Create a Dual Screen WithDoubleview
With the world cup rapidly approaching, the editor has been heartened by the scoop that Wayne Rooney's fractured metatarsal may heal in time for England's opening game against Paraguay. "Who gives a rat's 2nd uncle!" I hear our loyal American readers cry. OK what about this news? - Laplink have released software called DoubleView that allows you to take your old desktop computer monitor, and use it as a second screen for your trusty notebook.
I've seenthem doing it at work. It makes me drool. No, I'm not talkingabout eating donuts, or leaving the office early on a Friday. Atrisk of sounding like a true Laptopical dork, I'll admit that I'mentranced by the idea of a dual screen laptop. You know, when youtap into the luxuriant space of two monitors, with the power toswerve your cursor from one end all the way to the next. It'slike having a six-lane highway all toyourself.
Noweverybody can enjoy that kind of breathing room. A company calledLaplink Software has put out a new product called DoubleView thatallows you to take your old laptop screen,desktop monitor, or even tablet PC display and transform it intoan extra workspace.
And it's all done with a download that doesn't cost more than afew dozen donuts-$34.95 to be exact. Normally, tapping intomulti-screening can cost a pretty penny because you generallyneed a second video card or a dual-output card, which could runyou 10 times as much as DoubleView. No wonder only the kiss-assesat work get to multi-screen.
With DoubleView, you can set up your dual screen PC withoutany hardware and without the need for an IP address. All you needis the spare screen, Windows 98, ME, 2000, 2003, XP on the oldcomputer, and wireless, FireWire, cable network wire, or USBcable to attach the two screens.
Your second display can be set to run in three different modes:full-screen mode, so both screens run in the same resolution (upto 3,200 by 1,600); the Windows screen mode, where images appearin a window that can be moved around the second display; or thefit-to-screen mode, which blows up whatever image you're lookingat to fill the second screen.
Best of all, when your cursor flies from one screen to the next, oryou drag a window back and forth, there's no smearing orsticking. Laplink credits its "on-the-fly" compression, whichcuts down on response time on the displays.
Man, I'm drooling just talking about making my laptop dualscreen. Hopefully somebody brings donuts tomorrow intowork. For more information and pricing visit Laplink.com.
