Solidworks 2006 with two displays ?

[karlis_m]

Is it possible to have two screens connected to one machine with different outputs - one say for the model and the other for the toolbars.

Somebody told that this was possible for another Cad/Cam package . I checked the help in solidworks but it does not mention dual displays.

I understand that there only some graphics cards that have been tested and approved by the company. I don't have one of these - mine is an Fx5200

or a Ati 9200 SE - both are AGP format.

Regards

Karlis

Melbourne Australia

[bkinman]

Yeah, I guess this would technically be possible... But i fail to see why you would really want to do it.... You would have a long way to go to get to the toolbars you need.

Here is possible solution. Get a video card that can support multiple monitors, and then make the desktop span the two monitors, and then when you maximize the solidworks window, you can have you features on the left side of the screen, along with your toolbars, and then you can have your graphics pane on the right hand side...

Perhaps there is a better way though?

If you try it, let me know how it works

[daedalus]

i run solidworks with dual head on my workstation at home, works a treat. I just stretch the window across both screens, so i have the part view across both, makes it easier when looking at large assemblies.

The main benefit of dual head though is to be able to have sw open on one screen, and adobe acrobat open on the other with the spec sheet of whatever part im modelling, no more tabbing back and forth.

windows will support as many gfx cards as you add, and dual head cards support two screens natively. one thing to note though is 3d performance sometimes sucks a bit on the second display on some gaming gfx cards.

My pc is running a radeon 9800xt dual head agp, radeon 9250 pci, and im going to be adding a radeon x1800 pci-x soon, now if only i had more monitors, 5 head would be cool.

[cadman]

Unless SW2006 is different (I have SW2005), you can't move toolbars, etc.. , onto a second monitor. I'm not talking about stretching across monitors but dragging onto the other monitor. In GibbsCam you can drag anything onto a second display. I think this is what you are refering to. Even so, having a second display is great because you can have other applications open on the second without minimizing SW on the main display.

[daedalus]

cadman, both 2k5 and 2k6 allow you to grab a toolbar and detach it, making it a seperate window, then you can drag those windows to your second monitor (standard extended desktop). I have just tested this and it works fine.

[karlis_m]

With the info I have I will go to a computer swap meet and get another screen and appropriate video card.

I run an AMD 2500 XP with currently an FX 5200 card but I know that I will have to change this setup. I am studying CNC machining and use solidworks and am looking to buy a CNC milling machine and install it in the garage.



Karlis

Melbourne Australia

[cadman]

Found some modified drivers that allow me to drag my undocked toolbars onto the second display. Unfortunately the disappearing font problem when in drawing mode is back. I have a graphics card that SW and GibbsCam is known to have problems with.

[joecnc2006]

I use dual 21" Dells at work with Autodesk Civil3d, running two sessions at one time, for modifying the X-ref and working on current sheets at the same time, also able to copy and paste from each drawing. At work it is a must but miss it when i go home to single monitors.

[daedalus]

cadman: i have 2k5 and 2k6, and both allow dragging undocked toolbars to the second display, so im guessing its a driver bug, what gfx card do u have, and what driver version? Are you using a driver removal tool to clean up your registry before reinstalling drivers?

One other thing you might want to try, is get an old spare hdd, and install a fresh copy of windows on it, with your gfx drivers and sw. I have had gfx card driver issues in the past, and trust me they dont always uninstall correctly, sometimes a fresh install is the only way out.

[cadman]

The drivers for my card are buggy. I'm still using my soon to be replaced Dell inspiron 8200 with the ATI Radeon 64mb card. I found some modified drivers (Omega) and dragging SW toolbars onto a 2nd display now works. In SW I keep all of my toolbars docked so that isn't an issue for me, but in GibbsCam I do move all of my palettes onto a 2nd display and that was never a problem.

In addition to SW & Gibbs I'll also be using NCL for programming and I severely need power and speed, both CPU and graphics. I'm looking at the Dell M90 with the Nvidia Quadro FX 2500M (512mb GDDR3 memory) and I will donate the Inspiron to my wife.

[daedalus]

im unsure of the m80's specs, as i cant find it on the dell site, but yeah it sounds like you would benefit from an upgrade. Personally i would swap the quadro for a home user gfx card, and spend the price difference on something more useful, like a 2nd screen or more ram. If you take a look at sw's webpage, they list most of the newer home gfx cards, and the only 'issue' they tend to find is a limit on 3d accelerated windows. Now this would only effect you if you had say 10+ 3d views open and in view simultaneously, not too likely.

[cadman]

The M90 is in Dell's lineup of precision workstations and they all use the Nvidia Quadro line of workstation cards. Gamer and basic consumer graphic cards are definitely out of the question for work (programming/R&D/Eng.). I'm going to stay away from minimal/baseline configuration. Most of the cad files I work with are huge and have very complex surfaces. I already have a nice second display (21" LG, 1400:1 contrast, 8ms response time) the company bought for me.