"), the number after the colon is the monitor I want to control. In this case, VCN will open a non-scollable client window, as great as the monitor I want to control, in which I see a portion of the remote machine bigger desktop.

Obviously, as I can connect more times simultaneously, I can connect to, for example:
"remote_multihead_pc:1" and "remote_multihead_pc:3" in two separate client viewer windows, and minimize or maximize the session (=portion of bigger desktop) I want to control.

I think that this is similar to the very flexible approach of RealVNC (at least the first case I've exponed), but RealVNC major drawback is the lack of speed, protocols and features of Ultr@VNC.

I wonder if this generalized 'big-scrollable-desktop' approach is compatible with the special video driver which is the 'secret weapon' of Ultr@VNC...

Anyway, many compliments for this awesome piece of software and please feel free to ask me anything if the explanation is not so clear (english is not my main language).

Cheers,
Cochrane

[/list]

[Rudi De Vos]

Sum:
For Server

Each card has it own server
:1 = port 5901
:2 = port 5902
etc
port 5900 use the full desktop
A 4 head system run 5 winvnc servers ?

Viewer:
Does the viewer need to be multi-mon aware..
Full screen can be selected to display on prim or sec monitor.

Driver: no probs.
Made a 8000x6000 a time ago

Memory could be a problem
total screensize X 4 -> needed MB (1600x1200x4=7,7Mb X 4
32 MB)

[Cochrane]

Sum:
For Server

Each card has it own server
:1 = port 5901
:2 = port 5902
etc
port 5900 use the full desktop
A 4 head system run 5 winvnc servers ?

Yes, this seems to be the way to go. When you talk about 'wnc servers', you're talking of extending the classical "one service (with a listen socket)" multi-thread for service sockets?

Viewer:
Does the viewer need to be multi-mon aware..
Full screen can be selected to display on prim or sec monitor.

I think that it isn't strictly mandatory to make the viewer aware of the cardinality of server's display.
If the connect mode is "full-desktop" , the display area for the client is the full scrollable desktop. Passing full-screen (without scrollbars) enable the scrolling if mouse pointer reaches left or right border.
In the "single-display" connect mode (the one with ":1", ":2" and so on), the client area would be the portion of multi desktop showed on the server by the current selected display; in full screen mode is the same.

Driver: no probs.
Made a 8000x6000 a time ago

Great!

Memory could be a problem
total screensize X 4 -> needed MB (1600x1200x4=7,7Mb X 4
32 MB)

You mean of server memory, amount of transferred data or hook driver reserved memory?

BTW, many thanks indeed for being aware of this feature request: if I could be useful to help you in tracking this beahviour out, I'm here.

Cheers,
Cochrane

[Rudi De Vos]

The implementation is a lot harder.....
I need to simplify the implementation.

Probs:
video card 1 16bit
video card 2 32 bit
Spanned desktop is composed out of 2 depths
Multi-thread:
To many changes and bug risk.

It will be implemented as follow, other need to wait for a Beta 2. Risk for making it unstable is to high.

+Viewer connect to video 1 OR video 2
+All viewers share the same video card.
+To share 2 different video cards, 2 servers need to be started.
+Spanned desktop will only be supported in combination with the video driver. The video driver has it won depth, independed of the real video cards.

[AlanHawk]

I noticed something today, don't know if it will help the developers or not. I accidently connected to my main computer (running realvnc server, dual monitor setup) with Ultravnc and UltraVnc showed both monitors, with a scroll bar, just like realvnc viewer. So, the actual dual monitor capability is on the SERVER side, not on the viewer side.

The implementation is a lot harder.....
I need to simplify the implementation.

Probs:
video card 1 16bit
video card 2 32 bit
Spanned desktop is composed out of 2 depths
Multi-thread:
To many changes and bug risk.

It will be implemented as follow, other need to wait for a Beta 2. Risk for making it unstable is to high.

+Viewer connect to video 1 OR video 2
+All viewers share the same video card.
+To share 2 different video cards, 2 servers need to be started.
+Spanned desktop will only be supported in combination with the video driver. The video driver has it won depth, independed of the real video cards.

[Guest]

TEST19_8

Multi-headed display..... test

non driver:select prim or secundary
driver:select prim/sec/both

Selection is done with the full desktop button from the viewer
(the button you use to go back from single window mode to desktop)

[CodeSuidae]

In addition to the multiple color depth issue there is the issue of multiple resolutions. My monitors usually run at different resolutions, so if the desktop is to be presented in a single window, part of the window will need to be masked. If possible it should also take into account the relative positioning of the screens, as defined in the Display Properties dialog. It would be very cool if the VNC client window was actually non-rectangular if necessary when displaying desktops that are arranged such that they are not exactly parallel.

It would be nice to be able to display only one screen, with an option to switch the display to another screen without having to reconnect or open a new session. I'm thinking something like the virtual desktops in linux, where there is a button in the VNC toolbar for each desktop. Clicking the button switches the view to that desktop. The mechanism that accomplishes this matters not, it could disconnect from the current desktop and make a new connection using a different port, as long as it doesn't reprompt for password.

[Rudi De Vos]

This is how it is implemented in TEST19_8.

But take care, someone reported a bad crash with the testversion.

You have a button to switch between the 2 displays
(non driver mode)
With the driver installed, you can switch between the 2 displays
and the full desktop.

If sizes differ, black parts. Non rectangular is to difficult to implement.

[Jay]

Prior to RC18 (not sure my last RC) I could connect from my UltraVNC client to my dual head desktop just fine and in full screen mode moving the mouse to the screen edge would scroll VERY fast right to the second monitor. Now with RC18 I can still move to the edge but the screen is scrolled in 1/2-inch segments and takes 5 to 10 seconds to scroll all the way to the second monitor.

