two desktops

[irish]

Hi. I have a stand alone computer. Is there any advantage to having a second desktop. God I'm not even if I'm asking this question right. I don't mean a second desktop computer. Hopefuly, folks here will understand what I mean.

[David H. Lipman]

Sorry...  No clue. 

[daledoc1]

Hi, @irish:

Alas, same here.

I have no idea what you mean, either.

Are you looking to buy a second computer -- perhaps a laptop vs. a "desktop" tower?
Or a second monitor?
Or a backup external hard drive, to store your files?

Or???

We could better assist you if you could please be more precise about your your question.

Thanks

[Firefox]

At first guess, I thought he was asking about a 2nd computer, but on second thought I am thinking of a second screen.  Then again there are software programs out there that can give you multiple desktops for placing icons, but I can't remember the names (it may be a feature of the video driver).

That being said, I have 4 monitors on my computer, hence you could say I have 4 desktops, and YES there are many advantages to having multiple displays/desktops per say.  On one I can be viewing traffic monitoring software for our business, on the second I monitor my email, on the other two I use to remote control workstations I work on.

[daledoc1]

LOL

You're a heckuva lot better at multi-tasking than I am, @Firefox.
Just wait until you reach the Geritol years....

Before @irish runs out to buy a bunch of extra monitors, though, perhaps we need to know a bit more about the system??

Perhaps the GPU and other specs won't be sufficient to drive 2 or more displays?

<just an inexpert thought>

[AdvancedSetup]

You can use a single monitor to control 2 or more different computers.

A KVM switch (with KVM being an abbreviation for "keyboard, video and mouse") is a hardware device that allows a user to control multiple computers from one or more sets of keyboards, video monitors, and mice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVM_switch

 

 

Edited May 27, 2016 by AdvancedSetup

[irish]

Sorry folks for not replying sooner. I was checking my email for notifications of replies, but nothing came up. I probably didn't tick something here to ensure I got those notifications. I think firefox may have it right. But doing some more googling myself, It looks like what I'm talking about is virtual desktops.  Assuming that is what I was asking about, I guess I can do some more googling, or even try it out. But still answers from here would be welcome too.

[irish]

Just now, irish said:

Sorry folks for not replying sooner. I was checking my email for notifications of replies, but nothing came up. I probably didn't tick something here to ensure I got those notifications. I think firefox may have it right. But doing some more googling myself, It looks like what I'm talking about is virtual desktops.  Assuming that is what I was asking about, I guess I can do some more googling, or even try it out. But still answers from here would be welcome too.

"I probably didn't tick something here to ensure I got those notifications"

I guess that would be "notify me of reply"

[David H. Lipman]

Instead of using words such as "virtual desktops", etc,, explain what what you are trying to accomplish. 

• What is the problem you have and are trying to correct or ameliorate ?
• What computing equipment do you presently have ?
• What are you trying to accomplish ?
• What is the purpose you are doing this for ?

That may be a better route.

 

[irish]

Hi Dave. I'm trying to find out if there is any to advantage to having a virtual desktops. I;m going to try and answer my own question, at least partly.

So at the moment. I have one desktop display. I guess if you have 2, and assuming the second one is a blank desktop, if the first desktop is full of program links. you could move some of the shortcuts to a second (virtual) desktop. but as I was writing this, I decided to delete a lot of those shortcuts. I never use shortcuts from the desktop to open a program. I guess what happens is, I install some program. and I never notice that it has put a shortcut on my desktop. So over the years, I end up with a lot of shortcuts on my desktop display.

But googling about it, the best answer I can get comes from Quora

" Sometimes an application requires several windows to be opened. Sometimes an application requires other applications (and their windows) to perform some task.

With a single desktop you will, sometimes, need to focus lots of windows to "shift gears" (between tasks). With multiple desktops then you open each task on a separate desktop an switch between desktops (with a single click or key press). "

I guess if you have a lot of programs open at the same time, it might be an advantage. But 

as someone who doesn't have much memory, i try not to have too many programs running at the same time. So it's probably not for me.   

 

 

[David H. Lipman]

If I understand you ( I didn't want you to use "virtual desktops" again ) you want to use multiple monitors.

When you use multiple monitors, you have two choices "Extend the desktop" and "Mirror the display".

In the second option, both monitors display the same content.

In the first option, you have one default monitor which shows the Windows Desktop which is called the MS Windows Shell.  The Default monitor will show the TaskBar, Pinned Programs, System Tray, Start Menu, etc.  The second monitor is the extended display.  It gives a larger space to what is the Windows Shell but does not have the TaskBar, Pinned Programs, System Tray, Start Menu, etc .  When you setup the secondary ( tertiary, quaternary, etc... )  monitor in the Control Panel "Display" applet, you will see two or more pictures of monitors ( usually side by side ).  There you set which monitor is to be your default and when you choose "Identify" it will place a number on the display so you will know which monitor is which and their orientation to each other.  This way you can orient the m onitor's in elation to each other logically and physically.  Then when you "Drag" and icon or an Application Window to the Extended Desktop you will see it pass from one display to the other Left to Right or Right to Left based upon the orientation of the monitors.

