OSDev.org

Recently, Brendan and I have been arguing about what can reasonably be expected from a multi-monitor OS (among other graphical stack things). We've reached the conclusion that nothing replaces real-world user data.

So anyone interested, please answer this survey about multi-monitor setups and expectations !

(Results will be published here once the amount of answers has reached a steady state, I'd say in a month at worst)

Answered. I do feel the questionnaire assumes an side-by-side extended desktop configuration, which might not even be the majority of multihead uses.

Yup, a mistake has been done there. It shows in the results. But I think there still are some nice things which can be done with that data, if it's used carefully.

I agree, there are many more flexible designs that side-by-side:

• A "grid" of horizontally / vertically stacked monitors.
• Cloned monitors.
• Completely independent displays.
• Combinations of the above.

As an example for a "strange configuration", there are satellite receivers running Linux which have TV output and an LCD dot matrix, and both are treated as "ordinary displays" (i.e., in no way different from monitors in a desktop setup).

Also, another reason for wildly differing monitors: Laptops!

I noticed a lot of emphasis on horizontal-only stacking. As mentioned in Q.8, this scheme means that one might need to waste a lot of time moving things from one place to the other is the workspace is contiguous. A mix of vertical/horizontal monitors would be more efficient in this scenario.

Physical i stacked the monitors horizontal. But on software side i set up the second monitor above the first one. (So the desktop was from (0,-640) to (1023,767))

Did you also rotate one of them at 90 degrees?

Data and an attempt at interpretation for everyone ! Public domain, do whatever you want with it, yadda yadda...

http://theosperiment.wordpress.com/2011 ... y-results/

And if people here are still interested, here's an updated version which doesn't have any of the flaws of the original !

http://neolander64.polldaddy.com/s/mult ... and-better

Im not really interested in stacking monitors, turning my head horizontally sure, but vertically not really. I prefer 3 monitors horizontal.

I guess it depends on your goals. For a single office or gaming computer, 1 - 3 horizontally stacked monitors are certainly enough. Things are different if you want to manage the largest model train in the world:

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... nd_neu.jpg
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... mputer.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/-mgFQnZY9dzw/TeCqJ ... 030315.JPG

Results for v2 : http://theosperiment.wordpress.com/2011 ... e-results/