When in windowing mode (i.e., not full screen) I can scroll using the scroll box on the scroll bar to reach the second monitor in way less than 1 second so it is not a computer performance issue.

To be clear, on the server I have a dual head card with 2 identical displays and am using the UltraVNC video driver. On the client I have a single display the size of one of the two server displays.

What changed? Put it back! It was much better before.

Also, in RC18 my scroll wheel will no longer scroll windows in the remote display. It used to work fine.

Thanks for the GREAT product,
Jay

[Jay]

Prior to RC18 (not sure my last RC) I could connect from my UltraVNC client to my dual head desktop just fine and in full screen mode moving the mouse to the screen edge would scroll VERY fast right to the second monitor. Now with RC18 I can still move to the edge but the screen is scrolled in 1/2-inch segments and takes 5 to 10 seconds to scroll all the way to the second monitor.

Well, playing some more with this there is some way that I can get it to move from side to side/screen to screen very fast. Not yet sure how but some combination of viewing the tool bar, going to windowed mode, and back to full screen let me one time get it to go back to the way it worked in prior versions. At that point moving in full screen mode moving the mouse to the side zoomed over to what is the other screen on the server/other side of the large virtual screen at my client end.

Ideas anyone?

Also, I can't find anyplace whether you are supposed to have the VNC video driver installed on CLIENTS. Obviously you need it for the super performance on the server but does it make ANY difference on the client?

[Rudi De Vos]

RC18 did not have any mouse or monitor changes

TEST19 versions, have multi monitor support.
Support 2 different video cards, dual headed should also work,
but not tested.

TEST19 have a display switch button,
prim/sec/both (driver used)
prim/sec (non driver mode)

Video driver is a hooking replacement on server.
Client does not use it.

[Guest]

Ping. Is this currently implemented?

[Guest]

Ping. Is this currently implemented?

Pong. It is somesort in RC20. At least it works for me.

[Guest]

As far as I got the idea of this thread, it is about viewing a remote multi-monitor setup on a single local monitor.
Today I came across the MaxiVista software (http://www.maxivista.com/) and immediately thought this should be part of UltraVNC as well:

The setup is having two PC's standing next to each other.
- extend your main monitor by another monitor connected to a second PC
- alternatively control both machines with one keyboard and mouse just by moving the mouse over to the other screen.

The technology is already given in VNC. Should be possible to implement this simultanioulsy with the remote-multi-monitor thing. X2VNC was mentioned above and seems to implement the first feature.

[Guest]

alternatively control both machines with one keyboard and mouse just by moving the mouse over to the other screen

See http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/ for this. Just remember to disable it before using VNC between the two (I do that when I take my laptop into another room so can't use Synergy) because the mouse tends to disappear at the screen edge!

The MaxiVista thing would be cool though. And definately need multiple monitor support - I'll have to stick with Real/TightVNC for now.

Dave

[Guest]

I would second the Maxivista request. Having UltraVNC run as a _virtual_ display adapter and connecting to it from a laptop sitting alongside my main monitor would be a great way to extend my desktop...

[holger]

The setup is having two PC's standing next to each other.
- extend your main monitor by another monitor connected to a second PC
- alternatively control both machines with one keyboard and mouse just by moving the mouse over to the other screen.

That is exactly what http://www.maxivista.com does (very well, by the way).
Why not just buy it? It is not expensive at all.

We use it here on 10 machines and it works like a champ.

Holger

[Guest]

why buying it when it could be made open source and free?

I vote for some sort of implementation of the maxivista features into UltraVNC. It would be awesome.

[Ceralor]

I use two monitors at home, and I like using realvnc because I can easily switch between the two monitors in fullscreen by moving the cursor to the right/left side of the screen, respectively. However, this only works because my monitors are drirectly side by side. Some people have them on top of one another or other odd configurations.

I do not like the idea of separate servers for each monitor, therefore, since you can move applications from one monitor to another. It seems rather silly to have 4 sessions of VNC viewer open. It would slow the traffic down a lot, wouldn't it, since it's tracing not one window but two when moving from one monitor to the other, since you'd have the window appearing in one session and being moved in the other, rather than just being moved in a single session.

[Jacob]

Hi

I have VNC viewer and server 1.0.1 release, but I am having trouble using the viewer on a dual monitor setup. Specifically, I can't get the viewer to go fullscreen on the secondary display. Is there a workaround for this yet?

Thanks!

[Rudi De Vos]

Please try
[topic=5652][/topic]

Viewer goes in fullscreen on the monitor where you position it in window mode.

[TalynOne]

Reply moved here:

[post=21885][/post]

[jmcrabb]

Is this still on the table? I'd really like to be able to scroll back and forth across two displays in DualView mode. We have 50+ workstations with dual displays that use DualView rather than Span, and it makes it very difficult to work with someone when we have to keep toggling back and forth. I have only implemented UltraVNC on a couple of them, and don't know if I want to proceed unless I am able to scroll back and forth. At this point, it's a win/lose situation... I get the speed features of Ultra, but I lose the scrolling that is built into RealVNC if I install the Ultra server, whereas if I keep the Real server, I lose the ability to blank the server's screen, chat with the users, or transfer files, but I get to scroll between the screens.

[Rudi De Vos]

Single buffer
+It only works with dualview video cards, you can't use 2 seperated card.
+Both views need to be proper alligned and have same depth
+use double memory

2 seperate buffers don't have this problem, but you need to switch screens. You just can't have 1/2 in 16bit and the other 1/2 in 32bit.

But on the other hand, most systems now have dual view cards, and most people use same depth/size for both displays.

This is a drastical code change on server and viewer and IF we implement it, the old method still need to work for less powerfull viewers..