Phil
09-18-2006, 03:11 AM
This isn't LW specific, but might be of interest so I thought I'd mention it here.
(http://www.maxivista.com)
I came across this and it works very well. It's basically a way to use a second machine as a second (or third, or fourth) monitor for your machine. If you have a laptop along with a desktop machine, or two laptops, it works very well indeed :)
Note: Windows only (except Vista), unless you use Virtual PC or similar on Mac. Linux support via Wine, apparently. Not tried on anything other than Windows.
Good things:
For the fraction of the price of an additional monitor, you can use any spare machines as extended displays.
The additional monitors appear to Windows as true monitors, so you have full support for positioning preferences via the display control panel.
You can also use 'remote control mode' which uses your keyboard and mouse to drive the other machine(s) - somewhat like Synergy (open source).
Secure. The protocol is proprietary (not too happy about that, but there you are) and the server-client binaries are tailored to be unique. The client is server-specific so that your colleague cannot spy on you without your consent.
Fast. I couldn't see any noticeable impact on the server, but you can tailor the software to provide faster or better quality on the extended displays. The response on the extra monitor(s) won't be as fast as real hardware, naturally.
You can run processes (e.g. LWSN) on your extended monitors. Try that with real displays ;)
Bad things:
The slight irritation is that OpenGL and Direct3D support is not available on the extended displays, but other than that, it works well. It's no option for Modeler on an extended display with Layout on the main display, but you can put tool windows (e.g. scene editor) on there, or Photoshop, etc.
For remote control with display on your main machine, you still need something like VNC. Additionally, the machines need to be networked and you cannot drive a remote machine over the internet using this software.
(http://www.maxivista.com)
I came across this and it works very well. It's basically a way to use a second machine as a second (or third, or fourth) monitor for your machine. If you have a laptop along with a desktop machine, or two laptops, it works very well indeed :)
Note: Windows only (except Vista), unless you use Virtual PC or similar on Mac. Linux support via Wine, apparently. Not tried on anything other than Windows.
Good things:
For the fraction of the price of an additional monitor, you can use any spare machines as extended displays.
The additional monitors appear to Windows as true monitors, so you have full support for positioning preferences via the display control panel.
You can also use 'remote control mode' which uses your keyboard and mouse to drive the other machine(s) - somewhat like Synergy (open source).
Secure. The protocol is proprietary (not too happy about that, but there you are) and the server-client binaries are tailored to be unique. The client is server-specific so that your colleague cannot spy on you without your consent.
Fast. I couldn't see any noticeable impact on the server, but you can tailor the software to provide faster or better quality on the extended displays. The response on the extra monitor(s) won't be as fast as real hardware, naturally.
You can run processes (e.g. LWSN) on your extended monitors. Try that with real displays ;)
Bad things:
The slight irritation is that OpenGL and Direct3D support is not available on the extended displays, but other than that, it works well. It's no option for Modeler on an extended display with Layout on the main display, but you can put tool windows (e.g. scene editor) on there, or Photoshop, etc.
For remote control with display on your main machine, you still need something like VNC. Additionally, the machines need to be networked and you cannot drive a remote machine over the internet using this software.