Sunday, November 13, 2005
win2vnc - dual head plus one
I was having ice cream with my Uncle Randy and one of his friends last week and I had to explain how I work with two computers and three monitors on my desk. The man was dumbfounded at how I could manage them all simultaneously. I explained how I usually use one for code, one for output, and another for IM/Chat/etc... Well, let me explain it in geek terms. First, here's a picture:
As you can see, there are indeed three monitors. The two on the right are running on the same computer, while the one on the left is a different machine. The two on the right are hooked up to a windows box with a dual head ATI 9800 Pro, the middle via DVI and the right via standard VGA. The one on the left is hooked up my linux box running the latest version (10.2) of Slackware Linux. The fun part is how I control them :)
One option for controlling two computers on the same desk is a KVM Switch. It stands for Keyboard Video Mouse, and does what the name implies; there is a mechanical switch that you can flip so your keyboard and mouse (no video in this case) are switched from one computer to the other. I did not go this route for a couple reasons, the primary one being I'm lazy. I don't want to have to reach up and flip a switch every time I want to switch the computer I'm working on. My solution before a couple weeks ago was to have two keyboards and mice, each controlling a different computer. This works fine, but again, I'm lazy.
Enter VNC. VNC, or Virtual Network Computing, is a widely known way to control a computer over a network or the internet. I heard from Jonathan a year or so ago that there was a hack to mimic a dual head setup with VNC, so I did just that. First, I had to put VNC on the linux box (left monitor). I initially installed realvnc, the standard for most vnc applications. I was disappointed to learn it could not broadcast the default display, :0. I turned to google and found x11vnc, which is able to. I compiled and started it, and it worked like a charm. Next, I turned to the windows box. After much googling, I found win2vnc, the program that mimics a dual head setup over VNC. I installed it, but came across a minor program bug: since I was already running a dual-head display, and wanted to add yet another monitor, it would crap out when I went off the wrong side of the screen. After a minute or so, the middle screen would act as if it weren't there at all! I searched the forums and found this thread which explained the phenomenon - and how to fix it! I installed the re-compiled version of win2vnc and connected to the linux box. Everything worked!
So now, I can move the mouse from one screen to the next to the next - and back - seamlessly. Even the clipboard works from one OS to the next. All this using one keyboard and mouse! I left the extra keyboard on the desk because that's the main thing I use on the linux box (go figure), but the ability to get rid of it is there.
And if the above didn't make any sense to you, I apologize. I mostly just wanted to write all this down in case it breaks I know how it was set up. :)