I asked you " What computing equipment do you presently have ? " and you didn't answer.

The reason I asked is it tells us what hardware you have and what it's capabilities are and how its functionality may ( or may not ) be expanded.

Example 1 - Dell Latitude D series notebook

The Latitude D series notebook has the notebook's display and a VGA Port.  One could hook up a Monitor with a  VGA Port to be used as a Secondary Monitor.

If the Latitude D series notebook is placed on a  Latitude D series docking station, one can use one monitor on the  VGA Port and another monitor on the DVI port of the docking station.

If one has the full size Latitude D series docking station ( below ) one can install a Peripheral Component Interconnect ( PCI ) Video Card in the docking station's  PCI slot and can then use a third monitor.

Example 2 - OTC Retail notebook

If you own a retail Over the Counter ( OTC ) notebook it won't have the capability of a Docking Station but it may still have a  VGA Port or a HDMI Port.  Then the notebook's display can be the Default ( Primary ) display and an external monitor or TV can be the Secondary ( Extended ) Display.

Example 3 - Desktop Computer

A desktop computer has the greatest expansion capability.  To what degree will depend upon the Make and Model ( which is why I asked " What computing equipment do you presently have ? " ).  Some systems may have only a VGA port.  Some may have a VGA and DVI port.  Others may have a VGA ,  DVI / Display Port and HDMI.  However a desktop computer has  PCI slots.  One can install a Video card in a  PCI slot and use it to drive one or more monitors.  Depending on the Make and Model of the desktop computer, one may be able to use a Built-In video port on the Desktop's Motherboard and ports on the Video Card simultaneously.  Other computer model may be either but not both.

There are also external devices that can broaden the capabilities of a display.  I'll use a VGA Port to descibe one such device.  It is an external box that has its own power supply.  It has one VGA-IN port and three VGA-Out ports ( VGA-Left, VGA-Middle and VGA-Right ).  The computer's VGA connects to the device's VGA-In port.  Three monitors connect to the three VGA-Out ports.  Using their provided software the one screen that is created by the computer is virtually spread over the three monitors giving the user a a very wide display.

Edited May 29, 2016 by David H. Lipman

[irish]

Sorry, Dave, That's not what I'm talking about.

I use the term "virtual desktop" because I know, that is what i mean. There is only

one moniter being used. For instance here here is an example of what I'm talking about.

  

 

   This is 4 different desktops, but on the one moniter.

quote from a website that has a free virtual desktop program.

" Virtual desktop is a separate desktop (not monitor but separate area inside Windows) on same computer with ability to open and run applications. They look same as the normal desktop but you can open different applications in different desktop and swap them to handle all type of work without worrying about the taskbar and desktop load. For example, if you are having four different desktops on same computer then you can open music related applications on one desktop, Internet related applications like browser on second desktop, testing new software on third one and open important documents on fourth one. It is like having four different monitors connected with same CPU but as we are talking about software, so you don’t have to purchase extra monitor to get extra desktop.  

[David H. Lipman]

What you are showing is 4 Virtual Machines. 

One example of a Virtual Machine is the Oracle Java environment.  It is a Virtual Machine because Oracle Java is a system within a system.  The Oracle Java sub-system crosses Operating Systems such that a Java Applet can be run on Linux/Unix, MS Windows, Android, MAC, VMS, etc.

The other example is when you run an Operating System that conforms to a higher bit level CPU such that you can run one or more lower bit rate OS' within it.  Under a 64 bit Operating System I can run multiple Windows 32 bit OS or Windows 286 ( 16 bit ) sessions simultaneously.  Under a 32 bit OS I could run multiple Windows 286 or DOS sessions simultaneously.  Each simultaneous session is a "Virtual Machine".

First done with software such as QEMM/386.  It loads a 32bit application where multiple DOS ( 16bit )  sessions that run simultaneously.  It would allow two or more DOS Applications to run simultaneously with each as a Virtual Machine.

Looking at the picture you posted, it appears to be four Virtual Machines, each running a version of Windows, with each each displayed as a quadrant on the screen

A sample application that can do this would be VMware Workstation.

Such applications demand more from a system in its hardware requirements.  For example if you want run multiple Windows 32 BI OS' you need the fastest 64bit CPU and the most RAM for each  Virtual Machines.  RAM needs to be provided such that if you run four 32 BIT OS' each given 4GB, you should plan on at least 16GB of system RAM.

 

[irish]

Sorry again. If that picture is of 4 virtual machines, then the picture should not have come when i googled "virtual desktop"  and chose images

Dave, I downloaded a virtual desktop program.

from http://dexpot.de/?lang=en

here is an image from googling dexpot, and using the images option in google

 

 

[irish]

Dave. I'm going to forget about this. I can't see what advantage having virtual desktops has for me.

[David H. Lipman]

It is a Windows Shell.

It all goes back to the questions I asked.

• What is the problem you have and are trying to correct or ameliorate ?
• What computing equipment do you presently have ?
• What are you trying to accomplish ?
• What is the purpose you are doing this for ?

 

Good luck in what you are trying accomplish.

Edited May 29, 2016 by David H. Lipman

[irish]

Thank you.

 

 

Let's leave it there, Dave. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my thread. But