Can dual monitors display different font sizes or DPIs by default in Windows XP?

September 12, 2006 12:42 PM

I have dual monitors (one large CRT and one small laptop screen.) Is it possible to get separate DPIs on each monitor, or at the very least display different font sizes by default on each monitor in Win XP Pro?
posted by tnoetz01 to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total)

Probably not what you're looking for, but I used to work on two computers hooked up to two different monitors. A little app called Synergy allows you to share one keyboard and mouse seamlessly, and even to cut and paste across the two computers. It even works cross platform, so you could have a PC hooked to another [Windows/Mac/Linux] box

Having a setup like this would allow you to use per-screen settings.
posted by chrisamiller at 1:12 PM on September 12, 2006

You need to have video driver and chipset support to enable this.

One of the problems with better video chipsets on laptops is the chipset maker is often prevented from releasing updated drivers to laptop users. If you a nVidia chipset laptopvideo2go hacks the installer so you can install new drivers on your otherwise restricted laptop.

Even then the setting to enable this is often buried on the advanced dialog of the display settings.
posted by Mitheral at 1:38 PM on September 12, 2006

Response by poster: @Mitheral: Is there anything similar for ATI?
posted by tnoetz01 at 1:47 PM on September 12, 2006

well, I hate to be pedantic, but your DPI will almost certainly be different, as it's "Dots Per Inch"... (i.e. DPI = sqrt(width resolution^2 + height resolution^2) / Diagonal width) ) --- This is a physical thing, it changes ONLY based on your resolution (unless you can physically stretch glass, which would be awesome!)



I think what you're asking for is to change the DPI Compensation (Windows calls it just "DPI", but it doesn't change your DPI, it changes what windows thinks the DPI is, which is set at 96 as default). From my understanding, DPI is a per user setting, NOT a per-desktop setting (even though it appears next to other per-desktop settings.

If you're having a hard time reading stuff on the laptop CRT, or the font on the CRT is absurdly huge, you'll have to pick one and deal with it. You can fine-tune the settings, Windows only offers presets of 96 and 120, and there's a pretty large gap between the two... I'd try that first.... If that still doesn't work, you may have to resort to chrisamiller's suggestion and use two different machines with the DPI set for each machine..... Synergy does work magnificently, though you can't drag windows from one desktop to another, you can move the mouse and keyboard back and forth seamlessly.
posted by hatsix at 1:47 PM on September 12, 2006

oh, and even if you do know how to change the DPI, just in case someone who doesn't know stumbles upon this thread...

1. Right click on desktop
2. Click "Properties"
3. Click the "Settings" Tab
4. Click "Advanced"
5. On the first tab, "General", you will see a DPI Dropdown Menu.
6. If you would like to Fine-Tune the settings, click "Custom Settings", and a ruler will pop-up on screen and you can get nitty-gritty with it.

posted by hatsix at 1:51 PM on September 12, 2006

you can use ultramon to get a lot more flexible settings for multiple monitors in windows xp, including independent resolutions.
posted by cathodeheart at 3:14 PM on September 12, 2006

To out-pedant hatsix, and even Windows itself, there is no DPI - monitors use PPI because they create pictures from pixels, which unlike dots, are rectangular and can be any colour. The "dots" in DPI are half-tone style dots that are used to create an image via dot density. Since a pixel can be any colour, and a dot (typically) only one of four, it takes many dots of different colours and densities to depict the information contained in one pixel - dots and pixels are not the same thing, but sometimes the terms are used loosely. Hence image/print quality is an area of considerable confusion for many.
posted by -harlequin- at 5:11 PM on September 12, 2006

tnoetz01 writes "@Mitheral: Is there anything similar for ATI?"

You could try the drivers from OmegaDrivers. I don't have an ATI laptop so I can't give personal advice.

PS: We don't use the "@" convention on MetaFilter.
posted by Mitheral at 6:54 AM on September 15, 2006