I have looked in previous posts but not really come up with the information I am looking for, so I hope people won't mind another thread started on this subject. Besides, what I am trying to do is a bit specific, so advice would be welcome, from those who have the patience to wade through my setup description! I have no expereince of running two monitors together before .....With my new PC on order, I am going to end up with the following: Two separate PCs sitting alongside each other, my current, medium-powered one (ATI Radeon 9800 Pro card), for word processing, internet browsing, photo editing etc. etc. ; the other, a higher-end PC (AMD 64 FX55, NVidia 6800GT graphics) for FS9 and possibly one or two other (less favoured!) games. I would like to get a second monitor (my current one is a 17" LG 782LE flat screen) - probably another 17", maybe 19" (anybody strongly advise one size or the other?). One monitor, when running FS9 would probably be used mostly fixed in 'Spot' mode, my preference as 'default view' for admiring the passing scenery, and also for Active Camera views; the second I would want to use to swap between the cockpit, FSNav information, to show the kneeboard and so on - everything else, basically. One of the monitors (probably wouldn't want to use both for this) would also need to be connected to my other, 'workhorse' PC of course. My graphics cards both have VGA and DVI connections, so in theory the connections should be possible.So, summary: one monitor connected to both PCs, the other to only the 'FS9' PC; probably want to use 2 monitors only with FS9 ...... Now the questions:1. If I have both PCs on at once (for transferring data through firewire, for instance), how can I manipulate things so that the monitor connected to both of them is only receiving images from one PC, not both - without having to pull out leads? (What happens by default? Two images superimposed? The screen explodes?!)...2. With only the FS9 PC running, will I be able to set up the views as I have outlined above without too much difficulty? I understand that there is no way of fixing these views as a kind of default setup, but that you have to arrange things on the screens each time you start FS9. Is that so?3. When running just the FS9 PC, obviously with one keyboard, mouse and joystick (and one Nostromo N52 gamepad - worth its weight in gold), how do I choose which of the two screens I control with these devices? For instance, if I want windows view and I press Alt+Enter, how do I make this apply to one screen and not the other?If anyone posts back here I might think of other questions! Meanwhile, thank you to anyone who takes the time to help me out.Regards,Martin

Hi Martin,I've been using two monitors for a couple of months now so I can answer some of your questions."1. If I have both PCs on at once (for transferring data through firewire, for instance), how can I manipulate things so that the monitor connected to both of them is only receiving images from one PC, not both - without having to pull out leads? (What happens by default? Two images superimposed? The screen explodes?!)..."I assume that you can buy an A-B switch for sharing a monitor between two PCs. I've used such switches on other devices and they work well."2. With only the FS9 PC running, will I be able to set up the views as I have outlined above without too much difficulty? I understand that there is no way of fixing these views as a kind of default setup, but that you have to arrange things on the screens each time you start FS9. Is that so?"I set mine up almost as you suggest. I have a 17" LCD sitting atop my 19" CRT. The LCD shows only an outside view (panable windscreen view or spot view). All instrument panels are on the 19" CRT but no outside view. I'll set everything up and take a screen shot to show you what it looks like.I fly in full-screen mode and when I started using dual monitors, I had to arrange all of the windows each time before switching from windows mode to full-screen. More recently, I've found that I can arrange all of the windows to my liking one time, then switch to full screen, then save the situation, then switch back to windowed mode, and exit FS9. After that, I launch FS9 in windowed mode (FS9 is displayed on top monitor, desktop on bottom monitor), then I change to full-screen (FS9 on top monitor, desktop on bottom monitor), then I load my multi-monitor situation (top monitor - outside view, bottom monitor goes dark), then press Shift+1, Shift+2, etc to enable each instrument panel and subpanel (Top monitor - outside view, bottom monitor displays each panel as it is turned on)."3. When running just the FS9 PC, obviously with one keyboard, mouse and joystick (and one Nostromo N52 gamepad - worth its weight in gold), how do I choose which of the two screens I control with these devices? For instance, if I want windows view and I press Alt+Enter, how do I make this apply to one screen and not the other?"The first part of this is easy. The mouse pointer glides from one screen to another. Display properties will show the virtual arrangement of the two monitors and thus the direction to move the mouse. For me the LCD is shown to the right of the CRT, so if I move the mouse off the right side of the CRT, it appears on the left side of the LCD. No problems with the keyboard: if you press R, then + or - the sim rate changes; if you click on the outside view, then press + or minus the view zooms. I don't have a gamepad but I'm sure that it will be obvious.The last part is not possible. If you Alt+Enter, then both screens change at once. I don't know af any way around this.I hope that this is understandable and helpful to you.R-

Thanks for this - when I am setting up my second monitor I shall refer to what you say to try and get things as I want them. The only hitch I can see is the A-B switch. For VGA there is no problem, but I haven't been able to find a switch for DVI under

Here are some screen shots of how I use two monitors.The first is how the graphics card "sees" the monitors. It is the raw image that I get by pressing the Prt Scr key.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/109765.jpgThe second picture represents how I see the images displayed.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/109766.jpgR-

Very nice! When I get the new PC up and running with FS9, I'll go for the second monitor. Local shop does 14-day cash back return if you don't like the monitor, so I won't have anything to lose.M. :-)